3 Common Poker Myths

Myth #1

You have to be lucky all the time to win poker. This is easily the most pervasive and all-encompassing myth that exists today about poker and despite the fact that education campaigns have largely dispelled this myth in certain parts of the world, there is still a large majority of people that believe it. Poker frequently gets lumped into the mix with games like blackjack and other online gambling casino ventures and for that reason people still believe earnestly that poker is a game that requires you to be lucky all of the time in order to win.

The truth is that poker is a game of skill that contains a luck element. Even if you are lucky all the time, it is still possible to lose. Similarly, a great poker player can take below average luck over the short term and still turn it into a winning or break-even poker session through their play. Players that learn how to minimize losses and maximize wins become poker professionals and the fact that those professionals exist is proof that poker is a game of skill rather than a game of luck.

Myth #2

Perhaps the second most pervasive myth about poker is that all of the poker games that you find are crooked in one way or another. If you are playing offline poker in a back alley card room this might be true, but if you then take a closer look at the casinos and professional card rooms that all contain poker, what you will find is a heavy amount of government regulation. Many of these casinos and card rooms are run by government entities and for that reason their rake generates revenue for the state. Because the state wants people to come back and play more and more poker over the course of time, they are going to do everything in their power to keep the games as fair as possible. This is why the myth of crookedness is a myth to begin with.

Myth #3

The final myth worth mentioning about poker is that there is no way to win at poker consistently and over the long term. Any poker player with any amount of experience knows that this is not true. It is not true because of the first two myths. You do not need luck to win even in the short term sometimes in poker and the poker games that you will play in are not fixed. Because both of these things are true, so too is it true that it is possible to win consistently in poker.

How do you win in poker? You win through proper strategy. All of the strategy articles that you read on this website and others will help you win in poker. But before you can apply any of it, you need to truly convince yourself that the three myths discussed here are indeed myths. Once you understand that, anything is possible in the world of poker and the sky is truly the limit.