During the course of someone’s poker career, particularly the beginning stages, players often fixate on figuring out the best plays and basic equity calculations to find out their mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, this is all very important, but what might be more important are the so-called ‘soft skills’ of poker.
Before even sitting down at a poker table, a crucial skill is game selection. Think about it for a second, why sit at a random table where sharks may be roaming? It is much more effective – and lucrative – to know something about your opponents before sitting. That’s because if you do you can avoid the tougher players and seat yourself with a table packed full of fish instead, where you will surely make more money (in the long run).
Play the rush
The following cannot be emphasised enough: play most when you’re playing your best! People have a tremendous leak of playing for hours upon hours when losing to try to get unstuck, yet quitting when they’re winning so they can book a win. Unfortunately, we tend to play our best when winning and play our worst when losing. Switch these tendencies around and watch your hourly rate grow.
Of course it’s important to continue working on your overall game, figuring out what the optimal frequency is to check-raise a dry flop, for instance, but don’t forget to consider some of these important ‘soft skills’ as they may make the largest difference to your bankroll.
Don 'SoCalQuest' Nguyen is a highly succesful online poker player and part of the Bluefire poker team - you can use your PKR Points to subscribe to this hugely popular poker training site.