Poker Is a Game of Maths and Odds

So how do you take advantage of the mistakes that bad players often make, and gain an edge over your opponents?

Well, it really isn’t all that complicated.

In a nutshell, if you want to win at poker, you must constantly apply the following rule:

Put less money in the pot when you are at a statistical disadvantage, and invest more money when you have a statistical advantage.

Bluffing is the second key aspect of winning at poker. Being able to read your opponent is essential because, that way, you can force them to fold a better hand and therefore earn more money.

Poker is a straightforward game on paper. Now, in theory, this probably sounds pretty easy. However, most poker players’ biggest problem is dealing with losses when the maths was in their favour.

For example, let’s say you’ve entered a poker tournament and waited patiently for the croupier to deal you a strong hand. You got an AA, put all your money in the middle before a flop and won against somebody else’s QQ.

As we can see, pocket aces are a significant favourite to win the hand. In fact, they have roughly 81% equity in this situation. However, don’t get fooled here — pocket queens are not exactly drawing dead. In fact, QQ still has an 18% chance to win this hand, which is almost 1 out of 5 times.

So, when the opponent wins the hand with QQ, a lot of people get frustrated with this and experience tilts. When so-called bad beats like this occur, a lot of people start thinking that poker is just a game of luck.

But from a rational, logical standpoint, you should be aware of the fact that the person holding QQ is not going to win in the long run. If they keep playing the same way with these cards, they will eventually go broke. You just can’t fight maths — it all comes down to that philosophy.