February 6, 2025

Psychological Factors That Influence Your Decisions at the Poker Table

Poker is a card game in which players place an initial amount of money into the pot (the total bet for the round) before the cards are dealt. This is called an ante, blind bet, or bring-in. The player to the left of the dealer is first to act and then play continues clockwise around the table.

After a round of betting, the players reveal their hands and the player with the highest hand wins the pot. Players may choose to fold (exit the hand), call (put additional money into the pot), or check (stay in the hand without putting any money into the pot).

The game of poker is a skill-based game, but there are many psychological factors that can influence your decisions at the table. It’s important to understand and accept these influencing factors, as they can affect your results over time.

Often, human nature will try to derail you from your game plan. You might be tempted to play too cautiously, or you may be tempted to make bad calls or ill-advised bluffs. In order to win at poker, you need to be able to resist these temptations and stick to your strategy.

Whether you’re playing cash games or tournaments, the goal is to get in the “money,” which means making more than you paid to enter the tournament. Even the best poker players require a fair bit of luck to do this, but they are not heedless risk-seekers. In fact, most professional poker players are diligent students of the game who have spent thousands of hours drilling the most optimal strategies.