Playing poker requires increased concentration. You have to follow the action at the table, make calculations, and keep to the distance. You will easily understand that a poker player must be physically and intellectually cool when he wants to attack an online session or participate in a live tournament.

It goes without saying that a correct and even flawless lifestyle will be the asset of a successful game.

The sleep

This is a very important point not to overlook. If you are a beginner player, you should not abuse long sessions. Poker shouldn’t affect your work. If you chain the days in this way, you will quickly realize that your bankroll will tend to go down. Fatigue is one of the worst opponents in poker. You make bad decisions, you get impatient, that’s all you really have to fight.

For players whose poker is a regular activity, they will have to take care. Most of the time, we find the best and most numerous tables in the evening and on weekends. You must, therefore, have a good resting rhythm, at least eight hours.

The consequences of lack of sleep:

• Tired
• Irritability
• Impatience

The exciting

If some are not advised as coffee or energy drinks, do not consume too much before bed. You will have enough cards in mind after your session that there is no need to add other ingredients that will make you go round in circles in your bed.

The alcohol

The euphoria of alcohol can lead to overly optimistic decisions or a propensity to open discordant tables with optimum bankroll management.

Drugs

Normally, they are not recommended. Here, it’s the same thing. Avoid consuming it when you are in a game. You will surely hear that a joint allows you to channel and concentrate, takes away stress. Perhaps the first time, but too regularly, they will only have negative effects. Stu Ungar is the perfect example. Card genius, he won the WSOP in 1981 when he had just learned the rules of hold’em the day before. Everything succeeded. He sees clearly in the game, but drugs will quickly take over and will finally be right in 1998, the year following his last title (in video opposite).

The consequences of taking stimulants:

• Euphoria
• Bad decisions
• Lack of judgment and discernment

Eat well

It is important to eat well. In the best of cases, favor white meats and fish, slow sugars, vegetables, and fruits. Keep food fatty and sweet for those days when you’re not sitting around a poker table.

If you are hungry, eat fruit or cereal bars as an athlete could.

Talk to each other

Even if you are not a fan, some exercises will suit you well. Instead of taking your car for two kilometers, do it on foot, it corresponds to 20 minutes of walking. You can also do some abs. Three sets of 15 every two days will not take you more than 10 minutes. The most motivated will get on their bikes and set off for a few kilometers or put on their swimsuits for 30 minutes of swimming.

It is important to get oxygenated; it allows to purge the body of its toxins and to see more clearly. Combine sport with good nutrition and sleep; you will only be better at poker.

The social environment

It’s not just poker in life; it’s family and friends. Don’t lose sight of them. They will allow you to air your mind when the time comes.

Take a break

Does variance hit your head on? Go out, forget poker for a while. Take a break. What often happens to players wants to break this negative spiral by persisting. Persistence is commendable in many situations, but here it will be useless and likely costly.

Urban Legends About Casinos

Roulette martingale, blackjack card counting … Enlightening tips that will make you rich or fantasies of dreamy onlookers at the gates of the Bellagio in Vegas? Even if some myths about casinos and their games are not entirely unfounded, here are some myth busters.

Roulette is 50/50

This is the basic premise of the famous classic martingale in roulette, which would allow you to win every time: by playing a series of single strokes on red or black and doubling your bet as long as you lose, you inevitably end up being at least reimbursed since you have a 1 in 2 chance of winning.

Blackjack: Prohibition to count cards

Several films (such as Las Vegas 21) have played on this misconception. In practice, there is no law prohibiting it. However, it is illegal to use an electronic device (computer, smartphone, etc.) to count cards.

To “be good” at blackjack, you don’t have to be a Rain Man genius. You just need to master basic mathematics (addition, subtraction, even a dose of division depending on the techniques) and have the patience to learn. But the counters don’t get full at aces, even if they make more money than they lose.

Oxygen to boost you

Casinos are said to be ready to do anything to encourage players to spend. Since a high level of oxygen keeps a person alert – when a lack of oxygen weakens it – diffusing it in the rooms would be the way to see customers playing until the end of the night.

Casinos: dirty money laundries

The link between casino and mafia is not so much a myth as an anachronism. It is true that Las Vegas was partly built in the 1st half of the 20th century thanks to the involvement of organized crime. Today, establishments are no longer run by gangsters but by big companies, more concerned with their ethics. For example, the famous Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Mirage are owned by the MGM Resorts International group.

If it were necessary to look for financial embezzlement somewhere, it is more on the side of the circles of play that it would be advisable to turn (8/10 have been closed in Paris since 2008 for this reason).

“Hot” tables and “cold” tables

It is wrong to believe that one table has higher winning possibilities than another. In roulette and craps, the chances of any outcome occurring are exactly the same with each roll of the ball or dice. In other words, these games are governed by equiprobability. For example, a die has a 1 in 6 chance each time to fall on any of its sides.

Our natural need for control tends to convince us otherwise. In reality, when we believe we are active and have an influence on the game, we only deny the chance.

Big progressive jackpot = imminent win

Just as counting symbol combinations are useless, predicting when a jackpot will fall is impossible. Whether there were one or 200,000 games played on a slot machine, the odds of winning are exactly the same every turn (whether you press the button or pull the joystick, by the way).

The games are loaded.

Operators have no more right to place magnets in the roulette balls (100% resin or Teflon) than to have control over the allocation of jackpots.

They don’t even have access to the machinery electronics, which is sealed. To intervene on them, they must be in the presence of a specialist approved by the administration.

More generally, the equipment is subject to regular checks to guarantee fair play, and all table game surveillance videos – compulsory – are kept for several weeks and made available to the authorities. The days of the Far West when tables had major flaws are far away.

The house always wins.

This is neither true nor entirely false. The games are indeed designed so that the chances of winning are in favor of the establishment. From there to assert that the latter always wins to push the logic a little too far. If there were never (big) winners, the rooms would close.