It’s time to get out of your comfort zone. Now, I know that you’re probably thinking that you’re already out of your comfort zone just by playing poker, but that’s not enough. You need to make sure that you’re always getting a challenge in. Yes, your win-rate might go down but that isn’t the point here. You need to always be sharpening your skills, unless you’re going to be content to stay in the same poker level forever. Now, some people want to grind it out and play microstakes forever. That’s fine. This article isn’t for them, however.
I’m talking to the players that know that there’s more out there for them than just the basic run of the mill players. But you might be afraid. After all, poker is a psychological game. Some people aren’t ready for that. Other people feel that they can conquer, but then they still don’t take action. Does this mean that it’s the end of the world? Does this mean that there’s no way that you can push forward? Not at all. It’s just time to make sure that you’re in your element here. You don’t want to go overboard. You don’t want to get worked up if you can help it. There’s just a time and a place to move forward, a time and a place to go for new challenges.
Taking on a new poker rival isn’t something that you want to do just for fun and laughter — you need to have a strategy. If you haven’t invested in a heads up display, you need to stop being cheap and just do it. Some people say that they don’t need it, but I think it totally helps you identify who is really on your radar and who is just a fish. Pulling up good stats about the other players in the poker room is a good idea. You can follow them into rooms and possibly take their chips. Be careful though — the other poker players are doing their homework on you. They want to take your chips too. Are you sure that you’re ready to take the action to the next level? This is for real money, of course. So you don’t want to stretch your bankroll beyond what you can handle. If you’re not comfortable with something, you shouldn’t mess with it. That’s really the truth of the matter. I want to see more people taking risks with poker, but risk doesn’t mean recklessness. If you’re a newbie, you don’t take on Scotty Nguyen. However, if you’ve been playing good poker and you see a good set of sharks that would be a fair challenge, it would be a terrible thing if you didn’t engage.
Naturally, it’s a good idea to measure what you’re doing. Look at all of your old game data. Don’t fly blind, when there’s so many different resources to take advantage of. If you have questions on things, don’t be silent — there’s a community board waiting for you. As long as you’re looking to learn, there’s no reason why you can’t get ahead of the game eventually. And yes, you will make mistakes. Mistakes are part of the game. You aren’t always going to win. Get over it. It’s time to take new risks, look at what’s important, and have a good time along the way. What could be better than that?