Introduction

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of players make when playing online is that they have many distractions around them. Examples would be having the T.V on in the background, surfing the net or attempting to have a conversation with someone at the same time.

The problem that this causes is that your focus and attention are being divided by different things and as a result you are not playing at your best. You may end up playing a more basic game and become more tight and passive which the other players who are actually playing attention might pick up on and try to exploit. Personally I don’t even have the music on when I’m playing and instead make sure I can hear the clinks and chimes of the Poker application, as this makes me feel more immersed in the game.

A large part of being a better poker player is related to picking up and using the information you gain on your opponents when a hand is being played, such as betting patterns and the style in which your opponents play. If you aren’t focussed on the game then you will probably miss out on some of the more information which could come in handy when you are in a tricky situation.

An example would be if you are in middle position and open the pot with a raise and another person calls behind you. Your opponent checks, you miss the flop but fire a continuation bet which your opponent calls. Now if you had been paying attention you would have a lot more information to decide what to do on the turn, but instead you are blind so are not sure what to do .

How to fix this and play better poker

When you are not in a hand you might get bored, so here is one tip to keep yourself focussed on the game, try and guess what your opponent is going to do, if you are wrong then you know that you need to re evaluate your thougts, if you are right, you can use this knowledge the exploit your opponent further down the line.

Another tip is to take advantage of the not taking capabilities that most poker apps come with and make plenty of notes on your opponents, this will help when you are in a tough spot and give you the extra confidence when making a move.

In summary

Try and remove all distractions when playing poker and give all your focus to the game in hand. If you do you the your standard of play will increase and you make less brash decisions and mistakes and ultimately become a much better poker player!