{"id":11195,"date":"2018-11-26T12:57:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T10:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/?p=11195"},"modified":"2018-11-26T14:56:50","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T12:56:50","slug":"four-common-misconceptions-about-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/gambling\/four-common-misconceptions-about-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Common Misconceptions about Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Misconceptions are wonderful things which can build up over hours, days, months, years, decades and centuries. For example: Mount Everest is not officially the tallest mountain in the world, Penguins do not mate for life, and The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. Back on Earth, I still remember the first time I learnt how to play poker and was immediately attracted by the competitive element and skill involved. Within days I was casually throwing around words like \u2018the flop\u2019, \u2018the river\u2019 and \u2018pocket rockets\u2019 sounding like a wannabe expert. Many years later it seems that many of us who believed we knew it all were completely wrong! So let\u2019s take a look at a few common misconceptions about poker.<\/p>\n

In a world of fake news let\u2019s ensure we have all the knowledge at hand. No matter what stakes you\u2019re playing for you\u2019ve got to know exactly what beats what and not give a massive edge to your opponents. So, a quick revision of the order of your poker hands<\/a><\/u> is always a good place to start.<\/p>\n

Misconception 1: The best poker players never stop bluffing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like all things in life, you\u2019ve got to bluff in moderation. If you persistently bluff you\u2019ll soon start to be treated as a joker at the table and no one will take you seriously. Yes there\u2019s a place for bluffing in poker at the right time, but if you start getting a reputation for it then you\u2019ll be shooting yourself in the foot and your stack of chips will swiftly erode.<\/p>\n

Misconception 2: Aggressive people always win<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re the chip leader and on a good run then there\u2019s no harm in turning on an aggressive style<\/a><\/u> at the right time to maximise your position. However, although it makes for a great scene in a smoke filled dungeon in a film, aggression needs to be channelled in the right way and not affect your decision-making processes. Think of the times where you\u2019ve lost hand after hand and resorted to an aggressive approach to win it back \u2013 it very rarely works!<\/p>\n

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Misconception 3: A great mathematician is a great poker player<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great mathematicians are often very strong at whatever they turn their brains to and some great poker players do indeed have those mathematical skills. However, unlike some card games, poker isn\u2019t all about working out the percentages on every one of your – and your table opponent\u2019s – hands. Far better to have discipline, patience and a strong strategy than a first-class degree in maths from Oxford University.<\/p>\n

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Misconception 4: You can\u2019t win without a poker face<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve certainly sat at tables online and in casinos where the chip leader has been grinning and laughing throughout without a poker face anywhere to be seen. And don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m not saying you should start whistling happy tunes the minute you have a royal flush on the flop, however keeping a poker face isn\u2019t the be all and end all. It\u2019s become one of those expressions used outside of poker more than in the game itself; Lady Gaga even had a number 1 hit called \u2018Poker Face\u2019 in 2009!<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

So there you have it. Above we\u2019ve touched on 4x common misconceptions about poker. There are many more out there and as the game grows in popularity the misconceptions will continue to grow as well. Don\u2019t forget that poker is indeed a game of chance which means uncertainty – something humans do not like – and can leave a gaping hole ready to be filled by myths, misconceptions and sometimes lies!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Misconceptions are wonderful things which can build up over hours, days, months, years, decades and centuries. For example: Mount Everest is not officially the tallest mountain in the world, Penguins do not mate for life, and The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. Back on Earth, I still remember the first time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5431],"tags":[6037,7001,7006,7004,7000,6842,7005,6835,7003,7002],"class_list":["post-11195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gambling","tag-casino","tag-chips","tag-game-of-chance","tag-online-poker","tag-play-poker","tag-poker","tag-poker-face","tag-poker-games","tag-poker-online","tag-poker-player"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}