On the surface playing poker is extremely simple and even winning in it isn’t that hard – if you can settle for the small wins. However there are many things that poker pros do better than the people who are aspiring to be pros and even the people that win small amounts. In this article we will look at some of those things. Hopefully you can pick up a thing or two to improve your poker game and increase your winnings.

1)       Bankroll management

The world’s most famous investor Warren Buffet is said to have two rules when it comes to investing: 1) never lose money 2) never forget the first rule. Now obviously never losing in poker is impossible due to the luck involved. However the point is that if you go broke you are out. Thus you should always minimize the risk of losing your whole bankroll and being forced out of the game.

Basic bankroll requirements: Assuming you are a winning player the following bankroll requirements should be enough to protect your poker bankroll: No limit holdem: 50 buyins, fixed limit holdem: 1000 big bets, pot limit Omaha: 100 buyins.

2)       Abusing the weak players

Poker pros know how to get the maximum value out of the weak players. They will spot their leak, which is often being too loose, and then constantly abuse the leak so that in the end the weak player is left wondering what the hell went wrong this time. Your average guys and wannabes might notice that the player is too loose but they either don’t have the balls or the intelligence to get the maximum value out of the player.

3)       Knowing their limits

Poker pros know when they are playing bad and will quit for the day. They also know which games are too difficult for them to beat and which players they should try to avoid.

4)       Always learning

Average poker player learns the basic strategy and plays with it till he or she has lost all the moneys. Poker pros are always trying to learn new strategies and work on improving their game.

5)       Mental strength

They say that everyone will run worse in poker than they ever thought was possible. And at least based on our experiences this is 100% true. The poker pros have the stomach to fight through horrendous runs and countless bad beats. Your average poker players will tilt, play too big games and eventually lose their money and quit poker for good when they hit the huge downswing.

6)       Poker pros think wannabes don’t.

In all its simplicity the above is true. Normal poker players only act when they play poker they don’t think through the situations and instead simply go by what their guts tells them. Poker pros always analyze the situation in order to come up with the best possible play and move for the situation. This is also why it usually takes longer from the poker pros to make their decisions then from the normal players.