How to make money playing poker

I read Greenstein's book, and here's what I got out of it. This is stuff I've heard millions of times, and most of you probably have also, and alot of you will think this is obvious, so bear with me for being behind. I don't think I ever really got it until I read this book.

Anyway, it seems to me that this 2 step process is the secret to winning poker:

1 - Win large sums of money from players who are MUCH worse than you. This can be either because they are a) just not good and playing above their level or b) good but playing poorly because they're tired/on tilt/drunk/etc.

2 - Avoid losing large sums of money to players who are MUCH better than you. This can also be a) because they're just much better than you, or b) because YOU are tired/on tilt/drunk/etc.

Barry Greenstein doesn't play 5 handed with Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Chau Giang and make millions playing poker. You won't make much money playing poker either, if you play with people who are equally as good/slightly worse than you. That's just not how it works.

Your profitability on the poker table isn't going to swing way up or way down depending on whether your continuation bets are 3/4 the pot or 2/3 the pot, or whether you limp, raise or fold suited connectors in MP. It's also not going to depend, as Barry says in his book, on the fact that you are .01% better than the guy to your left.

So what does this mean to your poker game? Well, I'm still trying to piece that together for myself. Oviously it means that game selection is essential, probably the single most important skill in being a profitable poker player. Again, this is something I've heard a million times, but blew it off.

On the flip side, it means that TILT is pretty much the worst thing you can do. You become the fish and lose large chunks of money. That's not what you want.

More importantly, at least to me, it means this - you don't have to be some kind of godly psychic poker player to be able to make it. I think we all have this idea that at some point on our climb up the poker ladder we're going to run into a place where 100% of the players play great all the time, and to be winners we're going to have to perfect some super secret advanced techniques and maneuvers that we've never seen before.
There will be players that are better than you, always. But their advantage over you, if you've worked your way up and understand how to play the game, will be so miniscule that your winnings off of the players that are MUCH worse than will more than make up for it.

That's all I got. I hope this makes sense to someone.

Makes sense to me. I'm presently working on a system to help one observe the table, take the proper kinds of notes, and refine one's play for the players who are there, as well as the general table texture.

To begin: sit in in late position if you can, hit "wait for big blind", and jot down the name of anyone who raises PF in that round. You will need to keep doing this as you play, or the sample size will be too small, but you'll know forthwith who the aggs are. And you'll hopefully get to see what they raise with.

You also need a set of memorized, prepared adjustments that you make once you have a feel for the table. For example: if it's pretty Laggy, you'll be folding 66-22 in early position ... you don't want a raise behind with this stuff. If loose & passive, you can usually limp them etc.

Over time, i stopped complaining about the fish in the lower stakes when they don't respect raises, etc, but then I realized, I only made money from them or major suckouts. Players tend to not realize their stacks come from the deep pockets of weaker players.

There was a thread recently that asked what to do when a player at the table has your number. A lot of people said you should stay and work out how to beat him. My thinking is that life is too short and there are so many other tables I could sit down at and dominate (and continue to make money rather than languish). Like you said, the assumption is that sooner or later you will need to know how to beat that type of player. It may be true, it may not. I’ll worry about it when I get to that level.

nice post and i agree whole heartedly. I reccomend the Psychology of Poker by Alan Shoonmaker - he emphasises this factor and how important game selection is. He also describes in depth the 4 main types of players, their motives and reasonings so you can get into their head somewhat and play better against their style.

For me personally Im buildign my BR at micro-stakes where I feel table selection is less important (after all you can win with simple ABC poker here) and I just aim to sit to the right of the big stakes.

When I move up stakes i'll be paying alot more attention to the table and players as im sure this would have a huge impact on profits.