You Do Not Have to Win Every Pot

Some players think they must do everything in their power to win every pot they enter. Most players are not comfortable with the idea of conceding money to another player. While it is often fun to constantly scoop chips, you will find that most players who strongly desire to win each pot they enter, whether it is very few pots or almost every one, will lose a huge amount of money in the long run.

A common winning strategy in small stakes no-limit hold’em is to play a relatively tight, conservative strategy. While you will only win a small number of pots, you will tend to win a high percentage of the pots you enter because your opponents will mostly be playing trashy hands that you have dominated. If you start with the best hand, you should expect to win more often than players who start with weak holdings.

It is not uncommon to see a tight, aggressive player vastly overplay a decent, but not amazing hand, such as top pair with a good kicker, because they perceive it to be a “strong” holding. They assume that since their hand is “strong,” they should try to get their entire stack in. For example, if you see a flop with five other players, assuming the stacks are around 75 big blinds or more, A-K is usually not too strong on a K-J-9 board if one of your opponents wants to put his entire stack in the pot. You must be aware that your top pair, top kicker is likely beat. If you do not find a snug fold, you will have a difficult time winning money. When someone clearly loves their hand, you must have a premium hand to continue. Don’t be afraid to listen to what your straightforward opponents are trying to tell you.

Eventually, these tight, aggressive players realize they can win more money if they start playing a few more hands before the flop, eventually resulting in them evolving into loose, aggressive players. If you are aggressively fighting for a high percentage of the pots, you will find that you often have the worst hand. If someone is used to winning a high percentage of the pots they enter, they are often uncomfortable with the idea of losing a decent portion of the pots where they invest money.

This is where the vast majority of players fail. They revert back to playing a tight strategy and never move up to higher games. If you want to succeed in the middle and high stakes games, you must accept that you will lose pots on a regular basis. If you can lose money without experiencing any sort of emotional turmoil, you will be well on your way to becoming a world-class poker player. ♠

Jonathan Little, 2-time World Poker Tour champion has won more than $6 million in tournaments since 2006. He is sponsored by 3bet.com, Instapoker and BlueSharkOptics and teaches poker at FloatTheTurn.com and www.JonathanLittleSecrets.com. Follow him on Twitter @ JonathanLittle.