People play poker for a lot of different reasons. Some play for the competition, some for the social aspect, and some play for the pure fun of the game. When these players sit down an play poker they generally don't mind much if they loose a few bucks. This is the price of entertainment for some players. Other players play strictly for the money. This group of players is all business and have only one goal in mind. The reality of it is that most of play the game for some combination of reasons and money is on most of our minds to some extent or another.
If you do play the game for money and seek to make some or all of your income from poker, you should be looking to move up in limits and play in the bigger games. Bigger games mean bigger money right? Unfortunately you generally find tougher competition and less loose wild players at the higher limits as well. This means that you need to continue to evolve as a poker player and improve your game as you move up from limit to limit. It seems natural that the more poker you play, the better you should get at it. There are some traps that people fall into on their way to the big game though and some players never find their way out.
The main thing that I often see happen to up and coming poker players is that they begin to play too many tables at once. These players believe that they can continue to make more and more money by adding more tables at the same limits. This may be true but there is a limit to the amount of tables one person can handle. The real drawback here is that you stop learning and improving your game. If you find yourself playing 16 tables of 1/2 limit hold'em for months on end, you have fallen into the multitable trap. Its time for you to drop down to 2 to 4 tables at a time and start moving up in limits. Multitabling is a great way to increase your dollar per hour income. Just make sure that you don't stop learning and getting better at whatever form of poker you're playing. Moving up should be your primary goal. The real money is in the big games and 20 tabling .50/1 is never going to get you there.
A similar pit fall is what I refer to as "The Rakeback Trap". This is when a player focuses on how he can earn the most rakeback rather than trying to get better. This often involves playing too many tables or playing short handed poker. Rakeback is a great way to pad your bankroll and anyone serious about online poker has to be taking advantage of it. Just make sure that you treat rakeback as what it is. Something extra. This trap is especially tempting when you get to the 5/10 games. You can easily make a decent living playing break even poker and collecting rakeback at these levels if you play a few thousand hands per day. Focus on getting better and rakeback will simply become and after thought to what can be made in the high stakes games.
If you play poker to make money, real money, than make sure that you keep your goal in mind and remember where that real money is being made. Its being made in the big games. Not by playing 16 tables of 1/2 limit hold'em with a 30% rakeback deal.
If you do play the game for money and seek to make some or all of your income from poker, you should be looking to move up in limits and play in the bigger games. Bigger games mean bigger money right? Unfortunately you generally find tougher competition and less loose wild players at the higher limits as well. This means that you need to continue to evolve as a poker player and improve your game as you move up from limit to limit. It seems natural that the more poker you play, the better you should get at it. There are some traps that people fall into on their way to the big game though and some players never find their way out.
The main thing that I often see happen to up and coming poker players is that they begin to play too many tables at once. These players believe that they can continue to make more and more money by adding more tables at the same limits. This may be true but there is a limit to the amount of tables one person can handle. The real drawback here is that you stop learning and improving your game. If you find yourself playing 16 tables of 1/2 limit hold'em for months on end, you have fallen into the multitable trap. Its time for you to drop down to 2 to 4 tables at a time and start moving up in limits. Multitabling is a great way to increase your dollar per hour income. Just make sure that you don't stop learning and getting better at whatever form of poker you're playing. Moving up should be your primary goal. The real money is in the big games and 20 tabling .50/1 is never going to get you there.
A similar pit fall is what I refer to as "The Rakeback Trap". This is when a player focuses on how he can earn the most rakeback rather than trying to get better. This often involves playing too many tables or playing short handed poker. Rakeback is a great way to pad your bankroll and anyone serious about online poker has to be taking advantage of it. Just make sure that you treat rakeback as what it is. Something extra. This trap is especially tempting when you get to the 5/10 games. You can easily make a decent living playing break even poker and collecting rakeback at these levels if you play a few thousand hands per day. Focus on getting better and rakeback will simply become and after thought to what can be made in the high stakes games.
If you play poker to make money, real money, than make sure that you keep your goal in mind and remember where that real money is being made. Its being made in the big games. Not by playing 16 tables of 1/2 limit hold'em with a 30% rakeback deal.
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