10 Poker Secrets the Pros Don't Want You to Know About

1. It's Not Really About the Cards Most poker amateurs focus much of their attention on the cards that they are dealt. And they get frustrated if they go "card dead" for extended periods of time. However, poker pros know that the large majority of hands in Texas Hold'em do not go to showdown. Therefore, why does it even matter what you have? One of the biggest poker secrets that the pros use to abuse the amateurs is to hammer on them in position again and again and use position to bluff them out of the pot. It's not always about the cards in poker. 2. Never Show a Bluff Another secret that the pros have is they never show a bluff. Amateurs love to proudly display their 72 offsuit when they bluff somebody and have a good chuckle about it. But poker pros know better than to give out free information like this. They know that it is much better to let that doubt fester in their opponent's mind about whether they got bluffed or not. It's not worth the quick little ego boost by showing the bluff. Poker is war. Never give your opponents any free information, ever. 3. Sometimes You Have to Fold Your Aces One of the biggest reasons why amateur poker players lose is because they get married to a big hand like pocket aces or pocket kings. Poker pros know better. They know what AA and KK are just one pair and they can and will routinely get beat. Example of when you need to fold pocket AA: It is very important that you learn to get away from you big overpairs sometimes. This is especially the case on really wet board textures against tight passive opponents. 4. All the Money Comes From 10% of the Players Another one of the biggest poker secrets that the pros know very well is that the vast majority of their winnings comes from about 10% of the player pool. These are the huge whales, fish, fun players, whatever you want to call them. 5. You Make Your Own Luck The next poker secret that the pros know and understand much better than most people is that you make your own luck in this game. They know for instance that it is very easily possible to run bad for 100k or more hands. Heck, tournament pros know that you can literally go years sometimes without winning big! But most people focus on one or two unlucky hands from their most recent poker session and proceed to lose their mind about it. 6. You Have to Love the Grind One of the biggest keys to your success in poker is truly loving the grind. The "grind" is something poker pros refer to as the day to day work you put in at the poker tables. And more specifically the discipline and attention to detail that goes along with that. I have been known for playing some of the most hands in online poker history at the micros. Millions and millions and millions of hands. Many people thought I was crazy or hated on me because of it. But what they didn't understand is that I truly enjoyed waking up each day and playing 5k or 10k hands. Win, lose or draw I truly enjoyed the struggle and the journey. Poker is kind of like weightlifting. You have to fall in love with the lifestyle and the process. Your results over the short term are always going to be all over the place. Learn to enjoy the grind above all else and strive to be the very best in the games you play. Tune everything and everyone else out. 7. Embrace Technology Another poker hack that the pros know is that you have to embrace the power of technology to improve your poker game. There are poker tools and software that can help you get better reads, study your hands, study your opponents, find your leaks and fix them. 8. Never Be the Same Player The next poker secret that most pros will not reveal to you is that they are never the same player from day to day. As I have talked about several times before on this blog, when you play against me at the poker tables you will face a different player every time. You may be up against a complete maniac on Monday who is trying to bluff you every hand. But on Tuesday I am a tight passive Nit who is shoving on you with the nuts. I switch up my play style literally every day. In this way, none of my opponents can ever really get any solid reads on me. As soon as they think they have me figured out as a tight passive Nit I am triple barrel bluffing them again with 8 high. 9. Become a Lifelong Student of the Game Another poker tip that all pros know and understand is that in order to succeed over the long run you need to be a lifelong student of the game. Now don't get me wrong, putting the long hard hours at the tables every single day is more important than anything if you want to succeed in this game. 10. Bring Your A-game Every Single Time The last poker secret that the pros don't want you to know about is that you need to bring your A-game every single time you sit down to play. This means not playing when you are stressed out, depressed, angry, tired, drunk, high and so on. This is why many poker pros also focus so heavily these days on the big three: diet, exercise/strength training and good sleep. Because when you have these in order, you simply have a huge edge on most of your opponents before you even sit down to play against them. You are less likely to tilt, you are thinking more clearly and so on. If you really want to succeed in poker then you need to approach this game with the same kind of dedication and attention to detail that you would find in a professional athlete. By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. 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