If there is one thing that all of the world's greatest poker players have in common is that they have a very tight reign on their emotions, and therefore do not allow themselves to give into impulsive decisions or emotive courses of action. Whilst this is commendable and is certainly something to try and emulate where and when possible, it is no means the be all and end all and in order to be truly effective you need to be able to learn the importance of strategy for long term planning.
If you happen to engage in a high number of no limit poker games then you will quickly find out the hard way that if you do not keep a firm control on your emotions, you will end up going bust all too often. Poker games where the stakes are high and where there is no limit on the betting is a high variance game and so you’ll often bust out. If you find your anger or euphoria getting the better of you in certain situations you are going to make mistakes. Novice poker players will end up typically falling into one of two different camps, either they will be overly aggressive in an attempt to dominate and establish a strategic foothold, or they will become overly defensive and passive.
Being scared during a poker game is not a wise move because your opponents will pick up on your doubt and angst and will exploit it for all it’s worth. When you are nervous you will be more likely to make foolish decisions and bad bets that will end up costing you a lot of money. You’ll miss out on a good opportunity, or simply fail to utilise a good one for its full potential. All your opponent has to do is make one little push with a well played bluff, and you will crumple.
Being overly aggressive is not a good move either. In the long term over aggressiveness is very dangerous because it means you will end up over stretching yourself. Your stack is likely to dwindle and by the time you do have the nuts you’ll be short stacked and will earn less than you ought to. Your aggressive stance will also quickly attract the ire of your rivals who may feel compelled to meet fire with fire.
If you’re playing at higher stakes than usual, maybe your first big tournament, or simply in new surroundings then you may find yourself at a considerable handicap to the other players. Making the move from playing online to playing live tournaments can have the same effect, but there is only one solution – practice. Over time you’ll become used to the new style of play, the new stakes or the new surroundings and the vervousness will reduce.
One final point on keeping your emotions in check, be careful of what stakes or buyin you’re playing. Of course, if you play in a game too big for your bankroll you’ll be nervous, but ironically playing games much smaller than you’re used to can also adversely affect your game. When you’re playing in games smaller than you like to play you may become bored, or frustrated at not making enough money when you do win. So take care to play at the right level for you, take a deep breath, try to distance yourself emotionally from the result of individual hands or games, and enjoy yourself – after all this is supposed to be fun!
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The very best way to get a handle on your emotions is to practice over and over… Practice online, practice offline, play at a variety of different levels and eventually you’ll find that you are less emotionally affected by the outcome of any individual hand or game. Try today by visiting Full Tilt poker, and joining up using our exclusive promotional code:BCPFULLTILT to get a 100% bonus on your first deposit up to $600, or simply click here to be taken to Full Tilt and have the bonus code applied automatically.
