Poker is one tough game to really master and most of that is because no matter how many tips you learn or how much strategy you put into play, it really comes down to your personal level of control in the game. You are going to have to master discipline at very high levels if you expect to be able to win big in poker, but a smart move that you can make now is to start taking a more Zen influenced approach to poker because not only will it help you stick to your strategies, it can actually help you win more and have more fun, too. If you take this route you are going to find that you get upset less often and you make wiser decisions.
So how do you put the Zen flow into your online poker game? It’s simpler than you think, let’s take a look.
The first concept of Zen is to remove your ego. If you can do this in a game of poker you are going to find yourself a lot less tempted to head into that showdown situation even though the back of your mind is telling you that the cards you hold are not all that superb. Once you remove your desire to beat another player and you focus only on the cards in your hand and the community cards, you are going to find that you make wiser decisions.
Fold when you need to because it does not matter how much you lose in small increments when you compare it with how much you can lose trying to prove a point or win with a weak hand. The fact is, if you really are serious about long term wins then you will most often end up folding when you see that the situation does not favor you. Start practicing this now and you are on your way to success.
The next step, after you have made sure that ego is not a big part of your game, is to relax into the logical rhythm of the cards. Doing this means that you are not all that excited by a terrific hand or the promise of a better hand, but carefully observing the facts about which cards you hold and which are part of the flop, etc.
There is just no need to invest any of your emotions into the cards you hold or could be holding. The real success will come to you when you see that you having a winning hand and you decide to play it. Even if you win, instead of focusing on how great it was to pull down the pot, try focusing on what your next step is. Do you need to bet huge just because you won a serious chunk of change or should you remain calm and slowly gather in more money with the same sized bets? If you can keep emotions out of your game, you stand to win much more.