Develop your own Style of Play

We see poker all over TV almost twenty-four hours a day now. That is a great thing and certainly helps to promote the game. But what if there is an aspect that is not so great about televised poker? Poker on TV has made stars out of poker players around the globe. Poker players like Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Peter Eastgate, Havad Khan, and many many others have now become house hold names. There is nothing wrong with that until other players begin to imitate what they see on TV. Then it becomes a problem.

It becomes a problem because these players are usually being shown playing at the Final Table of a poker tournament. The play at a Final Table is very different than the kind of play that occurs during the earlier stages of a tournament. All of the big moves and bluffs that are being made may have been setup by a much smaller player several hands ago or even hours before that big bluff ever happened. This is where some of the viewing audience gets sucked into believing that big bluffs and making moves is the way you are to approach the game. Not understanding the context of a move can get you into real big trouble.

No Limit can be an extremely creative game depending on who the players are at the table and their level of skill. This is why it is important that you develop your own style of play versus adopting someone else's. There is nothing wrong with learning from great players but ultimately you must develop your own style and that comes from hours and even years of playing the game and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses. Once you have put in the time to become familiar with yourself and your game and you can honestly say that you have some direction on how you approach the game you are ready to take the next step.

You can learn a great deal from watching poker on TV. Just don't get trapped into thinking that it's the only way.