Even the best poker players in the world have losing sessions. So you can definitely expect to have your share of losing sessions as well. But sometimes it’s hard to accept when things aren’t going your way, and you might be tempted to stay until you’re back to even. This is a huge mistake though since you could wipe out three or more winning sessions with one really bad one. If it’s not your day, log off and save your bankroll for another day.

2. Maybe if I move up in stakes, my results will improve.

Though it sounds pretty stupid when said aloud, this thought is actually quite common among beginning poker players. And it usually happens when a poker player isn’t experiencing much success at a lower limit. The logic behind this thought is that there are too many maniacs in the lower limits, and people at higher limits play more sensibly. And it’s true to a point (like say the $0.02/$0.04 stakes), but not when you’re already playing the $1/$2 stakes. Do yourself a favor and master the limit you’re at before moving up.

Most poker strategy will tell you that aggressive play is what separates the winner from the losers. Unfortunately, many players take this advice the wrong way and start making bold moves just to convince themselves they’re being more aggressive. Suddenly, raising with J-5 just because everyone limped in becomes the correct play. But you’ve got to realize that aggression is a skill you gradually pick up along the way; it’s not something you start doing out of nowhere. Once you become more comfortable at the table, then you should start being more aggressive.

Bluffing is definitely a part of poker, but some people get carried away in thinking that it’s everything in poker. When this happens, they start believing every opponent is bluffing and are always ready to call them. However, this can cause a major leak in chips since most players tend to play their hand according to its value, and only rarely bluff. This is why you need to avoid calling with average hands just to see if someone is bluffing.   

The concept of calling when you’re pot committed is one that can make you money over the long run – if you know what you’re doing. But many players will force a call using pot size as the only determinant, which is just not the best play sometimes. When you’ve been sitting at the same table for a while, you should have an idea of how certain people play so you can’t go calling an extremely tight player just because you’re pot committed. Remember: if a call is wrong, then it’s wrong. 

6. I’ve only played poker for a few hours….but I’m going to try multi-tabling.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of multi-tabling when you see skilled pros making hundreds of dollars an hour playing several tables at once. The thing to remember here though is that these multi-tablers put in the necessary hours to conquer one table, two tables, three tables, and so forth. They didn’t just jump online and naturally start winning on several tables at once. So make sure you’re able to consistently win on one table before you start opening up other tables.

Despite all of the fish ratings and other things you see in online poker room reviews, the thinking that some rooms have way more fish than others is a myth. If there is an online poker room with weak players, then better players are eventually going to seek out this place. All rooms are going to feature a mixture of good and bad players so it’s pointless to go room hopping in an effort to find bad players. Concentrate on improving your own game, and more players will become fish.

It’s pretty tough to cope with another player taking half of your chips – or more! But you only compound the problem by looking to get revenge on the player that took your chips. The key thing to remember here is that poker isn’t about settling scores or winning your chips back from a certain player. Instead, it’s about who comes out on top over the course of a month…year….and beyond.

Folding on a later street is never a fun thing to do – especially when you’ve already committed a lot of money to the pot! However, there’s also no sense in throwing money away just because you’re on a later street. Even still, some people will call big raises fearing that they’re wasting money in earlier streets by folding. But if you made a bad call every time you were on a later street, you’d end up losing lots of money in the long run. Do yourself a favor and fold if you’re sure it’s a bad call. 

These are the final words of a defeated poker player. Because they weren’t willing to put the work into studying strategy or the hours in at the table, they seriously believe that online poker is rigged. The only thing that’s rigged is the rake rooms take out to make a profit. Everything else is pretty straightforward in online poker, and the amount of time you put into the game is going to be the deciding factor as to how ‘rigged’ online poker is. It’s all going to come down to your skill versus your opponents.