The first step of the solid player to shark transformation... thinking about the money!

Like everybody, you've been thinking about "playing well". You wanted to be a solid player, to play your hands better than everybody else. Now, let me present you another aspect of the game, the money! As a poker shark, you play in a way to get as much money of out it as possible, you will play your hands thinking about making the money flow the right way, your way!

The money flow

If you have never asked yourself what exactly makes the money flow in a poker game, it's start your start thinking about it. Well, don't think too long, I'll tell you, it's the mistakes! In the short term, luck does her tricks, but in the long run, money flows from the players who makes the most mistakes to those who makes less mistakes. It's as simple as that. So, now you've been thinking about playing well, that sure does help not making mistakes, but that's only half of the equation, don't forget that the more others do mistakes against you, the more money you make!

Play in a way to help your opponents make mistakes

I see many solid poker players, do you want to know what is the biggest mistake they do all the time? They sometime "force" their opponents into making the right decision! Here's a very typical example:

You play in a no limit 1$-2$ game, there are 8 players at the table and you are on the dealer button with Ah Jh. Your opponent raise to 8$ from CO with TT, you call him and everybody else folded. The flop comes 2h 6c Th, he bets 15$, you call hoping to get your flush and your opponent just figured out that you have a flush draw. Turn comes 3d, he pushed all in for 100$. He does that because if wants you to fold, to be sure you do not get your flush, this way he can safely take down the 38$ pot.

Your opponent made the mistake, he forced you to take the right decision and fold your flush draw against his set! It's never a good decision to make your opponent do the right thing, you want him to make as much mistakes as possible because this is what makes the money flow your way!

Now, let's put ourselves in the shoes of your opponent and say you have bet 35$, many players would go see the river trying to catch their flush. Lets compare the 2 scenarios:

You push all in and "force" him to fold, you win 49$ every time.

You bet 35$, when you win the hand, you win 49$ + 35$ = 84$. You odds of winning the hands are 84%, so you lose another 35$ 16% of the time, which makes an expected value of (84% * 84$) - (16% * 35$) = 64.96$.

That 64.96$ - 49$ = 15.96$ (can we say 16$?) more per hand in the long run! Try to get your opponent to do mistakes, as big mistakes as possible and as often as possible.

Hey, you've already worked on half of poker, reducing your mistakes, time to think about making those other players do more mistakes! I'll finish this introduction to advanced concepts with a list of the most important mistakes that you need to help your opponents do:

- Help them pay too much for their draws!

- Help them play too many hands out of position!

- Help them fold when you have just a draw!

- Make sure they have opportunities to lose their whole stack on top pair when you have a strong hand!