Playing poker for a living is a lot like running a business. There are basically two ways to increase profits. You can increase income or reduce expenses.
Now we all love to win bigger jackpots and increase our income, but I’ll talk about that in another article. Today I want to write about a simple way to reduce expenses and therefore increase our profits.
The casino will take its cut, you can’t do anything about it. Dealers need to make a living so I don’t advise you to cut back on tips otherwise you will end up with incompetent dealers who make mistakes and that could cost you a big pot.
So we cover the two most obvious expenses for a poker player, house rake and tips. What other expenses are there?
What about losing a hand. Doesn’t that cost you money? Sure it does. Being a skilled player will increase the chances of your hands winning. But the average citizen with average ability also needs a trick up his sleeve.
A trick to reduce expenses and increase profits is to start with the selection of hands. This tip alone will increase your bankroll like crazy. Most players play too many hands. The more hands you play, the more hands you will lose and therefore your spending will increase.
As an example, let’s say you fold all hands. What is your expense? Just the blinds. Sometimes they don’t raise the blind and you can play for free. Win one of these every couple of times and it will cover the cost of the blinds.
Now that’s an end and even if you cut back on expenses, you still need to generate some income. You must play some hands to generate profits. I recommend you stick with the top 20 premium hands. These are the hands that are most likely to be winners.
More winning hands and fewer losing hands equals more income and less expenses. Playing low percentage hands in the hope of winning a big pot only equates to more spending, which in turn dilutes the winnings you make on high percentage hands.