What is your favorite card game? Let me guess. Poker? If you have not played the game yet or if this is the first time you have heard of it, I guess you like me. It is a game of luck and a game of skill. Combine those two things and you might get a little luck, but not enough to prevent you from losing money.
The game of poker is not the same thing as playing a card game. Playing a card game just means playing a game of chance. Winning is largely a matter of luck, but that is not to say that luck is not involved in the game at all. In fact, you can learn to play better than anyone else if you are able to study the ways in which those in the game of luck tend to make their moves. How they think. How they bluff. How they bet. Is it possible to separate the good players from the losers in the game of poker? It is, so it is best to learn the ways of the good and to study the mistakes of the bad players.
In addition to understanding the odds of moving on with the river card, there are other important odds that are related to the value of the hand of your opponent and the odds of your hand topped by the QQdewa. Will your opponent call if you raise? What are the odds based on the situation of play that your opponent is making his decision? Is the person calling any more are your odds compared to the odds they are offering? Is the one raising any less are your odds compared to the odds they are offering? Is the situation of play so frustrating or amasing? You need to know this before you make your decision on what you are going to do and what you are going to call or fold.
The decision on folding is probably one of the hardest ones of all to make. As well as risking your tournament life, perhaps you are risking your own bankroll as well. Think about it, most of the time a tournament fee of 50% of the buy in is closer to $10k than it is to $10k. You need to weigh your options of folding to reducing your possible losses or re-raising to identifying where you are in the tournament and making the right decision to survive and thrive through it.
These are all questions that even the best pro’s cannot answer for you and unless you learn this skill, you will not be able to make the correct decision and thus lose your buy in and possibly even your chance of winning the tournament.
Once you learn the rules and you perfect your knowledge of the game, you can take part in single table and multi-table tournaments and win first place all of your hard earned poker money. Poker can be your passion and your means of income as long as you learn the risks of the game.