Poker Stereotypes
Stereotypes often times hold some truth. The same is true in poker. Poker is a game of imperfect information. I try to use these stereotypes and imperfect information to my advantage. Being that I am black pro poker player I…
Warm up and Cool down
I first stumbled across the concept of warming up and cooling down in the book The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler. Having a solid routine will help you tilt less and have more emotional control at the tables ultimately helping…
Mental game
What is the mental game? The mental game is many things. To sum it up it’s how you handle all the non technical aspects of poker, tilt fear motivation ect.. Jarrod Tendlar has written two books about the mental game….
Physical tells & betting patterns.
I recently played a hand at 2-5 NL where physical tells, betting patterns and meta game played a factor into my decision. This decision led to me winning a pot over 2k. I developed my basic skills from playing online professionally. Betting patterns and…
Bankroll Management $16.67 balloons to $250,000+
I am often asked, “How much money is needed to begin playing poker professionally?”, “What is an adequate bankroll?” Poor bankroll management is the number one reason on my top ten reasons players fail to excel. I started my bank roll with…
Positive Variance
Last week we discussed negative variance, this week we will discuss positive variance. There is no such thing as luck in poker, only positive or negative variance. Better to be lucky than good!I’m running like a god!I’m impossible to stop!I can’t…
Look left!
There are many intangibles professional poker players do on a consistent basis. I discussed a few of these in previous blog entries. One I didn’t discuss is looking left. I always look left before deciding to play hand and act…
What it Means to be a Pro.
“I’m a poker player. You just play poker”To me, a professional poker player is someone who earns a living playing poker as his or her primary source of income. Semi-professionals, on the other hand, play part-time for profit while holding…
Moving Up Stakes
As a professional player the ability to play in bigger games with higher stakes while sustaining a high win rate is the equivalent to giving yourself a raise. Whenever I am asked whether I think it’s better to be a…
Cash Versus Tournaments
People always seem to assume I play tournaments for a living when I tell them I play poker professionally. “When will I see you on TV?” they often ask. Then I have to sit and explain to them that I play…