Playing in your own skill range is very important. It's good to play better players once in a while to improve your game but try to play against players who are easy to beat when you want to win cash.
We can all get on an unlucky streak. When it seems like everything you do goes bust and you just can't win you should probably take a break. When you get on one of these unlucky streaks it can bring your confidence down.
Confidence is a major part of our game. What often happens in these circumstances is you start to play worse because you feel the cards are out to get you or you just can't win. What you probably need to do in these cases is take a little break. Sometimes a week is enough but other times a month isn't enough.
When on a bad run take some time out and read some poker books. Reading often helps you understand where and why everything went wrong. Reading also helps you forget about your shortcomings and can get you back into focusing on your game. Go straight to the chapters that talk about your problem areas.
Every great player knows it's a good idea to learn from others. You won't find many poker pros who don't read poker books. There are so many great books written by top poker pro's. Find those books that are written by your favorite players and players who have similar styles to your own. According to Erica Schoenberg, reading helped her become a more diverse player.
Never blame the dealer for your bad luck or bad play. The dealer is there to perform a job for you and your opponents. The dealer has no real control of the outcome of the cards or who wins the pot. When it comes to the point when you want to make blame on anybody but yourself you probably need a break.
Let the cards and your opponents make your decisions for you. Nine times out of ten these are the two factors that should dictate your play. Keeping in tune with your opponents and the cards together will make most hands pretty simple to figure out.
Flop and board texture are very important to focus on. Don't stare at the cards to focus instead glance at the cards and figure out what's going on in your head. Good players will think you have a weak hand when you stare at the board.
Remember what your hole cards are. Looking back at your hole cards during the hand gives experienced poker players many tells. When you see an opponent looking back at his hole cards try to figure out what circumstances would make them have to look again. Often it's because they want to see if they have a certain card after a flop, turn card or river card.
If the board has 4 spades in it on the river and a player looks back at his hole cards it's often because he wants to see if that black ace was a spade because he forgot. He probably remembered it was black but forgot which suit it was. When your opponent goes to look at the hole cards, focus on that player and think it through why he would need to look back at his cards.
People like to play big hole cards. When everybody folds around the table and you are on the button and have an ace there is a better chance an ace will show up on the board. If somebody had an ace they probably would have played the hand. It's not a given but it happens often.
There are so many little points to remember about poker it would take many pages to explain them all. Reading, paying attention and using common sense play often enlightens you about things you never thought of before.
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