Win at Poker | Your Online Poker Games Resource

• WinAtPoker Home
• News
• Poker Forums
• Articles
• Strategy
• Rules
• Map

Article

Working on Your Mental game

There is only so far in poker that luck will get you, and when that runs out all you have to rely on is your mental knowledge of the game. This seems pretty obvious; however, many amateurs and novice players don’t pay close enough attention to the key elements of the mental poker game. I have gone to tables and seen players look completely flustered over a hand that they had no business being in, yet their lack of mental game understanding trapped them and ended up costing them a lot of money. Like almost everything that I teach in these articles, I feel that the best way to get started with improving your game in that certain field (mental in this situation) is first understanding what the topic consist of. When I refer to the mental game in this article I will be discussing the different miscellaneous aspects of your poker education that can give you the leading edge over your opponent. These few things are often overlooked but with a good understanding of them, improvement is almost assured. The key elements to your mental game are understanding the value of your money, maintaining your playing space, beginning to make reads, and mixing up your play.



Value of Money
Understanding the value of your money seems obvious for success; however, many players view this factor the wrong way. When you’re playing in a poker game you cannot see the chips in front of you as true currency. When I say this I mean that you can’t view bets as material objects such as cars, clothes, mortgages, etc. The worse thing you can do is trick your self into not making a bet because you value that bet as buying a new material possession.



On the other side of that argument though is the fact that you need to have a respect for your money. You can’t walk up to a table without a care in the world for your money because the truth is you will just end up losing all of it, and clearly that’s not what you want to do or else you wouldn’t be reading this article.



Your Space
This might seem slightly stupid, yet I have noticed that players are much more intimidated by a player who has a very neat looking playing space with stacked chips then a player who is sitting behind a mess. You can learn a lot about how a person is by just observing their playing space. Usually a player who is very neat and organized plays tighter and a player who has a disheveled playing space tends to be looser.



If you organize your playing space and chips it will become more apparent to the other players that you know what you’re doing. This is a good thing because they will give you more respect when they’re in pots with you and they may even second guess themselves. Right off the bat you get into your opponents head when you pay attention to your playing space.



Beginning to Make Reads
As soon as a player mentions making reads players automatically think that they need to be professionals to be able to do it. That just isn’t true. Being able to read a player is crucial, but learning the basics can be simple and more then rewarding. I am not going to get into a lot of details about making reads now because honestly I could write a whole article on them (and I will later), but for now I will just discuss their basics.



If you can, try and observe the players you are sitting with for the first 10-20 minutes of play before you make any major moves in the game. Get acquainted with the different playing styles your opponents have and try and pick up on any mannerism they may have that give them away (tells). Some of the easiest ones to detect are anxious ticks such as scratching, shaking, or even the way they blink. Along with looking for tells you should also try and profile each player you are with. Take a mental note of which ones tend to bet the most, lose the most, win the most, raise the most, fold the most, etc. You want to learn as much as you can about your opponents and the best way you can do it is by silently watching them, and staying away from any action. Later on in your poker game these small pieces of information you have gather really come in handy and can be potentially pot winning factors.



Mix Up Your Play
Mixing up your game play is so important in poker that I take it as my job to stress its importance as many times as I can. I won’t say much about it here; however, the main thing to know is that you don’t want your game to be predictable. Change gears mentally, and instead of always playing loose play a hand tight, or instead of always slow playing play true to your cards. You want to make it as difficult as possible for your opponents to read you.



Goals and Closing Words
I think one of the best things to do when you’re trying to work on your mental game is to make goals. This doesn’t have to be anything extensive but next time you sit down at a poker table make one goal (a reasonable one, not “I want to win a million dollars”) and try to accomplish it by the time you have finished playing. Preferably the goal shouldn’t be anything about your monetary gain/loss but rather something that you want to try in the game. An example goal would be: “I want to observe my opponents for 10 minutes and find at least one piece of information about my opponent”. Goals give you something to try and accomplish even when your losing and they really motivate you to improve your game.



Like everything in poker, the mental game can only be successfully learned through practicing. Get out there and start playing. Good luck!