A lot of people like to play poker. However, only 10% of these players manage to win. This means that only 10 players out of 100 people manage to win. The most obvious answer is that these 90% do not have any idea that they are doing it wrong.
For some of them, they watch a few tournaments, buy poker strategy books, devise their own poker systems and play the game. Another reason why these people lose is that they fail to understand that the poker systems they devised does not contain what is supposed to be the most important thing in poker.
Even some poker strategy books fail to include this one important thing. So what is it? Successful poker systems should help a player win money and not win hands. Most people, especially the 90% already mentioned, play order in order to win hands. These players make poker systems that enable to make them win small pots. However when a big pot is in front of them, they bet everything and lose badly.
Another reason is that these players imitate what they see on poker tournaments. They try to do what they see on the television. They compute their odds, analyze their opponents and play a hand. Again, the reason why this poker system fails is that it is aimed at winning hands instead of money. But television focuses on the hands, you say. Keep in mind that poker tournaments shown on television always emphasize on the drama and not much on the money.
Before moving on, let us go back and see what we know about poker. How does a player win at poker? A player wins when he has the most money.
Now let us look at a simple example. Suppose you start out with $100 dollars and play against three other players. Statistics tells us that you have around 25% chance of winning. Now suppose you 40% of all hands dealt, a lot higher than what was expected, but went home with $90. Or do you prefer winning only around 10% of all hands but going home with $150. It's a no-brainer right?
Remember, when playing poker, there is no need to compute how many hands you are likely to win. If you need to, devise poker systems that is aimed at winning money.
However, this does not mean that you just go out there and play. Strategies will still be involved. The only change compared to other poker systems is the aim. Say your playing a really tight game. Then go ahead and won small pots and even go after blinds. But if the game is somewhat loose, then you could just fold and wait for the right pot. A big pot preferably.
There is really nothing wrong with counting your odds with knowing when to bluff or fold. The most important thing is to remember the true aim of poker. That is, to win money and win it big.