Sticking to the game plan

No matter if you are playing high-limit cash games or just playing over a couple of dollars with your friends, one thing is important. And that is sticking to you’re game plan and not changing your game just because you are loosing at the moment. Maybe start calling every hand just because your tactics of playing tight and aggressive aren’t working at the moment. Or fold really good hands because you’re afraid to loose a big pot with your good hand against an even better hand. Just try and think in the long run that maybe you are loosing at the moment but in the long run you will go winning out of the game.

Changing gears are a totally different thing and an important skill to get if you want to get good at poker. This is extremely good while playing tournament poker but can just as easy be used while playing cash game. It sounds easy, just start playing aggressive after playing passively for some time and the other way around, but is in fact a very hard thing to do. Maybe it’s because we people like routines so much and don’t want to mix things up all the time. Or maybe it’s because we play in a certain way because of the simple reason that we feel comforted playing this certain way. Start raising preflop every other hand can feel strange and even uncomfortable for a passive player but is nevertheless an important part of the game. And maybe tone down your raises so that you might get some more respect while making an important move on the monster pot.

If you can’t change your gears while playing poker the risk is that other players will notice that and start attacking your blinds all the time. The feeling that you are just bleeding your money away in small pots all the time isn’t a nice feeling and therefore should be avoided at all cost. Even if that means you have to play outside of you’re comfort zone and put your tactics at risk.