If you start a new job or work on a project like I do, you ask experienced people to help you. That’s normal. But in the poker world it’s different. Beginners don’t like to take advice from the players with millions in tournament winnings and they stick to their own style of play. Why do they want to invent the wheel again? There is no need for that.

There are a few things that are important when you want to reach the top and that’s ‘bankroll management’ and ‘analyzing your game’.

In my years on the tour I have seen many players go broke because of bad bankroll management so that’s why I say: “Move down when necessary” and “don’t take big risks”. If you run out of money you can’t play, and if you can’t play you can’t win!

Analyzing your game is different. Maybe you experienced that your are struggling with moving up in limits or you are getting crushed when you take a shot at the higher levels. The key is to analyze your game regularly and with the help of tracking software it’s much more easier than back in the old days. You can see in a second what your leaks are and it saves you a lot of money and frustrations if you don’t make bad decisions.

As a beginner you should also look back at hands that you have played and discuss it with others. Two knows more than one and talking strategy helps you to improve your game. Talk about the outcome of the hands and, if needed, talk about where it all went wrong. Collect as much information as you can and make sure you get a clear picture of the difficult situations. After you did that you will see what decisions were wrong and it’s easy to make better decisions in the future.

Once you get familiar with your own mistakes that have led to bad results, it’s clear that somewhere down the poker road you will improve your game. Sometimes it will take a while to get used to the new style of play but you will see direct results.

All in all, there is no shame in asking for advice. You should always be looking for the best decisions but when you keep saying to yourself that you are just unlucky and that you have lost because of badbeats, than it’s time to listen to the pro’s and focus on what they have to say.   

I always say:

Dare to take decisions that might be wrong, and learn from them.
Dare to make decisions that might look stupid, and learn from them.
Dare to be fearless so you will be feared as well. Enjoy the
moments it works and try again if it didn’t. 
Don’t be a calling station and try to stay out of trouble when you have a bad position and your stacksize is awkward.

This just was a short push for all those beginners out there that would like play. Just do it and enjoy the outcome.

Play for fun, than have fun.

Play to win, then learn from mistakes and prepare for next time. You can
still have fun and most time you have even more fun later. Especially when you are starting to beat the big players, believe me! LOL

Good luck and find out what kind of poker personality suits you.

Marcel Luske
The Flying Dutchman