The 3 core principles of poker

At heart I’m a theorist, I love looking at things from all angles and testing out different ideas, and in this article I’m going to outline the three principles of poker that will help bring you to the promised land; which in poker parlance means becoming a winning player. I’ve often tried to break poker down to its simplest levels, but the game is so complex that this is an impossibility -so anytime someone uses the words “simple” and “poker” in the same sentence you can just ignore whatever comes out of their mouth next, since they are likely trying to sell you something: The same holds true for “Secret” and “Poker”.

I haven’t simplified the game at all; what I have done is break poker down into three distinct categories that will simplify the way you think about poker. But, with each category there are numerous subsets and concepts players will need to learn.

The question I am answering is: What makes a winning poker player? Now most people answer this question with something along the lines of “tight play”, “knowing the odds”, or even something more esoteric such as, “making the RIGHT decision”. In theory none of these answers are wrong, but in my experience there is no simple way to explain what makes a winning poker player, so I’ve boiled it down to the following three things: If you are capable of doing all three of these chances are you’re a winning poker player.

The Ability to Leverage Uncertainty

The first time I saw this term applied to poker was in James McManus’s book Cowboys Full, and as soon as I read it I thought it was the perfect term to describe what winning poker players do at the tables. Leveraging uncertainty applies to the in-game decisions a player has to make including hand ranges/hand reading, calculating risk to reward, equity and so on. These are the on fly decisions you need to make throughout a hand of poker.

The Ability to Exploit, and Avoid Exploitation

Exploitation –avoiding it and finding ways to exploit your opponents-is the strategies that you take into a game of poker; all of the study and theorizing you have done away from the tables. This is where your preparation comes into play: When you know what your pushing range is with 8BB’s compared to 5BB’s. The ability to exploit your opponents comes from preparation and knowledge, and when you combine this with an ability to leverage uncertainty you will be a very dangerous for your opponents to deal with.

The Ability to Remain Disciplined

So the first two principles have to do with strategy, but the final one is all about your state of mind! Staying disciplined in poker means you look at the game long-term, and are able to shrug off bad beats and bad luck, and avoid bad situations -playing drunk, tired, hungry, etc. Discipline will also keep you focused and playing your best at all times, and allows you to not only know the correct play, but the ability to pull the trigger.