Stick with a Winning Table

'Dear Geno,' writes Adrian D. from Ft. Worth, Texas, 'I know you have a lot of advice to give to poker players based on what you have written for this website. What is the best piece of advice you can give me? I am a beginning player and just learning the game. Be honest now.'

Adrian, I am always 100 percent honest with my readers. That is the only way I know. My best advice for a beginning player may sound obvious, but a lot of players ignore it. Here is the advice:

Never leave a winning table.

I see players doing it all the time. They are doing well and winning a lower limit game, so they cash in and get into a higher limit. They discover too late this is the wrong table for them and after suffering a loss they go back to the table they should have stayed at in the first place.

Karma exists in poker. When I enter a poker room, I sign up for two or three games and generally accept the first one I am called for, even if it's my second choice. My experience is strong evidence that when I find a winning table I need to stay there to take advantage of the luck that is running my way. You rarely can improve on a table that is giving you a rush of chips.

Now if you enter a casino and plan on playing in a tournament, that is different. You can then take the chips you have won and use it to buy into the tournament. That spares you the cost of paying for the tournament chips out of your own pocket. Hopefully, the karma that won you the chips will carry over into the tournament.

Here is another piece of advice for you: if you are tired or worried about something personal, just stop playing. You never want to play poker with a divided mind. That will only end up costing you money.

Don't throw away chips on trash hands hoping for a miracle flop. I know some players who love to do this. They get a kick out of beating a good hand with a trash hand. I recommend against it.

If you are hungry and ahead, why not cash in and relax in the dining room area rather than trying to rush your meal so the floor people won't pick you up? It makes your dining experience much more pleasant and the food goes down easier.

Above all, learn from your poker table experiences. Spend time between hands reading the other players. Try to figure out what hands they are calling or raising with. After a while, you should get pretty proficient with your guessing and it will add to your bankroll.

I hope Adrian will let me and my readers know how this advice works. Keep those emails coming. Good luck.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).