6 Reasons Why Poker Isn’t the Best Game for You

Poker is one of the best games you can play if you want to have a real chance of making a profit. But if you don’t play it the right way, it’s going to cost you a lot of money.

In this article, you’re going to learn six reasons why poker players lose. This is going to help you understand why poker might not be the best gambling option for you, and it’s also going to show you where you need to improve when you decide to play poker.

1 – You Want Simple Gambling Options

When you play slot machines, just find a machine, stick some money in, and press a button. When you buy a lottery ticket, you give the clerk some money, get a ticket, and wait for the draw to see if you win. These are simple forms of gambling that anyone can do.

If you’re looking for simple gambling options, poker isn’t what you want to play.

However, if you spend time learning how to play winning poker, it does get easier. Most plays are automatic once you learn how to win, but you’re never going to be able to stop thinking when you play poker.

The problem with simple gambling options is that they usually have low returns. Poker can give you positive returns, and simple games don’t give you positive returns. I mentioned lottery games and slot machines earlier. These happen to be two of the worst games you can play when it comes to returns.

2 – You Aren’t Interested in Learning Strategy

To be a good poker player, you need to learn strategy. In fact, you need to learn multiple strategies to win. If you’re not interested in learning strategy, poker isn’t the game for you.

The problems with playing gambling games that don’t require strategy are the same as playing gambling games that are simple. You’re going to be playing games that have low returns.

The only way to get high returns when you gamble is to use strategy. This is true for blackjack, video poker, poker, betting on sports, betting on horses, and even when you play baccarat.

Some gambling games have easier strategies than others. And the truth is that poker strategy is about as hard as it gets. But it’s worth it to learn all of the poker strategies because when you do, you can win. Most gambling activities don’t give you a real chance to win.

Before you give up on playing poker, investigate poker strategy. You might find that you enjoy the challenge. And you might just find that you can play well enough to win eventually. But if you’re 100% sure you don’t want to play a strategy game, skip the poker tables.

3 – You’re Not Good at Math

You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to be a winning poker player, but you do have to use some math if you want to win. The good news is that the math you need for poker isn’t too hard to learn. The bad news is that some people never learn the math well enough to win.

If you don’t think you’re good at math, you shouldn’t use this as an excuse to avoid playing poker. You might be able to quickly pick up what you need to know. But you’re never going to know until you try.

Poker math is based on the 52 cards in the deck. This makes it simpler than using calculus or geometry, but it does require some simple skills.

The good news is that once you learn the poker math skills you need, you’re not going to be doing advanced math at the table. You’re going to learn what the math says to do in most situations, so you can just do the same things over and over.

If math isn’t your thing and is never going to be your thing, you can safely skip the poker tables. But don’t give up until you give it a try.

4 – You Can’t Tell a Lie

Most people are honest most of the time. And some people can tell lies all day and make you believe them. You don’t have to be a great liar to play poker, but it helps if you can hide the truth.

One of the best things about poker is that nobody at the table has all of the information. You’re not sure what the other players have and they’re not sure what you have.

In order to be a winning poker player, you have to learn how to guess what your opponents have and you have to hide what you have.

This can be as simple as training yourself to act the same no matter what hand you have. This can be challenging when you look down and see pocket aces, but you can’t afford to give away the strength of your hand.

You don’t have to actually speak any lies to be a good poker player. In fact, the less you speak when you play, the better. If you’re not talking when you play, you won’t give away too much information. All you need to do is practice not giving information away.

But if you can’t learn how to hide things, you’re probably not going to be a good poker player.

5 – Slot Machines Are More Exciting

I find poker exciting. I love matching wits with other players and using my brain to beat them. But some gamblers find excitement in different ways.

Many gamblers find playing slot machines exciting and don’t enjoy playing poker. I admit that spinning the reels on a slot machine and hoping to get a big win is sometimes exciting. But I also know that I have a chance to win when I play poker and that I’m not going to win when I play slot machines.

You have to decide what your goals are when you gamble.

Do you want to gamble to have fun and be excited or do you want to have the best chance to win?

If you’re more interested in excitement, slot machines are as good of a choice as any.

But if you want to get your excitement by actually winning money, poker is a much better option. Having a real chance to win is going to be hard. Just gambling for fun is easy. It’s time to choose if you want to win or just have fun.

6 – You Can’t Identify Good Games

Winning poker players know how to find good games. A good poker game has players that don’t play and use strategy as well as you.

I know poker players with decades of experience that still can’t identify a good table. These players rarely win, because they end up playing against too many players who are better than them.

This isn’t the only skill you need to be a winning poker player, but it’s an important skill. This isn’t something you find in many poker books or talked about in articles. And the only way you’re going to find out if you can find good poker games is to try.

Of course, this falls in line with most of the other things in this article. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work. If you’re not willing to do the work, poker isn’t the game for you.

Even if you do learn how to be a decent poker player, you have to do things different than the experienced poker players I mentioned before. Just because you have years of experience, it doesn’t mean you’re good at finding profitable poker tables. But if you don’t learn how to find good poker tables, you should probably find something else to do.

Conclusion

You need to understand two important facts about poker. The first fact is that you can win if you learn how to play using the best strategies. The second fact is that if you don’t use the correct strategies, you’re going to lose.

If you’re looking for simple gambling options and/or aren’t interested in learning strategy, you shouldn’t play poker. And if you hate using math, poker is going to cost you too much money.

You don’t have to be a great liar to play poker, but it helps. Poker is a game of deception, and you need to learn how to use deception if you want to win.