Controlling your emotion and aggression in poker part one

I really don’t think that you can be a very good Holdem poker player without learning to control your emotions. Or let me put that another way, to not lose total control of your emotions as keeping total control all the time is probably an impossibility. Poker after all is not just a game of cards with mathematics thrown in. If this was all there was to poker then it would be all too simple for people to become good at it.

All they would have to do would be to buy a few good books, read them a few times so that their technical game was up to scratch and then go out and play and win money…..if only life were that simple! So many factors influence winning and losing that have nothing to do with the actual cards or the mathematics of the situation. Most winning poker players are actually not that much better technically than many break even or losing poker players.

This statement may surprise a few people but I believe it to be true. Winning poker players have more than just sound technical games. They practice game selection, proper bankroll management principles, possess strong emotional discipline, select the best seats at the table, only play when they are fresh etc etc.

Non of those criteria has anything to do with the cards themselves and yet, anyone who fails to address at least some of those issues will not be successful in cash game poker or if they play poker tournaments. This is before we even consider successful players who work tirelessly on their games non stop and analyse their opponents play to death by using tracking software. But the point of this hand example is that whether you are playing live poker or online, your opponents are living breathing entities who have the very same emotions that you do. It is often said that how a person plays poker reflects their personality to a large extent.

While I am no psychologist, I do believe this statement to be true in general. Here I want to discuss aggression in poker and in particular over aggression. Aggression in poker can be either a result of education or an emotional response. Players who start off being passive in the early stages of their poker lives and then later become more tight aggressive are usually doing so because they have educated themselves in what is proper poker strategy.

They have either read some good poker books or sought advice on a poker forum, played poker or maybe seen something on television or read a magazine. But whatever the source, their education has resulted in changes to their game. But some other players are aggressive in poker almost from the off. They have strong aggressive tendencies or are just looking for action in general. For them, it can be the thrill or forcing someone out of a pot that is the driving force behind why they play poker. Look out for part two of this series coming shortly.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Author – “Winning Cash Game Poker”

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