Fine so you have read countless poker books, you have seen loads of televised poker tournament action and you have even subscribed to an online coaching site. You really think that you can play poker but can you? It all depends of course on just what your definition of playing poker actually is. If you mean that you know a fair bit about the game then you are probably right.

But there is far more to playing poker than merely knowing about poker. You see the vast majority of information that is spread all over the Internet is of absolutely no relevance whatsoever in teaching people how to play poker. How can I possibly know this? Well this is because becoming a skilled poker player moves beyond merely reading and studying.

These are all important too of course but there is more to playing poker then mere theory. One of the biggest tests for any player is not in what they know but if they can apply what they know and keep on applying what they know even in the face of intense provocation in the form of bad beats and outdraws.

Many wise professional players have remarked that keeping ones cool and composure the whole time is perhaps the single biggest advantage that any poker player can have and I believe this to be true. I really do believe that poker is an almost impossible nut to crack for so many people simply because they have the totally wrong mindset.

Learning how to play poker is an experience that moves beyond just merely learning and then replicating knowledge. It is often a learning curve that involves not just learning how to play poker but also learning about yourself as well. You may find that there will be many things that you cannot do as a poker players and it will be just as vital to understand what you cannot do from what you can.

Poker and the mastery of it (if you can ever master a game like poker) involve a process of continual learning. I know several players who played online poker back in 2000-2001 whom then for various reasons stopped playing. I knew what these players knowledge levels were back then and they were actually considered good players at that time. But they just simply failed to adapt to the constantly and rapidly changing poker environment and their games are now woefully inadequate.

The process of “how to play poker” is a never ending one. This is simply because you can never stop learning about the game. There are always players to learn about, adjustments to be made, and factors to be taken into consideration. So in this aspect then you are really learning how to play poker all the time. Anyone who thinks that they have got this game sussed is really in for a rude awakening and the best mindset to have is to accept that you constantly need to learn and adapt and if you can do that then you will be one step ahead of the rest.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson