Understand the Different Levels of Opponents

They play for insignificant sums, jellybeans, peanuts or even matches, perhaps discussing an occasional aspect of strategy. This `folk wisdom' may only have partial validity or may be plain wrong.

After witnessing the countless 'pseudo-theories' that emerge in poker, it is easy to understand why there are so many religions that are at cross-purposes to one another in the world. Practically every opponent believes himself to be a qualified instructor.

Since losing players far outnumber winning players, this cannot be true. The resources available to a player for study are numerous, but many people still approach poker as a game where the `keys' to successful play spread by word of mouth.

The shifting form of various poker situations leads to this phenomenon; people mistake matters of opinion for matters of fact. There are far fewer debatable strategic plays than most players think. Limit poker, in particular, is often a very mathematical game.

We should break down the different methods players employ to''; learn poker and evaluate them carefully based upon their type of education:

1. Self-taught players
2. Players that form bad habits before study
3. People who follow the advice from the wrong books
4. Players who are able to overcome bad habits or never form them in the first place, but have incorrect conceptual understanding of the game
5. Experts

a typical casino poker

type of education