Poker as a Marathon

You might have lost some amount in one night but you have to look at the bright side and see what’s left for the rest of the month or for the rest of the year. It can be mentally soothing to think this way when you dropped a big chunk of cash.

Re-Analyze the records

If you monitor how much you spend and lose in poker, then re-trace and re-analyze how you game is. Hopefully the records will tell you that you are still a winning poker player. Check how you are doing over the months and how bad you are doing over some time.

Losing is not forever

Optimism is key when dealing with a really bad beat. Although it is really heavy in the chest when you lose, you have to get that feeling out of your system. You need to have the right mindset. Wins will come again no matter what.

Rest

It is the most common advice that you can get anywhere. Nothing we can do but agree. Don’t play poker for a day or two, or maybe a week just to get the thoughts of losing streaks out of your head. Mingle with friends, spend time with your family, and once your head is clear go back to play poker.

Spice up things a bit

You can try some new poker games to change things a bit. If you are the hold ‘em guy 90% of the time and play sit n gos for around 10%, then switch it up and play all sit and gos.

Let it all out

Anybody on a losing streak will be very frustrated. It is normal. You need to let the stress all out. Whether you will take a deep breath or scream your lungs out, it is up to you.

Laugh

Drop every negativity that you have and laugh the losing streak off. It will be a better world and it will be a better game next time you play poker.

There are basically two reasons why you use a free card. One is when you want to save some money if you are caught on a draw. Two, when you need to get some more money from the other players on the table.

A free card is somehow a mix of the semi-bluff and a check raise.

You use the free card so you can save money by preventing another player to bet in to you on the turn. This saves you chips rather than making a bet for the flop and another one upon the turn to see what the river will reveal.

The free card play is ideal if you are:

• Heads up against someone on the table. It might be tricky if you are against more opponents.
• The first to act
• Holding strong cards on the draw

Let’s say you got an suited A-6(Diamond) and the flop gives you Jack of Clubs and Q-5(diamond). During this play, you have one card to go for a flush and heads up against another player. You will also be the first one to act. This kind of situation is ideal to use a free card. You can check so the other player will either bet or also check behind you. In case the other player does not check, then you should re-raise and pressure him on your next move.

The check-raise hides the real strength of your cards from your opponent, if it’s not a genius like Kathy Liebert obviously. Re-raising will again force the opponent to think that you have a stronger hand. That is pure aggression that will win you the game.

It has to be said that keeping your poker face on is not easy – it is actually one of the most difficult things for a person to be doing.  Honest, I think that learning how to bluff in the first place is actually really hard for someone who has no idea how to do it.  Well, bluffing is all part of the game and it is almost a useless trait unless you are in the high-stakes games … because there is more money on the line.

In the game of poker, there are a few things that you need to be able to do and bluffing is definitely one of them. If you are playing in some of the higher-stakes games and you are looking to cash in, you are going to have to let a person read you and let them read what you want them to read – that is where you bluff comes into play.

Bluffing is very important and if you are not a big fan of bluffing, I can promise you are not going to do all that good in poker.