Five resolutions for the poker community
Start a blog, learn from software and gather evidence before you accuse others of cheating. Barry Carter has some new year resolutions for all of us.
Have actual evidene before you accuse others of cheating
The Robbi Jade Lew story was the most embarrassed I have ever been to be a poker player. We are supposed to be critical, rational thinkers who rely on large samples of data, yet we turned a single hand with very little evidence of cheating into one of the biggest stories in the game's history.
It was a waste of all our time and really hurt the reputation of the game. It also detracted from one of the biggest genuine cheating stories the game has ever seen surrounding Ali Imsirovic, Jake Schindler and Bryn Kenney.
It also wasn't the first time cheating accusations were made based on a single hand this year.
I beg you my friends, keep your eyes peeled for cheaters and expose them when you get the chance. But please, please, base your allegations on something substantial and certainly not a single hand played weirdly.
Use software to improve your game
I have now written four books with Dara O'Kearney and if I were to give an elevator pitch for the series, I would say that they 'explained solver outputs to people who don't use solvers'.
Dara has found his students have no interest in solvers but were happy for him to use them and report back with the findings.
That's a nice little cottage industry for us, but realistically I don't think you can ignore poker tools anymore in 2023. You will get left behind if you do and they have become much easier to use - now really is the time to start.
Most of them include free trial periods too. Check out our poker tools page for more information.
Don't tolerate bad guarantees
In 2022 we saw some massive increases in guarantees, all the way from low stakes operators like Unibet boosting theirs, to landmark events like the WPT World Championship.
Despite the doom mongering, poker is seeing record numbers and massive guarantees. I expect to see much more of this in 2023.
So don't tolerate crappy guarantees in 2023 and go where the lofty prize pools are offered.
Most important of all, have a zero-tolerance policy on operators who try and back track on their guarantees. Name them, shame them, then boycott them.
Don't treat Poker Twitter like it's real life
In 2022 the world spent too much time talking about Elon Musk on Twitter. Over on Poker Twitter we wasted a lot of time on similar BS when we could have been busy.
Poker Twitter has way too much influence on the industry. If you head to a live card room, a Discord group or a Facebook community, they often have no idea what you are talking about when you mention Bryn Kenney, Robbi Jade Lew or whatever other nonsense we are talking about this week.
I'd love to advocate a Twitter detox in 2023, but I am just as addicted as anyone else. What I will say is take anything you see on Poker Twitter with a pinch of salt, it is a very small part of the poker community.
Start a blog
What gets measured gets managed. We have seen with our own eyes that our members who update a regular blog tend to achieve their goals.
At PokerStrategy we have a 'Bankroll Challenge' for bloggers to climb the ranks and it's a great way to stay accountable and learn from others. You can also win $100 a month just for updating a blog.
Stay tuned to PokerStrategy.com in 2023 as we have something even more special lined up. Now really is the time to start your blog in our forum - you will thank us if you do in 2023.
What is your 2023 Resolution? Let us know in the comments:
