Whenever you play poker you must read your opponent. Something that new people often passby. But to do that you must know your opponent. Of course if you are in poker parlor and your playing in a low limit game you won’t be facing last year’s World Series champion or any of the good local players. To better know your opponent you have to classify them and know their motives. There are three catogeries I use to classify players, Casual Recreational Players, Regulars and Pro’s.

Casual Recreational Players

Thes players are people who don’t really care about poker but will use it as moment in their free time to have fun. They won’t be the kind of people to make big researches in the internet about hand ranking etc. They will just know the rules and play for fun. They don’t care to lose, if you lose against these kinds of people after reading guides etc, you should quit playing poker.

The Regulars

This group is the hardest to spot out since they come in many shapes and form. They could consist of retired people, students looking to make some cash, dealers who work there and anyone else who plays poker to make some cash but is not seriously into it like a pro.

Pro’s

They are players who know every trick in the book or at the least most of it. They don’t play low limit games as they try to actually live off poker. They will be in most casinos in the higher limit parts. Some are just Semi Pro’s, these are really good players but have another income also.

Proposition Players

Proposition players are players who play on their own salary but are paid by the casino to start up games in empty tables etc…They will only be there when the games are running low. Like at nights when games are slow they will join in. Or early mornings in the summer. Their jobs might sound fun but it’s not they have to often play games with people half drunk who can’t get off. They often play conservative, they don’t try to beat or lose. Most casinos hire a strong regular player but not a player who would beat pro. This player will tend to play weak. Many people try to avoid props but casino do their best to keep them at the minimum.

At the start everyone started as a bad player but gradually got better, me, you and the player who wins all the time, as well as all the players who have won the World Series. Troy Alkman couldn’t throw a football, Michael Jordan was cut from his basketball team. Everyone was at some point a beginner, and they were all bad, sure they had some talent to become legends but they had to refine and work hard to become what they did.

So don’t worry about skills but worry about your work and effort. You will always have the power to improve if you wish to do it. But the rate of improvement varys per person. Some improve by leaps and bounds, others by baby steps. But one way or another they reached their goals to improve and become better players.

Everyone can reach their goals in poker but you do need some kind of initiate. If for you playing winning poker is important then first of all you need a good foundation. If you already have some poker potential you will reach that goal faster. Everyone who started poker has gone through phases from newb to journeyman to pro to superstar, they all have had a solid foundation.

Poker is much like life when you learn the fundamentals the limit is the sky. When you have those fundamentals you can add stylistic touchs that make your game represent you more. When you know these fundamentals, you can start to improvise in games. If you think of it poker is like jazz too, the good jazz players are always improvising but with what they know and learned of the fundamentals. The product of this improvisation is sweet and beautiful poker skills. But to achieve this you need to play lots of games and be very experienced.

Success demands preparation. Not only does success come by faster if you always prepare well, it does indeed come.

Knowledge, experience, preparation is what it takes. If your experienced but still manage to lose more then winning. You should consider a few things before using this hobby to make money cause you just might do the opposite.

The primary step is to change your bad habits in poker, like always calling to much, raising for no reason. Making gestures when you have a good hand. The possible excuse one can have without noticing these flaws is blaming themselves. And if don’t your denying your problem, so sometimes it can be hard spotting these problems and habits you have.

In Poker there are a few things that you have to know. One of these are simple basic strategies of the game of poker. Without strategy poker becomes like the lottery, sure you will win once or twice but that’s our motive here. We want win as much as we can. Strategies and decision making are the two most important in-game aspects of poker.

If you pick 100 poker players and asked them the same question which would be, what is the goal in poker, all would in some form or another would say win the pot. But that is not actually the case here.

The goal of poker- fun is a goal too… is playing to win CASH, money, dollars, euros, pounds whatever you want to call it. You could easily win each put but never get any money. Just play every hand and call every bet you can you will win every pot possible but will lose lots of money, fast.

The good players in poker win with their good hands and lose less with their weak hands. Even though poker requires skills, sometime luck decides the fate of game. Even atrociously poor players can win from time to time, losing to them can be depressing. Though in other competitions, hobbies it is different. If your on a one on one vs Michael Jordan, you better start playing cause there is no luck to help you out.

You can always classify your opponents but knowing their habits is the best thing you can try to memorize. Imagine your playing poker with Bob and Martha who both like to call too much for no apparent reason and you get a AceHeart and KingHeart. You then take advantage and put something in what to do. You look at the flop and see JackHeart, 5Heart, 9Heart. You have two overcards and nut-flush draw. And if you know something about implied odds and semi bluffing you got this in the boxes. They call. The turn brings a 4Heart, it’s checked to you, you bet, thinking they might fold and you win at that moment. Maybe you have the best hand and would even win a showdown. You perhaps a heart will come from the river. These are players that often beat you and think you will lose again like always.

The river doesn’t give you what you wanted. And Rick calls you he has 6-5 mix suits and wins. What went wrong? Semi bluffing never works with player who always call, You have to actually show them the best hand to win. So you have to be involved in a showdown. While you still would have lost the pot but not the bet on the river.