Playing casino poker is quite different from playing in a home game. There are certain procedures and protocols you will need to understand before you sit down to play. It's not difficult making the transition from the kitchen to the cardroom and you will find that playing poker in the casino has many advantages over a home game.

One of the biggest advantages to playing in the cardroom is the availability of games any day or time you want to play. You won't have to worry if one of your regular players can't make it for the weekly game. You also don't have to worry about time constraints. You can play for as long as you want.

In a cardroom, you will find many players that are just out for a good time and don't play the game very well. When you are playing at home, and you have a poor player who loses all the time, he usually gives up playing after a few sessions. In a cardroom when a loser busts out and leaves the table, there are other players waiting to get into the game.
There are some procedures you need to be aware of when you play in a casino. You don't just walk up to a table and sit down. When you enter the poker room you must sign in at the desk. You tell the host what game you are interested in playing. If there is an opening you will be seated immediately. If the table is full they will take your mitials and call you when there is an opening. Some casinos have a large board where they will write your name or initials or they will write your name on a list. Either way you will be called when it is your turn.

When your name is called, the poker room host will show you to your table. In some rooms the host will ask you how much you would like to buy in for and get you your chips when you are seated. At other casinos you will purchase the chips from the dealer when you sit down. You are allowed to bring chips from other games. All games have a minimum buy-in, which for most low-limit games is usually $30.

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Poker is a positive-expectation game. This means that a good player can expect to make money over the long run using skill to outplay other players. No player, regardless of how skillful he may be, will win every time. Any time you play a game with an element of luck involved, you will encounter fluctuations brought upon by the mere luck of the draw. The ebb and flow of positive and negative fluctuation is luck. The positive end of the spectrum is good luck and the negative end is bad luck.

Even a bad player can get "lucky" from time to time, winning hands by getting miracle flops or catching an improbably winning card on the river. Conversely a good player can suffer a string of bad luck causing him to lose.

All players at one time or another will experience a losing streak. When this happens we need to determine if the losing was brought about by bad play on our part or just on a negative fluctuation in the luck of the draw. When you start losing, the first thing to do is to look at your game a little more thoroughly. One thing is certain; a losing streak can affect us psychologically. It can wreak havoc with us emotionally, causing us to second guess and question our own abilities and our play.

If the losing streak is being caused by bad play you need to determine why and then take action to correct the situation. There are several things you should ask yourself first. Did you loosen your standards for starting hands? Are you misreading the board? Are you playing too aggressively? If you can honestly answer no to these questions, then it may be that you were just suffering a string of bad luck.

If your losses are being caused by a bad run of the cards, then it's time to batten down the hatches and weather the storm. One thing you can do to combat a losing streak is to tighten up your game a little more. Play only the very best hands and forgo some of the drawing hands that you might have been playing.

My results during my first year of play were well above the normal expectations. I knew that I was playing well, but I also realized that my results would probably even out as time progressed. What I did not realize was that part of this would come in the form of a long losing streak at the start of my second year of playing the game. I began with a small loss after a session where every hand I called with was second best. Straights were beaten by flushes and flushes were beaten by full houses. I attributed the loss to normal fluctuations of the cards and was not too concerned.

My next session brought about the same results as the previous session. I was playing once or twice a week and this continued for a six-week period. In the past I had a few losing sessions in a row, but nothing to compare with my present slump. By the fourth week, I was starting to question my own play and decided to sit down to take a closer look at exactly what I was doing differently.

I found that I had been playing more drawing hands than I had in the past. Even though I was getting correct odds to make the draws, I was not succeeding in my attempts. This contributed to my losing sessions. I also noted that I had been playing longer sessions. I resolved to tighten my standards and go back to the tight game plan I had used when I started playing, and shorten my sessions. My fifth week I broke even, and then posted a win during my sixth week. I had snapped the losing streak by getting back to basics.

I was able to get back to winning by making some adjustments in my play. There was nothing seriously wrong with my game. While I was not pleased with the losing streak, I actually think that it helped improve me as a player. Rather than losing confidence in myself, I was able to overcome the negative emotional impact of the streak by honestly analyzing my own game.

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I have found a large number of poker players who regularly practice some sort of meditation or conditioning to help keep them calm and mentally alert in the game. They are not the only ones.

We have all had times when we have experienced peak performance. Athletes call it being "In the Zone,"; Zen Masters call it "Being as One"; others call it "Experiencing Flow." It is that time when all outside distractions are blocked out and our concentration is devoted solely to the task at hand. It can happen in our everyday work, when we play a game, read a book, see a movie, or play poker. When this happens, we are totally unaware of outside forces and time seems to speed by. In my first tournament win I actually was so much in the zone I was unaware when I actually had taken over as chip leader. My total concentration was on the game. This was not the first time I had been in the zone and I later learned that with a little practice you can learn to trigger this state and enter the zone on command with the help of a post hypnotic anchor.

A friend and fellow gaming author introduced me to the work of late psychologist Steven Heller, who taught many people how to enter the zone to achieve peak performance. Further study led me to the work of others who use the same simple technique, which is a form of self-hypnosis and visualization. Here is how to do it.
1. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed. Sit in a chair or lie down and make yourself very comfortable.

2. Think of a time when you had one of your greatest achievements or a time when you were totally confident. This might be a night when you had your best win at the tables. In my case I use my first tournament win, when I was making all the right moves at the table. This will be your power image.

3. Now mentally visualize everything you felt and heard when your power image was taking place. Amplify the feelings and images in your mind. Make the sound louder and the picture brighter.

