10 Steps to Improve Your Poker Game

After two and a half years of intense hours at the table (anywhere from 20 to 100 hours a week spent playing poker), I have figured a few things out. I am not an expert at poker, by any means, but I would believe my own results have shown I am a very advanced full-time player.

Coupled with the hours I have spent with Brett Jungblut on poker since the beginning of the year is more up your street?

(watching him and him watching me, etc.), I can say that there are a few things that I have mastered. For instance, it took me a good few thousand hours at the table before I finally figured out position and what it really means. I don't think there's ever a question at the table now in my mind about what hands I should be playing from certain positions. It is all instinctual now.

So, I decided I could make a list of ten simple rules for the aspiring player to read. I figure they are the ten cardinal rules I have learned to live by at the table.

1. Table image is everything. You should always be considering exactly what everyone is thinking of you and what you think they are thinking you are thinking of them, etc. You have to be constantly reevaluating where you stand in everyone's mind. If you think the guy to your left thinks you are a loose cannon, then don't go stealing his big blind. Rather, do it enough times early enough that he knows you're aggressive, then show him the nuts the 3rd time you raise. Always be thinking one step ahead of everyone else.

2. Bankroll management is the key to survival. This is especially important for those of you playing for a living. There are too many professional players that are extraordinary poker minds who can't balance a checkbook, let alone prevent their roll from disappearing. You must always be willing to lower your level if you're not winning. If you're a cash game player who is playing $5-10 holdem with 300 big bets (a $3,000 roll, the bare minimum for $5-10), and you go on a bad streak and are down to $2,000 after a few weeks, then drop back down to $3-6 or $4-8. Not only will you build your confidence back up (another important thing to consider), you're bankroll will grown even fatter.

3. Avoiding tilting is exceedingly important. Anytime you suffer a rash of bad beats and the likes, take some time off. However long it takes you to get over it (as for myself, I can get over it in a split second, but that's because I've seen so many beats it doesn't phase me) is fine, just don't come back before you are truly over it. During a tournament, this isn't easily achievable. But anytime your confidence is lacking at all, don't hesitate lowering your stakes, taking time off, or taking a break from poker for a short while if need be. There is nothing worse than losing aces back-to-back and then losing your whole stack.

5. Quit calling with marginal hands. In no-limit, if your opponent raises under-the-gun and you're on the button, strongly consider folding even something as strong as AQs. It all depends on the player, but generally speaking, anyone who raises in first position will have AQ and worse beat. If you're in early position and you have AJs, fold. Don't get tied to hands out of position you can't play very well. AJs is very tough to play in a full ring game, and being in the worst position of all makes it ten times tougher. Get away from hands when you aren't in late position that you don't need to be playing!

6. Start opening up with marginal hands. Yes, I said that! You can start opening in marginal situations more often when you become a better player. When it folds to you in the cutoff or the button, in no-limit tournaments you can open your game up and start raising with a lot of hands. In other games this translates as well. Say in seven card stud, you have split 10's with maybe a face card or two between you and the bring-in. If you suspect the three remaining players will fold all but premium pairs here, there's no reason not to raise. Cautious players might limp, but there's no reason to. If you get reraised, if you play good poker, you can get away from the hand. In limit holdem, this means you can open on the button against tight blinds with almost any two cards. Tight players will not given action in LHE without premium hands out of position.

7. Study as much as you can on your way up the ranks. If you're a novice tournament player, I recommend reading Sklansky's Tournament Poker For Advanced Players. It also wouldn't hurt to watch every poker tournament broadcast on TV. I have watched about 90% of the material broadcast in the past two years, and have a pretty decent history of players in my mind. It will help when I have to face them at the table later. As for others, you can learn a lot by the play of these players. Don't necessarily watch the hands they do play, because a professional will play any two cards if the circumstances are right. Rather, the best thing to watch is the hands they don't play! Watch as players routinely fold hands you go broke with?

8. It's not about winning the pot, it's about making the right decision. Anytime you are disappointed with the outcome of a hand, analyze your play. If it was a sound play, then you did nothing wrong. Just hope next time your hand holds up. Poker isn't about winning all your 4-1 shots. It's about putting your money in with the best of it and hoping it holds up. It's a gamble, and you have to realize that. There's no 'luck,' just variance.

9. Don't overestimate or underestimate other players. Until you have reason to read them otherwise, assume they're playing near the median of all players and on an average skill level. Don't assume that the girl across from you is a bad player because she is a girl, or assume the guy with flashy jewelry is any good at all. At the same time, don't assume that the real professional who comes across as tight is actually playing really tight. You must always be changing your analysis of everyone, and you should never give someone too much or not enough credit. Don't be upset when the big blind calls your all-in with ace-rag and cracks your kings. Be happy he is making that bad of a call. Don't be upset when he makes the same call and you have even worse than he does. Don't overestimate that he can fold that kind of hand! Know your opponents tendencies'

10. You still have more to learn-admit it. Hey, this is true to every poker player, so don't be ashamed. Even Doyle probably learns something every day. Maybe not so often as others, but he still progresses even today as a player. If you want proof, watch how Doyle won the Legends of Poker on the World Poker Tour this season. Ten years ago, Doyle would have never won that tournament. But now that he's figured out how to beat these large fields and loose players, he can win these big events again.

note by gank: Jon Eaton is a very talented poker player who has had a lot of recent success both in real life and online in No Limit Holdem.

Jon Eaton

← Pai Gow Poker