Rule 29: The value of starter cards.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of В«starting cardsВ» in poker. To
the casual observer (or novice), this might not seem to be the case. Indeed,
why would it? After all (they might think), a good hand could develop at any
point during the hand, couldn't it? On the fifth card, or the sixth or seventh,
and so on. So this might not seem logical. (And this is – needless to say –
how bad players play the game.) Furthermore, they might argue, how can a
hand «develop» if you don't give it a chance? How can it, if you keep cutting
it off early, and folding, before it can develop into anything?
The explanation is this: If you operate without regard to your starter
cards, you will often be В«running behindВ» your opponents. For example, a
player who has four low cards (in a low-ball game, say i is В«aheadВ» of you if
you only have three low cards. Over hundreds of hands dealt, his В«better
startВ» will soon manifest itself and make him victorious.
This law can be generally applied throughout life. Go into situations
where advantages lean in your direction at the beginning. While this is still
no guarantee of success, it will mean that you are not being penalized from
the very start of the process fighting an uphill battle from day one.

Rule 28: Luck, good or bad, comes in bunches.

Any experienced, long-time gambler is familiar with the «bunching» of luck.
Play the same cards one night and they will be losers, while another night
they will be winners.
Both good cards and bad do come in bunches. It's important to realize
the В«typicalityВ» of this. It is within the bounds of probability that this occurs,
not outside of it. Many players think of it as an aberration – that such
occurrences are outside the framework of probability. They are not. They are
within the framework of it. (There is a point where they do become an
aberration, but this point is much farther along than most people would
guess.)

Rule 27: Get a bigger bankroll.

Failure to have a big enough bankroll is a common failing in poker. It can
lead to all types of adverse effects: the feeling that every hand is a В«life or
death matterВ», overly-emotional play, temper tantrums, mood swings and
so on. Having an adequate bankroll allows us to suffer the natural swings of
fortune that take place, and it lets us do so with composure and equanimity.
One ought to try to get one's poker bankroll to a large enough amount so
that the outcome of any one hand (or session) has no effect whatsoever on
one's play.
Without an adequate bankroll, we tend to inject emotion into these
fluctuations that occur. Having our heart and soul riding on each hand
magnifies them and makes them larger in our mind than they should be.
Take away this emotion, and things once again resume their natural place in
the bigger picture.

«Don't fly too high above your bankroll, for that is when you'll live and die
with each pot. or at least with each session. Obviously, when each bad beat
has so much significance to your financial well-being, you can't help but be
affected».

Rule 26: Rebelling against the read has predictable, bad consequences

As we staled above, the problem is not that players' instincts aren't good but
that we often don't listen to them (or even rebel against them). Thus, we
are not going by what our В«readВ» is telling us.
There are a number of reasons for not listening to this inner voice:

1. «The read is unfairВ».
2. «The same read seems to be going on forever and never changes».
3. «I get tired of hearing В«NoВ» from my read».
4. «I get tired of continually folding based on my read, even if it is
accurate and the correct thing to do».
5. «I he read always seems to favor the other guy never me. It always
seems to be them, them, them».
6. «Every time I make a read, it seems to come up with this: Other-
Guy-Strong, Mc-Weak, and I have to fold».

The thing is, you are beating the game (in the long run) if you go by
your read and your read is accurate – even if it involves a lot of folding.
One of the secrets of poker is this ability to hear the word over
and over“ without it bothering you. You'll hear В«YesВ» only infrequently, but
it will be enough to win.

Rule 25: We need to listen to our instincts in poker.

One possible reason we don't listen to them is because the answers we keep
getting always seem unfair. It's always В«them, them, themВ» (and В«fold, fold,
foldВ» for us). So we often rebel against the answers that our instincts are
giving us. Yet if we stop and think, statistically, most of the time it is going
to be them, them, them.
This is true for a couple of reasons. First, there are more of В«themВ»
than us, and second, because the majority of situations won't favor us. After
all, you're only one hand out of four or five players as you look around the
table. It's more likely that one of these other hands is going to В«helpВ» than
yours, hence your В«readВ» is simply going to be more often. In fact,
you might get ten or twelve В«no'sВ» in a row from your read, one after the
other“ or even three or four В«no'sВ» in a row in the same hand.
The point is, you're going to hear В«noВ» a lot in the game of poker. The
secret is to keep listening to the correct answer and acting on it even if it
is not the answer you want to hear. Because it is not about getting the
answer you want to hear, it's about continuing to make correct decisions.

Rule 24: Playing correctly without being rewarded for it is a concept the player must get used to.

The player must get used to the idea of playing correctly without being
rewarded for it. This will often mean playing correctly while going nowhere,
and even losing. You simply do it because you do it. You do it without any
expectations.

Rule 23: We should want to lose if we play badly.

There are some times when we are better off failing in life, even if it's more painful at the time: shoplifting, betting a hundred dollars a hand in blackjack, making romantic advances to the boss's wife, and so on. Getting away with these things temporarily would actually lead to worse things for us in the long run. So maybe it's better if we fail at them right away. We need wrong decisions to have bad consequences. We shouldn't want to be insulated from our mistakes, for they will guide us in the right direction and in the long run this will be to our benefit. Similarly, making mistakes in poker, and then winning by this means, while momentarily pleasing, is very bad in the long run.

Rule 22: Make correct decisions (Part III).

We have all heard it said of a player, «It just kills him to lose». But have you ever heard it said of a player: «It just kills him to play his cards wrong?» Well, this is the way it should be. Because this is where the money goes – the leak, the fissure in the dike where the money seeps away. Be the player about whom they say: «It just kills him to play his cards wrong».

Rule 21: Make correct decisions (Part II).

As noted above, it is by making correct decisions that you beat the game.
Here's an example. Let's say you make a straight, and then a possible flush
appears on the last card (either on the board or in an opponent's up-cards).
An opponent who you know only bets when he has a good hand suddenly
lights up with joy at this turn of events. He fires in a bet, and you fold. Now
let's say this happens again. And again. And again. In fact, let's say it
happens six or seven times in a row, and you fold each time. You are
beating the game by doing this – even though you're losing. Why? Because
you are making correct decisions. A series of correct decisions, carried on
long enough. will eventually В«turn the tideВ» in your favor.
All you can ever do in poker is make correct decisions, moment by
moment, in each specific situation you find yourself in.