4. When you amplify your power image you will get a feeling of supreme confidence. You will feel a sudden burst of energy. When this happens, you squeeze your thumb and index finger together forming a circle. This becomes your physical anchor to this image. You can also repeat a name or phrase associated with this image as your squeeze your fingers together. I use the code phrase "concentrate."

5. Repeat this routine ten times visualizing your power image while bringing your fingers together and repeating your code phrase. This will reinforce the link between your fingers and the confident feeling.

6. Repeat this exercise once or twice a day. Eventually you will be able to trigger your confident feeling and peak performance any time you desire.
7. You can use this at the poker table if you suffer a bad beat or if you feel your concentration slipping away. You can also use this in your daily life, anytime you find yourself in a situation where you need to be confident when making decisions.

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Shut Up and Deal, Jessie May says, "Poker is a combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill part is hard, but they're wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck."

It is critical that you learn to keep your emotions in check when you play. Every player is going to suffer bad beats and losing hands. It's the luck of the draw and bad players do get lucky at times. It is the player who can remain calm in the face of adversity who will be the ultimate winner in the long run. All the poker experts advise learning how to play "tilt free" poker. Most of the time it is more than one incident that will set a player off. I think most of us know when we start to feel our emotions building up.

There are several things you can do when you feel you are on the verge of losing control. The first thing to do is take a deep breath. Breathing gets more oxygen to the brain and will help clear up your thinking. It is the first thing you are taught if you have ever tried any form of meditation or deep relaxation exercises. It is very simple and can be done right at the poker table without being too noticeable.

1. Take in a deep breath through your nose. Count to four as you are doing this filling your lower diaphragm.

2. Hold your breath while counting to four again.
3. Slowly exhale through your mouth.
4. Repeat this four times.

If deep breathing does not help sooth you, get up and leave the table for a few minutes. Take a walk to the rest room. If the walk does not calm you down try washing your face and hands. A little cool Water will help cool off the hot temper that you are feeling.
After taking a break, if you find that you are still not in control °f your emotions, then you have no choice but to leave the game. If the cause of your aggravation is one particular player then you can switch tables if that is possible. If not, quit playing altogether. It is better to call it a night then to risk going on tilt.

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"Going on tilt" is the expression used when players become upset and lose control of their emotions. Consequently they start making poor decisions and play badly. A player on tilt will start to play any starting hands and call when he should not. If he has just suffered a bad beat, this could trigger him to go on tilt. He has lost money and is trying to make it back in one or two hands by playing overly aggressively with weak hands. His play becomes irrational. Like a child having a temper tantrum, he acts out in anger throwing chips in the pot trying to intimidate the other player. This will usually just lead to more losses.

Sometimes a player will get to the point where he just doesn't care how much money he has lost. Poker expert Mike Caro calls this crossing the threshold of pain. A player may be down a few hundred dollars and then figure what the heck does another hundred matter. It will matter a lot the next day to most players.

Players can go on tilt or steam when they direct anger at another player. This particular opponent may have beaten them out of a hand and they are now on a vendetta to get that person. They will raise and re-raise in hope of beating this player and getting their money back. This usually will backfire.

Players on tilt present a profitable situation for those at the table with a cool head. Often you will make money from one of these players. They will be throwing money around and it is up to you to catch it. Some may argue that its wrong to kick someone when he's down, but a player on tilt is fair game in a casino poker game. Just make sure it is not you.

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Hold'em is more than just a card game. Whenever you are dealing with people you are also dealing with psychological factors. Your emotions as a player can have a large impact on your game. They say that winning can be simple. All you have to do is always play your best game. This is easier said than done for most of us. We can be our own worst enemies at times.

There are several factors that contribute to our own state of mind. Whenever you play, you should be well rested, alert and free from worrying about other problems in your life. If you bring these problems to the table with you, it can only interfere with playing your "A" game. Here is a tip that will save you money.

If you are getting ready to drive to the cardroom and you start to debate whether you really feel like playing, STAY HOME! Don't waste your time or your gas. You will more than likely have a losing session because your head is not in the game and you haven't even left home yet.

Playing your best, or "A" game, means that you are paying attention to the game at all times. You are aware of what hands the other players are playing. You are concentrating on reading the board. You know what the pot odds are when you call a bet. You also are playing premium starting hands.

You should also be confident of your own abilities. You don't have to be the best player in the world to win at Texas Hold'em. You just have to be better than the other players at the table. Some players can easily intimidate other players. This can happen if you find yourself over matched or in a ramming jamming game with a bunch of maniac players. You need to be aware of this. If, for any reason, you don't feel you can play your best game against the opponents at the table, or you think you are in over your head, then you should get out and find a different game.

Your game can also be affected by the play at the table. Some nights you will sit for hour after hour folding hand after hand while other players are winning with pure garbage. You will be tempted to start loosening up your standards for starting hands. Don't do it! When you do, you are getting away from your best game. If you are losing hand after hand, or are suffering bad beats, you could go on tilt.

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Bad beats are like the weather. Everyone talks about it but nobody can do anything to change it. The weather is really a boring subject and so are bad beats. Everyone has suffered bad beats and by constantly talking about them you make yourself look like a whiner and a loser. If you want to talk about poker, why would you want to talk about your defeats? Whining about bad beats will not put fear into any of your opponents. Poker expert Mike Caro suggests you tell your opponents how lucky you have been and how the cards have been going your way. This will portray a winning image rather than a losing one. So the next time you get ready to tell a bad beat story, stop and ask yourself why would you want to tell a story about losing.

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