No game in the history of mankind has been more misunderstood than poker. Ask any professional and he will answer that poker is essentially a game that can be calculated. The ace and king usually beat the ace and the queen. Concealed kings most often win against A-6 offsuit. These things don't happen all the time, but often enough to allow a small group of players to make a decent living playing this game. Ultimately, 90% of poker comes down to showing the best hand. And if you are able to do this more often than your opponents, then you take the whole jackpot for yourself. Nevertheless, most Americans believe that poker players use esoteric and psychic abilities in the game, and the cards in their hands are only of secondary importance. Maybe this is to some extent true of the best players in the world, but I can say for sure that all average players are only trying to beat their opponents with their best hand. Yes, sometimes you can make yourself a "tough guy", but the easiest (and even more reliable) money is earned simply by playing cards.
With these thoughts in mind, we'll delve deeper into our exploration of some of the myths surrounding poker and try to debunk them.
Myth 1: The best poker players are constantly bluffing
Let's not deny bluffing is fun. And when this method is used with care, it becomes an important part of the poker player's arsenal. But a bluff is only one, and at the same time a small-caliber bullet in the player's pistol. It's just that many players like to call very much. Remember, most of your opponents are not playing for the money. It may seem to them that they are playing for the sake of victory, but in reality they just enjoy the game and the excitement. And since buying someone's bluff is not very pleasant, they find a lot of excuses to call even when they know they shouldn't. And that means there won't be many opportunities for bluffing in any given session. In high stakes poker, where you can bet all your chips at any time, the art of bluffing can be very important. But in limit poker, it doesn't matter that much.
But it's not just the propensity of many players to call that devalues the art of bluffing. It should also be taken into account that very often you are fighting for a pot with two or more opponents. Therefore, you need to calculate the probability that one of them can fold. If you play heads-up, you can calculate that your opponent will fold 33% times, giving you a chance to win the pot every third try. If, however, you are playing against two opponents, each of whom can fold 33% times, then the probability of a successful bluff is only 11%, or only 1 time out of 9. Therefore, it is obvious that bluffing in the second case is much more difficult than in the first. But in most cases you are fighting with two or more opponents.
You also need to understand that the further the hand goes, the more expensive your bluff is, and the chances of successfully completing it in the meantime diminish. If you bluff after the flop, for example, and get one call, then most of the time you want to continue to the turn (and sometimes to the river). Thus, bluffing will cost you 1.5 or 2.5 small bets. But the problem is that as the game progresses, the chances that your opponent will buy something increases, and you feel like he won't call with a hand that is worse than yours. The matter is further complicated by the fact that in limit hold'em after the turn the bets are doubled. And you will have to put in twice as much money after the turn as after the flop, while the odds that your opponent has a good hand go up. And these reasons are clearly not in favor of bluffing.
Also, once you've acquired a reputation as a bluffer in limit hold'em, it will be extremely difficult to win in the future. Because the pots get so big before the flop, with a good but vulnerable hand you will want to force your opponents to fold. However, after players spot your bluff a couple of times, your bets will no longer be taken seriously. Let's say you raise with your concealed AKs before the flop and four players call. The flop is A-T-7. If you bet, you expect at least most of the players to fold. But if a player who is often bluffing bets, then most likely even those who would have folded otherwise (for example, players with hands like QT or T-8) will most likely call, and the bet of a player considered to be candy would probably knock out some of them from the game. Although, the eternal bluffer can accidentally hit a huge pot if he buys candy on the flop. But the flop comes much, much more often than the monsters, good-but-not-best-hands, and so the pots that the bluffer will lose with good-but-not-best hands far outweigh the chips he will win with random sweets.
Myth 2. Poker is a game of signs
I will try to explain the essence of this myth as briefly as possible. In short, signs are the least important part of Limit Hold'em. Imagine the following situation: you have 4-4 in your hands, the flop comes 4-4-6. The turn brings a six of hearts. The moment the six opens, you notice that your opponent's hands begin to shake, which most likely means a large hand. Does this mean that you just check and then call just because your opponent's gestures betray a monster? Of course not! After all, you can lose a lot of money if it turns out that your hand is stronger, even if your opponent before that exclaims: "Oh, damn !!", and starts dancing mamba around the table. You've probably noticed the "sign", but so what? Do not think that he has a straight flush, as this "sign" can easily mean a full house with sixes. If you are like me, then you will most likely cap the round after the turn and make six or seven bets regardless of your opponent's reaction.
This may sound like an exaggeration, but all of the above applies to less dramatic and therefore more common situations. For example, you hold K-T and the flop is 8-5-3. The turn is J, and the river is 7. When the seven comes up, you get a sign that your opponent is happy with it. So what! You are happy with that too. The fact that you read the gesture does not affect your game in any way, since you will make at least three bets anyway.
Myth 3. The best player always wins
Oh no. Trust me - it's not true. Most of the best limit hold'em players win, depending on their style of play, roughly 60-80% of all sessions. And accordingly, in 20-40% cases, they leave the casino with lighter wallets than they arrive there. Bad players can be and are lucky, and they can be lucky for weeks or even months. If you are not yet serious about poker, you will soon understand what I mean. And if you are already a regular player, then most likely you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Myth 4. Great players are born, not made
Yes, indeed, sometimes it seems that some players are destined to win. Such as Stu Ungar, for example. But most solid players become winners after painstaking study of the game and long training. I think that in fact, some players with a potential predisposition to play find it easier to break into the winners. But a certain structure of the mind is only one of the requirements. I am convinced that with a good diet, practice and study, anyone can learn to win. I have met many great players who had no better "sense of the map" than Cheburashka. But they dominated the game because they worked on it for a long time.
English 
Russian