All In Strategy

I’m probably the last person you would expect to play poker. I don’t believe in luck. At all. How, you ask, could I play a game like poker without believing in luck? Well, most professional players will tell you that skill is more important than luck, but I don’t know too many poker players who don’t believe in luck.

Don’t get me wrong… I believe in chance. Randomness. Each hand you have the potential to have an excellent hand or a dud. Once the cards are shuffled, you have another change (that is unaffected by the previous chance). Any string of good or poor hands is only coincidence. How you react to them, however, is not.

We choose how we react in situations, and too often I see people react strongly to a coincidental string of wins or losses. Different people react differently. You might get pshyched up on a string of wins and intimidate your opponents, thereby helping you keep the winning streak going. Or you could get discouraged by a string of losses and fold erratically or call desperately when you otherwise wouldn’t.

Remember that you choose how to react to different circumstances, and your choice will impact the way you, and others, play. And never underestimate the importance of skill in poker. Skill will tell you that you should fold or call when your emotions might not. It’s best to listen to both and make an informed decision.