Hold'em Poker

Is there anything in America hotter than Texas Holdem? Is there a game that brings together every nationality, ethnicity, gender and age demographic, like a good game of Hold'em? The United Nations ought to use Hold'em as a tool to facilitate talks with feuding nations; although, the idea may wind up blowing-up in their faces, pardon the bad pun.

With Hold'em as hot as it is means that there are hundreds of thousands of relatively inexperienced players out there. Not that Hold'em is a game that one needs to go to college to learn, after all, fundamentally, it's an easy game to learn.

Ultimately, Hold'em is a game of luck so even a rookie can conceivably go on to greatness. With that said, there are some basic things that should be considered when playing Texas Hold em, especially if you're new to the game.

Discipline at Hold'em

A player can know everything they need to know about Hold'em but unless they have the discipline to incorporate their acquired skills at the table, all their knowledge is rendered useless. Discipline is easier in theory than when practiced.

Ernest Hemingway was a big fan of grace under pressure. Grace comes from having the discipline to not waver in the face of challenge. There's no way to measure discipline, either you have it or you don't. You can have it and lose it, at crucial times, in which case you have to discipline yourself to not lose your discipline. It's impossible to work too much on discipline.

Discipline When Betting at Texas Holdem

Having the discipline to do the right thing, at the right time, every single time, is the cornerstone of being a successful Hold'em player. Nowhere else is this discipline put to task than when betting. Of course, strategy differs if you're playing in a poker tournament rather than a ring-game, where you want to win pots, as opposed to a tournament where you want to win big, but still, betting is the cornerstone of applying discipline.

If you bet the way you're supposed to bet, the results don't even matter. Let others worry about the outcome. They'll be other games, so win or lose; a player should be focused on disciplining themselves and developing a style. When playing Hold'em, a player should think of themselves as a disciplined warrior, ready to pounce on weak opponents, and do battle against those who are more experienced and have more chips than you. A warrior is always ready for battle because they are disciplined to be that way!

Good luck at the poker table!