Texas Holdem Skills

Discipline playing Texas Holdem:

Good poker players demand an advantage. What separates a winning poker player from a fish is that a fish does not expect to win, while a poker player does. A fish is happy playing craps, roulette, the slots; he just hopes to get lucky. A poker player does not hope to get lucky; he just hopes others don't get lucky.

Good poker players understand that a different game requires a different discipline. A disciplined no limit player can be a foolish limit player and vice versa. A disciplined limit player is always very tight preflop. He or she will not play too many hands, only the ones that have a very good chance at winning.

However, a disciplined no limit player is VERY different. This player is not so concerned with paying too many blinds; instead, he or she does not want to get trapped.

The main difference between a disciplined limit and no limit player is that the limit player avoids piddling away his stack bit by bit while a disciplined no limit player avoids losing his whole stack in one hand.

Hence, a disciplined no limit player can play a lot of hands. Preflop, he or she can be as loose as 'that' girl in high school. However, a good no limit player knows when to toss hands that will get him or her in trouble.
A disciplined player knows when to play and when to quit. He recognizes when he is on tilt and is aware when a game is too juicy to just quit while ahead.

A disciplined player knows that he is not perfect. When a disciplined poker player makes a mistake, he learns. He does not blame others. He does not cry. He learns from the mistake and moves on.