MCU poker tip: Don’t play to impress your opponents

• Mike Caro   Exit

Sometimes you’re frustrated because there’s such a large luck factor in poker. Once we master enough poker skills, it’s only natural to want to let others know that we are accomplished players. But I’ve seen a whole truckload of money lost in a half-hour by players wanting to impress others in a short span of time.

Fancy dribbling

You might be able to do that in basketball with a few blocked shots, some fancy dribbling, and a couple of dunks. But poker isn’t the type of game that makes impressing others easy.

Ultimately, if you vary from your game plan to impress opponents, you’re risking losing a lot of money that should have stayed in your purse or wallet. Sitting and waiting for an hour won’t look very impressive to your opponents, and choosing the routine thing instead of a fancy play won’t, either.

Consolation

But that’s the way of winning poker. Only occasionally can you use your expertise profitably to show off. Most of the time, you can’t. But, as a consolation, all the money you accumulate by the end of the year will be impressive in the long term — unless you throw it away by trying to look impressive in the short-term. — MC