For someone that’s new at the poker table, there are several mistakes easily made. These, however, can be avoided once you are aware of them. So I have gathered the most relevant ones:

- You don’t choose carefully which pocket hands you join with, since you are eager to participate. This is one of the most common rookie mistakes, ’cause it can feel equally important joining the game as performing in it.

- You get greedy. It is easy to get so tempted by that pot in the middle that you keep raising the stakes even though you should fold, or bluff when it is time to surrender.

- You take the game too seriously. For everyone’s sake it is advisable to not be a bad loser – to lose in any game is nothing to feel embarrassed about and definitely not something to overbet because of. Disagreeable players will always come along and shouldn’t be dealt with by playing more aggressively than the situation calls for.

- You drink too much alcohol. This kind of goes without saying but I still want to raise a warning for it. When you are drunk you bet unwisely, you get daring, you show a poor poker face and your ability to figure out odds will deteriorate. Even though it is nice with a couple of cold beers with your poker buddies, you’d better watch out so it doesn’t get too much. In that case you risk that more than your health and your pride will take a beating. Like your wallet.

- You imitate other players. Even if it of course is useful to learn from others successes and mistakes, imitating is not the right way to go about it. Many players have bad techniques which might happen to work momentarily. Therefore they shouldn’t necessarily be copied. The game is too complex for that and if you really want to be a good online poker player then you need to understand why you take a certain decision and which affects it gives.

- You overestimate good hands. The best starting hand is the so-called “pockets rockets”: Two aces. But the lucky one to get those is not in position to assume that he or she will win. Quite the opposite, it might worsen their play.

- You have the wrong attitude to the concept of luck. Luck is chance that happens to go your way. In other words, in a long-term perspective, “luck” is divided equally on all players. It shouldn’t be underestimated, but you shouldn’t read too much into it either. It is better to practise your playing than to worry about superstition. For example, to wear a certain sweater to every round will scarcely improve your game… But if it just makes you feel more comfortable, why, then wear away.

I never pegged myself as a typical poker player. Fact of the matter is that I didn’t think I got the nerves for it. If it is true that poker more than anything is about the ability to stay cool and observe the other players, then I am as good as gone.
Nevertheless, the time has come to dust off that ol’ deck of mine and try to learn a thing or two about poker. If nothing else then it could be a good lesson when it comes to reading people. So let’s gather what I know for a fact:
There are 52 cards in a deck. Aces are, at most times, good. Now I just need to learn the rest.
That can be done at Chilipoker.com, but I doubt that I have the terminology to grasp any advanced rules. Maybe I should rely on the beginner’s luck and head straight for the tables instead.

I do have experience in playing Yahtzee. I admit that there are no cards involved, but you still got your full houses, straights, chances and so on. I don’t think it would hurt to play one more round of it, just to get the basics down and to avoid embarrassing my company at any casino. There is more than one way to play poker, even though Texas Hold’em is generally favoured. It is probably Texas Hold’em at an online poker site that I’d go for, considering how convenient it is pridewise to start anonymously.

Even though I wouldn’t walk away from the money, I am more curious about the social part of it. Gambling is as old as storytelling or firemaking - god knows how many friendships and feuds it has resulted in over the decades. I guess that at a certain point you know the technique so well that you can start paying some real attention to the others at the table. It is said that everyone has their giveaways. Without having a clue what mine would be, it would be interesting to try to detect differences in the other players behaviour and learn how to use it to one’s advantage. Once you could, you’d have a real upper hand.

Until then I’ll try to remember that having all cards in red isn’t something that will bring the big bucks in. Chilipoker, here I come.