Part 1 - The Mindset of A Winner When you start to play online poker for the first time, it is very normal for you to feel uneasy and nervous about it. And why shouldn’t you be? – after all, you’ve probably only played a small amount of poker in your spare time, and never for very much money. This is very common for almost all beginning poker players, so don’t worry too much!

One of the major problems that new players have is that they don’t understand the basic principles of the game. Additionally, they do not possess the proper mindset for the game, which is quite possibly the most important aspect of playing poker successfully. Yes, learning the strategy of which cards to hold, and which ones to fold is important, but far more important I feel is having the underlying knowledge of what poker actually is.

For example, if I were to ask a new player if he thought Ace King losing to Eight Seven all in before the flop was a horrible beat, he would probably say yes, of course it is. However in actual fact Eight Seven is only a 2 to 1 underdog to win that hand, meaning it will win once every three times on average. Scary, eh? In this series of articles, I will be talking about a lot of things that you have probably never heard of. Some of these include: button stealing, blind re-stealing, raising a limper, bluffing, board textures, positional play and a great deal more. I’ll also be talking about what your mindset should be as you enter each level of a tournament.

There are four basic principles you need to understand before you enter the world of online poker for real money. If you can remember these principles, you are going to be well ahead of the pack.

1. You are gambling.

Poker is a game of cards, chips, people, and money, and it involves skill and luck. Whilst it is widely regarded that skill is the overriding factor in the long term, and will ultimately separate the winners from the losers, you must also be aware that on any given day, or any given hand – luck plays a huge role. This means that no matter how big a favorite you may be going to the river, (unless you are 100% guaranteed to win the pot, i.e. you have “the nuts”), there is always a chance you might lose it. You have to accept this, or else you probably won’t be improving your game very fast.

In order to become a winning player, you must be able to accept this facet of poker. It is something that is very difficult to remember when someone has sucked out on you for a big pot at a crucial time of a tournament, but complaining about bad beats is only going to be detrimental to your game. You must always remember that any chip you put into the pot does not belong to you anymore, it belongs to the pot.

2. Scared money is dead money.

 When you first plunge into real money games, it is of utmost and critical importance that you are not playing with money that you cannot afford to lose. You cannot be expected to play your best if you are constantly worried, or scared, about losing the money you have invested. If you ever feel hurt, pained, or nauseous when you lose a hand or tournament (and you will lose plenty, trust me!) then you need to do one of two things. Either you should quit playing poker altogether - because that money you are gambling with is too important to you to lose, or - you should drop down in levels to relieve the anxiety that comes when you are gambling.

There are many guidelines to proper bankroll requirements to play at certain levels, and you can find these easily by searching the web. A general rule I like to use is this: Don’t ever play at a level where it hurts you emotionally to lose. If you can’t accept that key fact that you are gambling, and the money you have invested is no longer yours until you win it back – you should not be playing!

3. Bad beats will happen.

This is probably the biggest problem that the majority of poker players struggle to cope with. It is very difficult to swallow when your set of Aces gets cracked by a Queen Jack runner-runner straight. However, in order to become a winning poker player, you must come to terms with bad beats and realize that they can and will happen, and sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate losing as much as the next guy, especially if I feel like I deserved a particular pot. However I have come to realize that complaining and whining about bad beats is not going to do anything to help my game. If anything, complaining about bad beats is only going to be detrimental to the learning process. It is very difficult to improve the future of your game if you are going to complain about the past. Bad beats will always be there (trust me!) and you will sometimes find yourself saying “how the heck did that guy call me with that garbage!” and of course it will be extremely frustrating. Just remember that bad beats happen to everyone, and that focusing on how horrible your luck was is not going to help you very much.

4. You must always stay in control of your emotions.

This is of utmost importance at all times. If you let your emotions take over, and dictate your actions – rest assured your results will be poor. You cannot allow a negative emotion or reaction determine the style you are going to play. This is most commonly referred to as “being on tilt.”

When you are on tilt, you make plays that don’t make a great deal sense from a practical or strategic viewpoint. You are basically letting your emotions get the better of you, and they are now dictating your play. This is extremely detrimental to your game. Some forms of going on tilt include: pushing all in the very next hand after a bad beat, showing written frustration to your opponents through the chat box, and playing at a higher level to recoup your losses. Again, all of these things have a seriously negative affect on your play and should be avoided at all costs -(even if that means leaving the table, or shutting off your computer!)

Let’s think about controlling your emotions in baseball. It’s the bottom of the ninth in the World Series, and the Red Sox are up by three runs. There are two outs and the bases are loaded with Roger Clemens on the mound. He throws a great pitch, but Derek Jeter somehow manages to poke at it with the end of his bat, and it pops up in the air to left field. It’s an easy catch for the left fielder, to win the World Series! Wait, the left fielder drops it! Two runs score, and now the Red Sox are only up by one run, with runners on second and third. Bad beat for Roger Clemens right?

What if Roger thought, “this game should have been over because that fly ball should have been caught! This sucks so badly; I don’t even know why I bother to play this dumb game! What a bad beat!” If he decides to give up, then the Red Sox can wave bye-bye to the World Series championship. Roger couldn’t be expected to pitch very well if that was his mindset. So, what Roger needs to do is say “look, that was very unlucky for that to happen. I know that won’t happen every time, so what I need to do here is focus and get this next batter out!” Or in the case that they lost the game, he needs to remind himself that there is always another game.

If you can fully understand that poker is gambling, scared money is dead money, bad beats will happen and that you must always stay in control of your emotions, then you are on the right track to having the required mindset of a winning poker player.

In my next article, I will talk about the strategies you need to understand and implement so that you can win consistently the next time you sit at the table!

May all your bad beats be laughable,

-Sean Grendus

(*Sean is the founder of Gidders.com, a website dedicated to helping low limit poker players build their online bankrolls.)