There are times when you could feel tingling anxiety while playing poker. Anxiety is normal, it is better to keep it away if you intend to maximize your winnings while playing online poker.
It is mostly the calm players that emerge victorious during the poker game, whether it is online or in a casino. Staying calm and avoiding fear taking over your mind is an art that some poker players have mastered while some still need a little push to master the ultimate poker face.
Online poker teaches even the best of players to be calm – this unflinching calmness becomes their superpower. When you engage in playing poker there are times you will be anxious, but it is better not to divulge that feeling. Take a look at some of the tips to keep anxiety at bay while playing online poker.
Eliminate your Emotions While Playing Poker
Humans are not creatures of logic, most of us are driven by impulse powered by our own emotions. There are long-time prevailing theories known as “act as if” and “fake it till you make it”. These will aid you significantly when you are intimidated by your fellow competitors during a game of online poker. When you play poker online, you may require a reference point to act indifferent. You should study highly popular TV characters like Mr. Spock from Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock. Get to learn these characters’ body language and attitude.
The attitude you want to pull off during a poker card game is one of indifference and non-caring. Of course, your body language will not be seen when you play poker online, but it would still reflect in your play in some way or the other. There are chances that you will have negative as well as positive emotions while playing online poker. The idea is to view facts that are present during a game and develop rational thinking. Blocking these feelings will redefine you during poker.
Never Take a Poker Game too Seriously
There are multiple reasons why people get into playing poker. Some are into poker just to kill time, whereas others want to leverage the benefits that an online poker game has to offer. But, once you start to play poker, you are likely to become very serious and be affected by what’s happening on the online poker table. You have to keep your anxiety and emotions in control. You can ease up a bit, you can act silly, but you must be composed.
When you’ve already dealt with a bad beat, and you are constantly getting bad beats for the 8th or 9th time – you should already be comfortable with this scenario. Have a sense of humour – losing is a part of life, you won’t have to beat yourself up for losing a game of poker. The bad beat makes poker interesting and all it takes is a good game for a turnaround.
Enjoy the Game and Don’t Worry About Winning
Everyone has their agenda, their story, their personality. Some people play poker only to win. If you are one of those people who play only to win, then you are going to find it really difficult to get over anxiety while playing poker.
Online poker teaches you how to be mentally present during the gameplay. The art of beating anxiety is, you’ve to learn to get subtle pleasures and happiness from folding rather than simply enjoying doing a ‘raise’ or a ‘bet’. Engaging in a poker game online will make it worth a while. At the same time, it is a great way for you to socialize and understand peoples’ complex minds.
Mix it up in Poker
There will be times when you’d begin throwing in chips and go on with tilts. As you raise the bet and put the deal on tilt, you can win once in a while. These things will happen a few times, however, they aren’t consistent.
If you go on winning with just tilts, you would continue to do the same over and over again. Such kind of one-track mindset while playing poker can possibly lead to a long-term negative-expectation scenario. Be assured that the next time you go for a tilt, you may witness an altogether different result. Do not expect the same things to happen with the same moves or strategy every time – you have to keep mixing it up depending on the type of opponents, the type of poker variant, your chip stack, etc. Have an open mind while playing poker to avoid your expectation of a certain fixed outcome not getting fulfilled and thereby leading to anxiety.
Final Thoughts
If you want to learn the subtle art of not giving in to anxiety during a poker game, that could help you to become one of the best poker players in the world. Always make sure you make the best possible decision during the poker card game. Mix it up, do not have a fixed set of expectations, and enjoy every moment of this highly fascinating game. Download MPL app and start an entertaining poker journey today!
