As you know I write extensively on the subject of poker strategy and hopefully help players to learn about the mental aspects of poker and how to channel your own energies to win by focusing and improving on all aspects of the game. My own poker game has improved immensely over the last two weeks because I realised that I was playing too fancy. Perhaps carried away by the creative moves I discuss in my articles each week I was not playing the hands the way I should. My ABC poker game was replaced by a more creative strategy that I adopted without realising it. My results soon showed me that I should revert to a more straight forward style.

To be a long term winning player in No Limit Texas Hold’em you must learn the simple things first. Think of an ice skater, you must learn how to stop or turn on the Ice before attempted a Triple Axel spin. If you rush you will fall and the same applies to running before you can walk in poker.

Previous results at the poker table can cause you to change what is otherwise a sound strategy. I became frustrated at my opponents on the online tables refusing to fold against me and found myself checking where I should be betting in order to control the size of the pot. ABC poker strategy said bet, but I became too creative and too affected by bad beats and luck and it made me careless.

There is a saying that “once is careless, twice is stupid” in regards to making the same dumb mistake more than once. In poker, you may make a value bet on the river in the right circumstances and lose a large pot. The next time you face that player in a similar spot your natural reaction will be to check having “learnt” from the previous spot. If the situation warrants a bet, you must bet and if you do anything else you are giving the opponent the chance to save bets or take pots from you in position. Solid poker is called solid poker because it is solid, winning poker!

My own poker game dictates that at present I am not good enough to play fancy poker. I must show a winning game with standard solid strategy because without good foundations any building will crumble. That is why many poker players play for years without learning such things as the three barrelled bluff or squeeze play. These plays are excellent and useful but never forget the benefits of folding when you are behind and playing in position. Raise from the button and take down the easy pots. My own game is learning to make folds when I am invested in the hand. This can be difficult, you can feel the urge to make a fancy play to win the pot when if you are honest with yourself you know the pot is lost and you will fold.

Use a solid and conservative approach to poker strategy as your foundation to win. Any future techniques you learn can be tested via the profits earned from your ABC poker game.

By Malcolm Clarke