Poker Philosophies – It all Depends No Limit Texas Hold’em has gained amazing popularity among the general public in recent years. Once a game played by professionals and folks in back alleys, it has now come to the forefront of the poker world. With organizations like The World Poker Tour and events such as Harrah’s World Series of Poker it has become what Doyle Brunson calls “the Cadillac of poker” for card enthusiasts and spectators alike.

Sklansky’s Fundamental Theorem of Poker: Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose. Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose.

Commit this to memory, for it is one of the basic foundations of poker. It is the reason that bluffing works, and the most basic guiding principle of winning poker play. So why do we play poker? What is the reason to play poker? What is the most basic key to playing winning poker? I bet that you answer incorrectly. I did when this question was posed to me the first time. The answer is not “to make money” or “to win pots” or “to become the best poker player in the world”. We are looking for something more basic that will encompass all of the above reasons. The answer is simply “to make correct decisions” (This quote is usually attributed to Mike Caro – The Mad Genius of Poker). If we make correct decisions everything else will follow. We will make money, we will win pots, and we will become the best poker players within our ability. However, if we do not make good decisions then none of the rest will occur; usually not in the short run and definitely not in the long term. Poker is about making good decisions. Let’s start with a poker realization that we must understand thoroughly to be successful. Poker is not a game of fairness. The game of poker is not fair. It is not a game where I win a pot then you get a turn to win a pot. It is not a game where the best starting hand in a round will win every time. It is a game of reality. It is a game of obstacles that must be overcome. This is why many times people will refer to it as the “game of life”. The similarities between poker and life are staggering, but that is a discussion for another time. The sooner you come to terms with the fact that the game of poker is not a fair game, the sooner you will be able to make the right decisions to come out ahead in the long run. Another poker realization that you must understand is “poker is a losing game”. You will lose far more often than you will win. Thus, one of the keys to playing winning poker is to maximize (your profit from) your wins and to minimize your losses. Example: You have a flush draw on the flop. Your flush draw will only come through (according to the odds) once out of every five attempts. So you will hit your flush once for every four times that you miss it. So to make playing for the flush profitable you must win enough the one time that your flush does come through to cover your losses on your other four flush draws that did not come through.

Side note on “Poker is a Losing Game”:

Many times the bets you save will be, at the end of the day, the difference between having a winning session and a losing session.

To play winning poker you must understand the philosophy of the game. You must understand as much of the game and how it works as you possibly can. When you start to see the big picture, the whole of the game, not just the cards you are dealt, or the board texture, or the cards your opponent might have – only then will you be able to play winning poker.

What is winning poker?

I define winning poker as overall good play on a consistent basis. However, the bottom line (wins and losses) is the ultimate score sheet that defines our play.

Poker is not a game where any single play, win, or loss defines your success (there may be defining moments and pots such as in tournament play, but for your overall poker career this is not the case). It is a game of long-term decisions; a type of endurance race if you will. To use a cliche of sorts “you can lose the battle and still win the war”. In fact, you WILL lose more battles than you will win. Just make sure that the battles you do win are as decisive as possible and you will eventually win the war (assuming, of course, that you minimize the losses on the battles you lose).

It is also important that you look at the game of poker in a proper perspective. You should view your entire poker career as one long poker game with breaks in between. Since it is a long term game and not about any individual session or hand. To play winning poker you need to see that you will win over the course of your poker career and not just at one session.

Style

Every poker player has his or her own style of play. As you play and gain more experience you will develop your own unique style of play. It is important that you realize this and do not feel like you need to play a certain way in which you feel uncomfortable. You will learn the foundational concepts that will allow you to build your own style of play. Learn the concepts and then add your flare to them and you will be a successful player.