Many absolute beginners who’ve maybe played a few months for fun know the rules but they do not follow them. Why is that? You’re obviously setting yourself up for failure if you’re acting like this.

The past few days I’ve been talking to people I haven’t seen in a while and they’re all pretty happy to talk poker but when I talk to them there comes a point where I just can’t help them, because they set up a mental barrier.

For example; someone might know that you should play tight and you shuold practice proper bankroll management but still they play with 50% of their bankroll at the table and see every flop. Why is this? Only you can answer this question and in the end you will be the one that determines how successful you will be.

2. Bankroll Management

When I tell people that they should have AT LEAST 20 buy-ins to play any limit of No-Limit Hold’em (assuming they are winners which most are not) their jaw drops. It goes against the quick fix mentality we’ve been indoctrinated with since birth.

It shocks people that you actually have to put in some work and discipline to succeed. Poker isn’t all luck, if you play for a month or two (depending on how much you play) you should come out ahead about 95%+ of the time.

There are no excuses when it comes to bankroll management. If you’re playing with less than 20 or 30 buy-ins at any level you are probably fooling yourself in some way, especially if you’re constantly losing.

3. Start Low

Another poker tip that drops jaws and breaks the get rich quick mentality. Most will not put in the work so they will keep deluding themselves that they are just unlucky. When you’re beginning to learn poker you should go as low as you can go.

My advice is that you start at $25 buy-in NL with as many buy-ins as you can afford because it will take time to learn. Read books, read forums and talk to poker players better than you and you will improve.

Focus on improving and not on making millions of dollars the first week or the first year because that is not going to happen for 99.99% of poker players.

4. Study

Put in your study time. I’ve heard many beginning poker players ask me how many poker books I’ve read and when I reply with “I have 35 poker books on my shelf” it is too much. They usually reply with something like “I think self-taught players are the best”.

Now why do they do this? The case mostly is because it justifies them not reading any books. Just playing and suddenly they wake up and they’ve made $1,000,000 playing poker, not going to happen if you don’t study and analyze your game.

5. Awareness

Poker is a tough game to learn because it will take a lot of self-observing and expanding awareness to become good. If you’re fooling yourself and not noticing it your growth as a poker player is severely stunted.

I know some players who never take any coaching because it is against their beliefs. They might think something like “If I take coaching I have lost, I have to learn this on my own” and my question to this is always “Why re-invent the wheel?”.

I even asked a friend of mine why he doesn’t take coaching and he answered “It would be kind of like taking a blow to my ego”. These are all things to be aware of and things that severely hinder your growth.

Be open to ALL forms of learning and I promise you that you will learn fast and you will even grow as a person while becoming a better poker player.