The game of poker has been around for so long that tracking the statistics of the play is quite easy these days. Players will either know the statistics or not have much of a problem remembering the statistics. The statistics of play include such things as the following:

The statistics of play can sometimes be more easily tracked than the statistics of a particular player. A great player is going to be able to remember more about the statistics of his own play than a poor player. If you collect ante’s into a common pot you will get a better idea of the statistics of your own play than if you were to calculate the statistics of your play without including the ante.

Rather than only thinking about catching your cards and chasing the river you need to also consider your hand odds, you need to also calculate you hand odds, and the odds of what the dealer has. This is only shown on Read I, III, and X games, so some players don’t know that.

The odds of what the Dewalive has to pay you are either 1. Either you hit your hand on the flop, turn, or the river. The statistics of your payouts depend on the statistics of your hand odds. The golden rule is that you need to hit your hand at least 80% of the time in order to be paid out 1. However, you have to remember that a low pocket pair will have a negative EV. (-150 means you can lose 15BB on a single hand, and 10BB with two hands. The average is like a -20 and a high pair pushes you in the -10 to -30 range). It’s easy to get carried away when you see people are going to call you a slow player, or a fish, but they are looking for hands that will pay out.

Before you go on a poker spree and catch every poker you can, think about how much money you would have the chance to win, and what it would take to actually make a living playing poker. There is a lot to think about before you can jump into a game, but you can always ask yourself questions. What amount of money do I need for the lifestyle you want to lead? Can you do the work? Is there someone better than you to hang with? Poker can be a career, or a hobby, but you need to make sure it’s your career for the money.

You’ll know it as soon as the better players start to win. They will build a large bankroll with very little investment. I would also suggest that if you ever want to take a shot at a bigger game, like $10/$20 or higher, you need to bring along a team of players, not a single player. You need a big stack to be able to endure the ups and downs of tournament play, especially when live. Bigger games will win or lose by the strength of their hands, so if you lose a lot don’t even think about playing $2 Hi/Lo games, if you lose all your chips in a $2 game, you are not going to be playing for free, you will be spending a lot of money to try and recoup your losses.

Take some time and make sure you are taking the best steps to build your bankroll the right way.