New Year Resolutions for Poker Players

Barry Carter suggests four things that players of all levels could do in 2019 to help themselves and the game.

Play a satellite

I’m biased on this and have written about this at length, but I really think everyone in poker benefits if more people play satellite events.

If you are an online specialist, winning a package to a live event is a good way to get out of the house. If you are a new player, they are a great way to experience the higher levels of tournament poker without the financial risk. If you are an ICM specialist they are a profitable format in and of themselves. If you are a serious tournament player they allow weaker players to sit with you in the bigger events, so play some satellites to improve their chances of running.

We saw in 2018 that a healthy number of satellites can lead to amazing things with MILLIONS Online. In 2019 why not encourage operators to put more of them on and guarantee more seats by occasionally taking a shot in them yourself?

Try an experimental format

In 2018 we saw a lot of new formats introduced, mainly by PokerStars but also the rise and rise of Short Deck Poker. We also saw cynicism and scepticism towards them by some corners of the poker community. I’m not saying you should love the new formats being introduced or they are necessarily good for the game, but change is always going to happen and you can either embrace it or be the guy on a forum complaining.

A very good reason to put some volume in on a new format (and by this I also include established formats like PLO if you haven’t played them much before) is that they are less ‘solved’ than other formats with less information available about them. In that respect they force you to become good at self study, rather than parroting what a book or video will tell you, and being good at studying on your own is a master trait in poker.

The other reason to keep your options open, just a little, is that you never know when your preferred format will go away. Lots of poker formats either lose traffic, become unbeatable or simply get removed by operators, so you never want to completely put your eggs in one basket.

Live by example

This is very much an existential resolution, but stick with me. There are a lot of things grinders agree are ‘bad for the game’ but in the short term good for their ROI. For example, many players think re-entries are bad for the game but good for them personally. Some think some of the more predatory software is bad for poker, but they still use it. Others will not out a scammer who owes them money because they fear it will mean they never get paid.

This situation is called the Tragedy of the Commons and I have written about it before. It is very hard to overcome in practice.

I suspect you have your own personal example of this, whatever it may be, it might even be something as simple as resisting the urge to talk shit to somebody who outdrew you in the chatbox. I personally have been trying my best not to write about sensationalist divisive clickbaity things on this site for the last year (you tell me how I’ve done), which is hard to do because they tend to boost traffic. Whatever it is, just try to live by example, and when you fall short, try again.

Positive prop bets only

Speaking of avoiding those clickbaity stories, I was absolutely torn this year whether to write about the ridiculous bathroom bet that took place recently. When it was over, it took everything I had not to write the headline ‘Idiot wins prop bet’.

I love prop bets, I love silly prop bets and I love insane prop bets, but now and then they veer into the harmful or cynical. That bathroom isolation bet was arguably one of the needlessly damaging bets I’ve seen. Luckily we have also seen the inspirational bets, most notably the Ultimate Sweat which really changed Jaime Staples life for the better.

The best thing about prop bets beyond the money is that they can give you that necessary push to do something amazing you may not have done otherwise. So in 2019 by all means make a crazy bet, but make one where even if you fall short you may have achieved something positive like improved health, increased volume, better work ethic or learning something new. Make it so even if you lose, you win.

What is your poker resolution? Let us know in the comments: