Most players, when entering a poker room, take the first available place within their limits. I also know many experienced players who go to great lengths to find a poker room with a less experienced lineup. If you are in this category, I can agree with you that this is the way to make a profit, but here's the experience ...
But if you want to improve your game at high limits, you should follow my recommendations, even if they seem a little adventurous to you (of course, if you are not a player who wants to increase your winnings in the future).
Look for the "toughest" game within your limits for several weeks, or even move on to the next limit within the day. Playing every day with mediocre players means watching mediocre play all the time and learning to do the same. If you wish to lift one hundred pounds, then you will not be practicing with twenty-five foot kettlebells.
The fact that you have entered the 'big' game does not mean that you should always stay there. Stay there for a few hours - watch what is happening, evaluate your capabilities against the background of more experienced players and high stakes. Then return to your familiar environment. A week later visit the 'more experienced table' again, soon, having reached a new level, you will feel quite comfortable there and will stay there. My students know this is a good way to make their high stakes game easier.
Changing the direction of thinking (especially for newcomers to our favorite game): I want you to make a decision. Do you play for fun or to get money? This is more a desire than a goal. In fact, most players play just for fun - and rightly so. But to be completely honest with you, I must say that if you do not know exactly what you want from poker, then you better do something else.
Changing the direction of thinking: an old poker axiom says that most of the time you change your bad hand until you get the best hand or best draw that will allow you to start the game safely. Playing poker at low and medium limits is both about winning your opponent through outbid cards and losing with an amazing starting hand. If you love playing on the edge, if your goal in poker is entertainment, then you should not wait for a hand with the necessary cards. However, if your goal is profit, then it may well be worth the wait.
Another shift in thinking (another old poker axiom): there are no friends in poker. Yes, serious players maintain good relations with each other, but they have an unspoken agreement - that they leave friendship at the door of the casino. And for poker to become a profitable job, this is a prerequisite. Playing softly with your friends creates a 'dead position' effect that reduces winnings.
Change of direction of thinking (another thing to remember when you start winning big money): many successful poker players don't care about money. They win lucrative tournaments, and soon they are poor. A friend of mine won a tournament, which brought him $300'000, lost money instantly in sports betting, and two months later he was playing $3-$6 hold'em. Another, who won something around $600'000, ended up as a taxi driver. He told me, "I thought I would never lose. I thought I had all the money in the world. I started playing higher stakes - too high - and lost everything." A big win for many players is the ability to play at higher limits.
Author: Roy West
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