Free Poker Guides – Stop losing Poker Games by mastering the Art of Game Selection

Reading articles and practicing poker will almost certainly help you win more free poker games, but the real trick is to ensure that you are picking the right games to play. There’s an old story about a poker pro who was the sixth best player in the world but never made any money. That was because he chose to only play against the top five best players in the world. The moral of the story here is to choose your games and opponents carefully to ensure you have a chance of winning.

Don’t be overconfident:

We all want to be the best player at the table and always want to play our best. However, unless your name is Phil Ivey, you probably won’t have an advantage over every opponent in every game. Remember, even the best players around the world play below their level as it gives them a higher chance of winning and its more lucrative.

Whatever type of game you are playing, whether it is at a live table or playing other players online, don’t try to head for tables with players who are far better than you are. You are just going to throw away your money.

I remember one time when I played for a couple hours in a $1/2 no-limit hold’em game at a small casino in Palm Springs, California. I nearly doubled my money without winning a single big pot. The players were passive and loose, and I ran them over by putting pressure on them with big bets and getting paid off for reasonably strong hands. I knew that I picked the right table.

I also remember one time when I played for five hours in a $1/2 no-limit hold’em game at a five-star hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. I barely broke even. The players were tight and aggressive and played back at me when I tried to put a move on them. I knew afterward that I picked the wrong table.

What kind of game to look for:

When thinking what table to head for you need to think about your bankroll. Never head for a table where you cant afford to play. Head for a more affordable poker table or even some free poker.

As much as you would love to think you are the best player in the world, its unlikely, so you need to think about your level of skill and stick to table levels where you realistically know you have a chance of winning.

Once you’ve decided the level you can beat, you then need to be choosy about the particular table you want to sit at. Ideally, you want to play at a table where you see players making a lot of fundamental errors like playing too many hands or playing too passively. A loose and passive table is probably the most profitable table. A loose game will allow you to win big pots because players will call you down with weak hands, and a passive game affords you the opportunity to hit your draws cheaply and bully your opposition.

You won’t always be able to find a ridiculously loose and passive table. However, with a bit of observation, you can probably figure out how beatable a game is before you sit down. It’s good to be a good player, but being a money-making good player requires skill in the fine art of game selection.

So, whether its pay games or free poker, live games or online games, observation and brutal honesty is what is going to make you profit in the long term.