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The evolution of a poker player

The evolution of a poker player has three stages. First stage of a poker player's life is novice. The beginner poker player tends to bet at almost every hand, losing most of the time. He/she has no poker skills, because he/she has yet to learn them. The novice poker player's moves are predictable, because they are always the same. He/she does not recognize the differences of every play, so he/she does not change his/her strategy.

To help these novice players, countless books on poker have been written. They give tips, plays, and instructions on how to play poker. Usually, they are written by those who have succeeded in poker. With their help, the novice reaches its second stage. The second stage would be the booksmart poker player. This stage is characterized by poker players who have read something about poker and try to use them into play. Though they are an improvement of the novice, they still are not the best because their moves are still predictable because they are based on the books. In addition to that, theoretical poker and actual poker are very much different to each other. The booksmart poker player may think he knows what to do in a game, but a more seasoned player will outsmart him with moves not written in books. Booksmart players will win most of the time over novice poker players, will win over other booksmart players who have read fewer, but will surely lose more to the seasoned poker players.

The last stage is known to be the situational expert. The situational expert recognizes that poker is a game of situations, and that the key to win most of the games is not found in books. Rather, they spend time playing against others and improving their talent. It is also the situational expert that realizes that he/she can win more if he/she has hands only slightly better than his/her opponents' hands. If the opponents always have bad cards, and will sense that you have an excellent hand, they will fold. In this regard, you will win, but you will win only a little money. Therefore a situational poker expert does not always need an excellent hand to win. Because of his/her skills in poker, he can make the worst of cards win. This should be the goal of every aspiring poker players, to learn to use their head. Books will teach the booksmart to win once in a while, but they will not guarantee how you can keep that going for a long time.