The Education Of A Poker Player by Herbert Yardley, is an old book, now available in pdf format for anyone who wants to search it out and read it. Yardley as I remember, looks at poker for what it really is, a way to part people from their money. Low Limit Holdem poker does this very well to a surprising number of people.
A common mistake in low limit Holdem poker game whether live or online, is confusing the amount of the stakes with the game level. Holdem poker is structured in some form of small bet, big bet structure. When the stakes are low to play, it is easy to think, it is only: fill in whatever level you think of as small here – and either put out our chips or click the bet/call/raise button. Yardley would jumping with joy over your thinking, as that is one of the building blocks of his book as I remember it. Yardley promotes manipulating players to become comfortable losing.
There are differences in levels of poker games. Whether the game is online for pennies, the “Big Game” for $200 $400 blinds, or the World Series Of Poker, parts of the game are consistent across all levels. The cards are the same, and the structure is the same, and the rewards are the same.
Defining the level of acceptable risk is different at different levels. In a small stakes game, it is not uncommon to watch a player burn through one to two hundred dollars a week, week after week, because they are having a great time. As the stakes go higher, money becomes more important, and players care more about their win and loss rate than about enjoyment. Having fun takes place away from the poker table in big money games.
There are bets that can made in the stock market commonly called puts and takes. Newspapers and financial source on the net list them. Puts and Takes are bets on the movement of the stock market as a whole or certain broad categories of the Stock market. It may have changed now, but it used to be possible to bet on the movement of the S & P 500 for as little as sixteen dollars.
In the world of companies and stock, sixteen dollars is a tiny sum. Almost everyone could afford to lose sixteen dollars. Almost everyone does lose some increment of sixteen dollars bets on the stock market each betting period.
One thing I found interesting about options the on the S & P 500 is generally the majority is wrong when they make their decisions about where the stock market is headed. Options are one place where a contrarian investor, ie gambler can make their mark.
The same rules apply to the Holdem poker table. If you treat your bets as bets, and not pocket change, or a few dollars, and you manage your play contrary to the majority of the players at your table, you can not help but be a winner.
Yardley treated his poker games that way in his book. While the people he rounded up to play in his games thought they were only losing a few dollars a session which was more than offset by entertainment and bravado, Yardley was at the poker table to take their money, not give his money away.
Anyone who plays in the stock market, goes to a poker room, or online poker site should know exactly why they are there. Reasons range from entertainment, bragging rights, or gambling, to actually making a profit. Most people do not gamble in the stock market or Holdem poker table to make money. If they did, they would not be throwing their money away on bad bets, and loose calls.
After you have decided why you play Holdem poker and decide the major reason is to make money, think more like contrarian and less like the majority of people sitting at the table with you. As you play, you may pretend you are Herbert Yardley reinvented, and focus on betting structure and profit, and not dollar value.
