Rest
When you’re winning just keep riding that winning wave. But if you start losing, stop and rest up. Use your time to do relaxing things like hitting your bed to take a power nap, watch some television, or get a snack. If you think of it like if you’re a computer, you’re “resetting yourself”. You come back to the game and the winners have dipped from the table and the losers are depressed so now’s your chance to get the edge.
A lot of times, just taking a break from the action and doing something else – getting your mind off the poker, blackjack, or baccarat game – can really put you in the right mindset you need to be in to do your best. A common event that might happen to is let’s say you start losing. You start getting pissed, “Damn it, why do I keep losing? I always suck at this hour – damn it!”
Take a breath – and take a break. Maybe sit out the next hand and take a nice walk outside if its a nice day out. Think about the other times in the past you’ve been able to bounce back from a rough start. Then when you’re ready, come back, fire up the software, and you’re likely to do well
Study
Take a look around at the other players seated at your table online. If your software has a notes feature, use it. Take notes on their playing styles and their tendencies. If they are unfamiliar to you, pay close attention on how they play their hands – take notes on that. If your game is going bad, don’t hesitate to switch to another table. Sometimes a change of the players surrounding you makes your game better.
Of course in the study category, you have got to improve your overall knowledge of the game. Lots of great books on the subject have been written, you can check your local library for some great classics. There’s also some pretty good ebooks online if you’re not into the library. If you’re into learning poker techniques for example, you can grab the ebook (comes in PDF form) Danish Dragon Poker Strategy by Kim Birch, the “Danish Dragon”.
Manage
Set yourself with an amount of money you want to spend that day – whether its big bucks or only pocket change. Once this is done, take your winnings or just stop if you’ve used up all your money. I know PokerStars has a feature called Responsible Gaming that does this. You access this by opening up the PokerStars software after you’ve downloaded it, then click on Requests in the menu above, then click Responsible Gaming. There you can choose Restrict Deposit Limit and Exclude Me From Playing.
Another part of managing is to manage your game. Think, are you playing solely to win, or do you want to learn? If you’re playing to win, then play your best games (let’s say you’re great at Texas Hold’em, well, play that). If you’re playing to learn, why not try a new game? Try Omaha Poker, Stud Poker, Blackjack, Baccarat, HORSE, etc. Try something new – you might realize you’re actually good at it!
Don’t Drink and Play
This one should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway: keep the liquor to a minimum while playing. Yes, I know, you have some buddies over, you’re having fun and you throw back a few. That’s all good, but if you’re playing to win, then hold back on the alcohol. A common mistake you might make while drunken is placing a large bet for bad cards – just don’t do it.
And if you do really bad at the tables, definitely don’t drink yourself to a drunken stupor. Keyboards don’t work well when they’re sticky from last night’s dinner.
When you’re winning just keep riding that winning wave. But if you start losing, stop and rest up. Use your time to do relaxing things like hitting your bed to take a power nap, watch some television, or get a snack. If you think of it like if you’re a computer, you’re “resetting yourself”. You come back to the game and the winners have dipped from the table and the losers are depressed so now’s your chance to get the edge.
A lot of times, just taking a break from the action and doing something else – getting your mind off the poker, blackjack, or baccarat game – can really put you in the right mindset you need to be in to do your best. A common event that might happen to is let’s say you start losing. You start getting pissed, “Damn it, why do I keep losing? I always suck at this hour – damn it!”
Take a breath – and take a break. Maybe sit out the next hand and take a nice walk outside if its a nice day out. Think about the other times in the past you’ve been able to bounce back from a rough start. Then when you’re ready, come back, fire up the software, and you’re likely to do well
Study
Take a look around at the other players seated at your table online. If your software has a notes feature, use it. Take notes on their playing styles and their tendencies. If they are unfamiliar to you, pay close attention on how they play their hands – take notes on that. If your game is going bad, don’t hesitate to switch to another table. Sometimes a change of the players surrounding you makes your game better.
Of course in the study category, you have got to improve your overall knowledge of the game. Lots of great books on the subject have been written, you can check your local library for some great classics. There’s also some pretty good ebooks online if you’re not into the library. If you’re into learning poker techniques for example, you can grab the ebook (comes in PDF form) Danish Dragon Poker Strategy by Kim Birch, the “Danish Dragon”.
Manage
Set yourself with an amount of money you want to spend that day – whether its big bucks or only pocket change. Once this is done, take your winnings or just stop if you’ve used up all your money. I know PokerStars has a feature called Responsible Gaming that does this. You access this by opening up the PokerStars software after you’ve downloaded it, then click on Requests in the menu above, then click Responsible Gaming. There you can choose Restrict Deposit Limit and Exclude Me From Playing.
Another part of managing is to manage your game. Think, are you playing solely to win, or do you want to learn? If you’re playing to win, then play your best games (let’s say you’re great at Texas Hold’em, well, play that). If you’re playing to learn, why not try a new game? Try Omaha Poker, Stud Poker, Blackjack, Baccarat, HORSE, etc. Try something new – you might realize you’re actually good at it!
Don’t Drink and Play
This one should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway: keep the liquor to a minimum while playing. Yes, I know, you have some buddies over, you’re having fun and you throw back a few. That’s all good, but if you’re playing to win, then hold back on the alcohol. A common mistake you might make while drunken is placing a large bet for bad cards – just don’t do it.
And if you do really bad at the tables, definitely don’t drink yourself to a drunken stupor. Keyboards don’t work well when they’re sticky from last night’s dinner.