Sharks can smell blood in the water from miles away. How hard is it for a shark at your table to sense you are hurting and come in for the kill?
You know the answer: IT’S EASY. It doesn’t even take a shark to know when things are going bad for you. A guppy would come over for a bite, if you opened a wound.
What AM I talking about? I’m talking about acting like a victim at the poker table.
If you start losing, and begin to whine in frustration, even a novice poker player knows to jump on you when you are down.
To get the man-eaters to go devour someone else, you must learn to hide the fact that you’ve taken a severe beat. Don’t turn your cards over and whine, “You only had two outs, how could you call me?” This stamps ‘LOSER’ on your forehead, and you can bet your next raise will be called by half the table.
I had a hand recently in a No-Limit Hold’em game that is an example of how to avoid being victimized at a poker table.
I had pocket Aces under the gun and came in for six times the big blind. I was hoping, of course, that someone would reraise me. But instead, I got three callers behind me. The flop came A Q 7 rainbow (three different suits). This was a wonderful flop for my hand, giving me the ‘nuts’ with top set. I checked and it was checked around to the big blind who bet. I smooth called. Everyone else folded.
The turn came a Jack. The big blind bet, I called. The river came a 10, the only card that could beat me. He bet, I folded. I knew what the big blind had, A K. But he never knew I flopped trip Aces. He showed me his A K of Hearts. I never showed him my two black Aces.
The sharks couldn’t come feed on me, because I didn’t whine about my bad luck! We (including me) could now turn on someone else that had ‘LOSER’ stamped on their forehead and were bleeding in the water.
Notice no matter how I played the hand, I would lose to the big blind’s perfect perfect catch. If I go all-in before, on or after the flop I lose everything I have in front of me. The big blind had more chips than I did and would have called my all-in with his A K of Hearts. If HE goes all-in at any time before the river, I have to call and I lose everything.
Instead, I lost the absolute minimum on the hand. I lived to play the next hand without anyone suspecting how bad a beat I had taken. I didn’t act like a victim, so I wasn’t treated like one.
If you feel the need for self-pity when you take a beat, go to the restroom and sob in a stall away from anyone’s notice. Showing your hand at the table and wailing about how bad your luck is, will only encourage the other players to take more bites out of your wounded carcass.
Important Announcements About PokerSchool Online
Nolan Dalla and Lou Krieger Join PokerSchool Online
Mark, Tina, and the team at UFA PokerPages/PokerSchoolOnline are delighted to announce that Nolan Dalla and Lou Krieger have agreed to join the school, become part of the teaching team, and work with our school dean Mike “The Mad Genius” Caro. We consider this to be the strongest team we could possibly have wished for. The combined knowledge and expertise of these 3 people will certainly add new dimensions to the school, not only with their own individual styles and methods of teaching but combined with our knowledge of cutting edge technologies we aim to make the learning process in the school a very enjoyable experience for all members.
Both Nolan and Lou are highly respected writers and authorities in the world of Poker and it is wonderful that they will make themselves available to share such knowledge and wisdom with the members of PokerSchool.
Tonight’s Broadcast – Mark Napolitono and Mike Caro Welcome Nolan Dalla. Read more…
More School Tournaments
What else is new in the school? The tournament schedule is being taken up a notch. We are increasing the tournment structures and schedules. The new schedule starts Dec 21.
Click here to see what we have in store for the school members and how we can bring the real world of poker into the comfort of your home. You are in total control of your own playmoney bankroll with numerous levels of buy -in tournaments, and we have now added Limit Hold’em and Omaha Hi/Lo to the already existing No Limit Hold’em multi table tournaments and 24/7 single table satellites. You can go broke or build up your bankroll, just like in the real world.
PokerSchool Online Affiliate Program and Refer-a-Friend
You can now be rewarded for referring your friends to PokerSchool Online. Yesterday, we launched our school
affilate program and our Refer-a-Friend program for www.PokerSchoolOnline.com
If you are an existing school member and refer 3 friends who become members, then you get 2 months membership free. Refer 6 friends get 4 months free and 9 friends is 6 months free and so on. Or you can get $10 for every referral who becomes a member of PokerSchool Online. There is a special admin section so you can log in with your own unique number and see just how good your selling power is and just how many of your friends are qualified and in the program.