• Any good poker player will know general percentages. But, what are they? Well, they’re any odds you can memorize about the game of poker that will save you time when all eyes are on you. For example, you have about a 1 in 8 chance of hitting a set when you hold a pocket pair. You also have about a 33% chance of completing a flush draw at the flop. The number of general percentages that can help you out in a game of poker are practically endless, so it's a good idea to focus on the most crucial numbers. The more you practice, the more you'll be able to remember.



• Successful poker players always know their outs, too. Outs, if you don’t already know, are the un-dealt cards that will improve your hand. You should always know how many cards could potentially help you, and it's not a bad idea to consider outs in terms of a percentage, either. To roughly calculate your odds, count your outs, multiply them by two, add two, and the answer will show you your chances in percentage terms (# of outs) x (2) + (2) = APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGE OF HITTING. Try to commit this to memory.

Pot odds are also incredibly important and go hand-in-hand with outs. Outs don’t mean a thing unless they're converted into smart betting (i.e. the kind that considers the financial return of the decisions you make).

#2. DISCIPLINE

• Solid poker players demand an advantage. What distinguishes a winning player from a fish is that a fish doesn't expect to win, while a skillful player does. A fish is happy playing other casino games as well; he or she just hopes to get lucky. A poker player doesn't ‘hope’ to get lucky - on the contrary, he ‘hopes’ that others DON'T get lucky.
   
• Good poker players realize that each game requires different levels of discipline. A disciplined no-limit player can be a foolish limit player, or the other way around. Usually, a disciplined limit player is very tight at the pre-flop stage. He will not play too many hands, just those with high winning potential.
   
• However, a disciplined no-limit player is not like this. This player is less concerned with playing too many blinds; instead, he doesn't want to get trapped. The main difference between a disciplined limit and no-limit player is that the limit player avoids letting his stack take a hit bit by bit, while a disciplined no-limit player avoids losing his whole stack in one fell swoop. Therefore, a disciplined no-limit player can play a lot of hands. Pre-flop, he can be as loose as anyone. But, he also knows when to toss hands that will get him in trouble.
   
• Probably the most important fact to remember is that a disciplined player knows when to “hold’em and when to fold’em”. He or she recognizes when they’re on tilt and aware when the game is too lucrative to stop. This kind of knowledge will arrive eventually so until then, just follow your instincts. If it feels like you're playing more with your emotion than with your head, it's a good idea take a break and re-organize.
   
• Disciplined poker players realize they're not perfect. When they make a mistake, they learns. They don’t blame others. They don’t cry. They learn from the mistake and move on. There’s not much better advice than that.

#3. PSYCHOLOGY

There's a lot of info regarding poker psychology and we're not going to go too "in depth" here. We would like, however, to share some sound advice. The main thing to remember is that the OTHER PLAYERS in poker are just as important as you are. In other words, poker catches many people off-guard because they're thinking about themselves too often; evaluating decisions, approach, etc. While those things are important (see the DISCIPLINE section above), you still have to devote an equal amount of time and thought to what’s going on elsewhere at the table.

• A good poker player is not a self-centered player. He may be the biggest S.O.B. you've ever come across and he may only care about himself when he's not playing poker. But when he IS playing poker, his philosophy should change. He'll start to empathize with his opponents. He'll try to put himself in their shoes and try to understand the decisions they're contemplating.
   
• A good poker player must always try to answer three important questions:
  
  #1. What’s my opponent have?
  #2. What’s my opponent think I have?
  #3. What’s my opponent think that I think he has?
   
• You want to first know the answers to these questions and then know how to manipulate the answers to your advantage (more important). If you have a pair of kings and your opponent has a pair of aces, and you both know what the other has and you both know that each of you knows what the other has, why play a game of poker? A poker pro will manipulate the situation with several different techniques in order to throw off his opponent. You'd better get used to the idea of mixing things up; sometimes it's the only, and best, way to go.

One key note: good psychology is much more important in a no-limit game than in a limit game and it's vital that you realize that. While limit games can frequently turn into math battles, no-limit games carry a strong psychological element, and beginner players should know what they're getting into when they play no-limit.

#4. RISK vs. REWARD MGMT

• While risk and reward management might seem like an obvious skill for you to have - both in daily life as well as poker - gambling likes to bring out sides of ourselves that we usually don’t witness; as we sometimes play with more passion that reason. You should always try and strike a compromise between the two, and never allow things to get out of control. Good poker players should be willing to take a big risk if the reward is high enough, but ONLY if the expected return is higher than the risk. Playing poker is a kind of balancing act, and awesome poker players are the ones who can balance things with the most skill.
   
• More importantly, you should understand that the risk-versus-reward nature of poker does extend outside of the actual poker room. Always keep track of how much money you need for poker and how much money you need to cover other expenses in life - we shouldn’t have to tell you which one is more important.
   
• Fundamentally, good poker players are slightly averse to risks, even if that may come as a surprise to many. In investment terms, a person is identified as risk-neutral, risk-averse or risk-accepting all depending on what that person does with available funds. Over time, you'll find that the most successful poker players are not the ones who bet their whole wad on a long-shot (risk-accepting), or even the ones who bet their whole roll once in a blue moon (risk-neutral). Successful poker players, instead, are the ones who take calculated risks only, and who always keep in mind the "big picture."

Sticking to this kind of example is much better for you than going for the whole pot all the time. Even if you're initially successful at taking big risks, your recklessness will catch up with you eventually.