If you play poker often, and you understand the game exactly since it is, you probably know that you can find misconceptions among individuals with no direct experience. You have probably heard many of these erroneous viewpoints. In the event that you are like me, you spend a fair amount of time explaining to uninformed people precisely just what the game is and what it really is not. For the benefit of all, this information will clear up several of the greater common misconceptions.

Alternatively, if you never play poker, as well as your entire experience of the game is what you read in print and find out in movies, you probably have many wrong ideas. Which is to be expected. Please, allow me to enlighten you on several points.

Poker is just not casual. Many individuals think of the game as a mellow social pastime, where friends sit around drinking, laughing and whooping it up. Actually, there is nothing friendly about poker. You may be cordial with others at your table (and also you should be), but the game itself is vicious. Played properly, it is a form of warfare. It's an aggressive battle for domination. I think of poker as "violence, without the violence."

A poker face is just not the main requirement to play. I can not tell you how often I hear this misconception. Just about any time I mention poker to someone whose only exposure to the game will be the media, I hear some lame comment like, "Oh, you need to have a good poker face." No, a poker face, a steely-eyed gaze, just isn't the essence of skillful play. True, you do not want to be sending tells to your opponents, though the so-called poker face is widely misunderstood. The ability to create a poker face does not make you an excellent player. Consider this: When you play online, everyone has a poker face.

Winning at poker just isn't easy. Blame television due to this one. You generally see only the winners on television. Folks who win get the most exposure and are most often featured. The final table in a tournament, one example is is comprised solely of players who are winners. Very little attention will be paid to people who lose, say nothing of a large proportion who bust out of tournaments without fanfare. Playing well takes a big amount of study, discipline and practice. Succeeding at the game is far from automatic.

Women can play. The idea that poker is exclusively a man's game is the one other falsehood. Years ago, many well-known authors wrote that women don't possess the killer instinct essential to play well. Time has proven that theory wrong. Currently, women compete at every level, and an abundance of skilled women win in cash games and tournaments. The concept that poker is a man's game is laughable right now, and I wouldn't have included it among common misconceptions were it not for the very fact that many still believe it.

Poker is just not a game of mathematics. In blackjack, by way of example, you always have one best move at any moment. Your task is to ascertain what that move is. Should you have 13 and the dealer is showing an ace, then you should hit. Which is always true, no matter who is seated at the table or what they can be doing. Poker differs. You must take other players into mind, as well as the mathematically preferable move may not be wise. Top caliber players often debate what is the best move in a particular situation. Poker cannot be reduced to mathematics because you'll find too many human factors.

Poker is a not game of luck. This really is perhaps the most typical misconception, and it's dead wrong. Luck averages out. Over time, all players receive the same number of good hands and bad hands. The real difference is what players do with those hands. The best player will maximize the total amount won with good hands and minimize the amount lost with bad hands. The key element that separates winners from losers, over time, is not the cards dealt, though the decisions made. Stu Unger, three-time World Series of Poker champion, put it this way: "In cards, the luck always balances out. The good players will be going to win. Any player that thinks card playing gambling is a game of luck, I'll show you a fool. That is what the losers always say. The winners don't be worried about the short-run; we play for the long-term."

Cheating just isn't rampant. The prevalence of cheating is the one other incorrect impression held by many. In private backroom games, cheating does happen occasionally. But in modern casino cardrooms and high-profile tournaments, where most of today's professionals play, cheating is virtually nonexistent. (Online, on the flip side, is a different story. It really is possible to cheat when playing on the internet, as a result of the nature of the technology.) Although cheating is technically possible in certain situations, and it does happen, it's not nearly the component that many people suppose. In the event you are hesitant to play poker out of fear of being cheated, you are overreacting.

Poker is not an addiction. No matter what the media might have you believe, a large proportion of poker enthusiasts play since they benefit from the game, not since they are hooked in certain way. Sure, a tiny portion of players do struggle with addiction, nevertheless they are people who have an addictive personality, whether they play poker. We shouldn't blame poker for someone's compulsive behavior anymore than we should blame sex for somebody being a rapist.

Poker just isn't sleazy. There's nothing even remotely "underbelly" concerning this beautiful game. A great many good and decent folks play for a wide range of reasons, for example fun, challenge and personal betterment. Poker highlights the best of human interaction and calls into play the most honorable of human qualities, such as courage, sound reasoning and self-control. The game is a wonderful way to build character.

Poker isn't illegal. A lot of people with a functioning brain do not actually believe this, however the forces of misguided morality want you to assume that the game is against the law. It's not. Poker is not linked to crime in almost any way. Nor is it controlled by the mob. Not is it dangerous. You do not need to be on the lookout for gangsters. Or gunplay. No, you do not need to carry a sidearm and shoot your way out of the casino to protect your loot. You have been watching too many movies.

These are several common misconceptions held by many in the public. If you encounter people who these ideas, please set them straight. But be understanding; it is not their fault that they hold these incorrect viewpoints, that are passed off as fact everywhere in today's media. It rests with us, intelligent members of the poker-playing community, to spread the truth concerning the magnificent game of poker.

ISSN: 1692-7257