The game of poker is all about winning. We play for the money and in essence that what gives this game its meaning. Over time though, poker players somehow build some tolerance to the money. When we were kids, we might lose 50 cents and it might feel like the world is ending. Right now, we do not flinch even when we lose a big sum of money. There are just instances that we are so comfortable playing with higher stakes.

There is a big issue to face though when the level of comfort reaches a point when we really do not care if we lose some considerable amount. You also do not want to play at very low levels where you really do not care about putting in a big bet which for you is really nothing.

The key to this finding your real comfort level. A lot of poker players call this their gulp level. It is that level of play and stakes where you push in your chips right before you, gulp. This means that the amount of money you are risking matters. You are focused because you do not want to lose the money but at the same time not on the levels that you play scared. You may want to advance, sure you can but do so with a lot of thought put into it. Consider the following:

Watch and study

Before going into the higher stake games, watch the games first, observe, and learn. No, you just dont watch a few hand but several hours of poker games at this level. Familiarize how the players behave and study their tactics.

Refinement

You need to hone your skills in order to succeed in higher levels of poker betting games. Go back to your poker lessons and poker books and study how you should be like ,

Bankroll

Make sure you have enough money to go at it. You cannot play beyond your gulp money. Playing while your scared of losing such amount will affect your decisions big time. It is critical that you play at the right level of stakes.

You need to get rid of the thought that pocket aces are invincible.  You need to play with caution so you will ensure profitability. Caution does not mean scared. It means cautious for mistakes. In poker, it’s all about minimizing mistakes, and that’s just as true for pocket aces as it is for 97 suited.

The ideal scenario when you have pocket aces is not battling it out with several players but meeting an opponent heads on upon the flop.  You don’t need to limp and play tricks. Look forward to raising the bet so you can get rid of other players and develop an ideal situation for your cards.

Limping poses danger to your pocket aces. You don’t want to limp, then raise, and re-raise again. It will send some wrong message to your opponents. When you have a strong hand, it will be good to let your opponents know. Make sure though that you don’t let all the clues out or you will waste your pocket aces.

Post Flop

After the flop, you still want to go on with the bets and the raises to beef up the pot. You will be able to rake in more money when you play the pocket aces strong.

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A beautiful clash from Poker After Dark. At this point in the game, Kido Phan had been playing extremely strong poker, and Juanda had been playing relatively tight poker…

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David Sklansky put forward a fundamental theorem when playing poker. He published this in his book The Theory of Poker.  Let us quote Sklansky:

“Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose.

Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose.”

This is your foundation to win in a poker game.

Basically it says if you have the best hand, bet; if you have the worst hand, fold.

This way you will be guided that your objective is to take control of the table and rake in all their chips. But of course, in poker, you will never be sure 100% what the other players hold. So what you need to do is try to follow the perfect line to win even though you don’t see their cards.

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Don’t you just love Tony G. (well, loads of people don’t, but I do).

FEEL THE POWAAAA!!

YOU’RE A CHAMPION!!

SEND YOU BACK TO RUSSIA!!!

BRING MORE RUSSIANS!!!!

THIS IS NOT SOMEONE TO LEARN FROM!!!!

TEACH HIM A GOOD LESSON HERE!!!!

YEAH BABY COME ON RUSSIAN, GET OUT!!!!

LOOK HOW UGLY THIS IS. YOU’RE A PROFFESSIONAL PLAYER AND I CAN DO THIS TO YOU!!!!

BRING THE RUSSIANS ON!!!

YOU PLAYED THAT AS BAD AS YOU CAN!!!

YOUR CAREER IS FINISHED!!!

DO YOU FEEL MY POWAAAR BABY??!!!!

IS THIS HOW YOU PLAY, YOU CALL WITH KING JACK?

ON YOUR BIKE!!!!

HE DOESN’T DESERVE ANY APPLAUSE!!!

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So so sick. Paul Wasicka was by far the best player on the final table of the World Series of Poker 2006 Main Event, but apparently the poker Gods just wanted the luckiest idiot in poker ever to win a Main Event Title.

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Justin Phillips will most likely remember this hand from the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Making Quad Aces on the river, getting all the chips in, and being beat by a guy wearing close to no clothes must really really suck…

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