What are the key things professional poker players need to master?

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What are the key things professional poker players need to master? image

What are the most important aspects of poker for players to master? Originally answered on May 1st, 2015

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Answer by Alan BustanyWestern Classic Player of the Championship

Assuming the basic mechanics of the game are handled I think the three most important concepts to embed to become a solid amateur are:

  • Probability or odds;

  • Tightness; and

  • Aggressiveness.

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Probability

Even "non-math" good players have an intuitive sense of the odds of drawing to a Flush. You simply have to know the probabilities that the Turn and River will make your or their Flush (or Straight or whatever) in order to size your bets correctly  and make the correct Call/Fold decisions.

Tightness

Weak amateur players play too many hands: they are Loose. Better amateur players play only better starting hands: they are Tight. It may be jolly boring to fold over 80% of your hands on first sight, but that is what you should do. The fact is that you must learn to improve all your decisions and the mostimportant decisions are the ones you make most often. The "big" decision whether to call what you think might be a River Bluff "feels" much more important, but it happens so rarely and the odds are usually close either way, so it is not actually that important to your expected return. Making lots of small errors in playing things like K9 off-suit, is where the money really disappears.

Aggressiveness

Learn to be the one doing the Betting and Raising. Don't be the one doing the Calling and Folding. Being Aggressive, as it is called, has the enormous advantage of giving you two ways to win any Pot:
  • You have the best hand at showdown (and you should have started with a premium hand); and

  • They may all fold (and they know you are a Tight rat anyway).

A word of warning: being Loose and Aggressive is the fastest way to lose your money (It is also the fastest way to win money if you know what you are doing).

Tight and Aggressive

Getting a reputation for being very Tight and very Aggressive (on the rare occasions you are in the contest) and sizing your bets according to the probabilities to maximise their mistakes is the surest route to becoming a winning amateur with relatively low variance.

It may be boring but you will be winning money from the Loose Passive "fish" who are there to "have fun" and who are "scared" to take the initiative.

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