On the futility of winning every pot and every hand.

[Julien_Olynpic]

I am not a poker player, I just research gambling and read what professional players write. You know, it is very nice to follow the thoughts of great players. I recently came across a book about poker where the author discusses all aspects of the game and, in particular, whether it is necessary to play every game and win every pot. This may seem trivial to you, but I will quote it anyway. If you have no objections, you do not have to comment. Do you think this truth can be applied to other gambling games?

Saying that a poker player plays to make money does not mean that he should
win every pot.
...
In most cases,
the bets you keep are just as important as the ones you win, since your real
goal is to maximize your winnings with minimal losses. Ideally, you want the pots you win to be as big as possible, and the pots you lose to contain nothing but the ante.
You must remember that cutting your losses - for example, by not calling
bets that a weaker player calls - will greatly increase your winnings, and
usually this will be immediately noticeable at the end of the game.
Just as it is important not to hunt every pot, and therefore the money
you have invested in it, it is also important to realize that you are not playing individual games.
Because each of them is part of one big, long game
called life (or poker in our lives). You cannot win every pot, every game,
you play, just as a bowler or a golfer cannot win every time,
every match.

[Smartprofit]

The text you quoted is more than just advice for poker players. This advice is applicable to other gambling games as well. Moreover, it is applicable to human life in general.

The author of this text was probably a great philosopher and thinker!

You do not have to win all local battles. It is important for you to win the war. And you define the criteria of this victory yourself. In poker and other gambling games, this is the money you win. The most important human resource is focusing on important tasks. And this resource is not unlimited. People tend to get tired and lose focus.

That is why you should not strive to win every game. Sometimes you need to be passive and meditate.

[Wexnident]

~

I mean in the first place, it's close to impossible to continue winning in a poker game unless the matches were rigged. And in the rare cases that it does actually happen, unless it's a tournament, people will just leave the table! I mean why the hell would I play with someone THAT good? That's why bluffing exists. Not just in one round, you can bluff to players about you being weak and just bait them out in one fell swoop. A lot better than slowly trying to bankrupt them lol.

As for applying it to other gambling games, I don't think it needs to delve into it that deeply? I mean yeah, you can lose still, but it doesn't really appeal to anyone since you're playing alone. If it was pertaining to keeping your losses thin then If you needed to compare it to poker before realizing that then I'm pretty sure you have your priorities wrong lol.

[seoincorporation]

The text you quoted is more than just advice for poker players. This advice is applicable to other gambling games as well. Moreover, it is applicable to human life in general.

The author of this text was probably a great philosopher and thinker!

You do not have to win all local battles. It is important for you to win the war. And you define the criteria of this victory yourself. In poker and other gambling games, this is the money you win. The most important human resource is focusing on important tasks. And this resource is not unlimited. People tend to get tired and lose focus.

That is why you should not strive to win every game. Sometimes you need to be passive and meditate.

I agree with you, this way of thinking doesn't apply only for poker, you could think this way on other ways of gambling like poker or dice, and chasing a win on each round will end in a lose.

But we could chase a X amount of consecutive wins to chase X profit, something like 3 consecutive wins with inverse martingale

[Lannakosa]

Winning every game won't work because it's impossible, you have to accept it and be prepared for it. I even know that players have a rule that after winning, the bet (or bank in poker) should decrease in each subsequent game, because the more times in a row they win, the closer they are to losing in subsequent games.

Subconsciously, this is preparing yourself for losing the next game, I think this approach is reasonable, because it relieves the player of the responsibility that he needs to win in every game, this is an excellent characteristic of professional players, they perceive gambling more realistically.

[Natalim]

IMO - Winning in the long run, that's the key,

I'm sure you'll agree with me that Poker is a game of skill, so if you’ve got the skills, you’ve got a real shot at winning.

when it comes to the long term, though, discipline is everything,  your bankroll shouldn’t just cover one session.
If you let your emotions take over, you could end up losing everything in one night trying to chase your losses.

sometimes, the biggest problem for poker players is treating it like gambling. When they stop relying on their skills and start playing it like a 50-50 game, that’s when they lose focus, and that’s when things go downhill.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Winning every game won't work because it's impossible...

Of course it is not. It's not that it's futile, it's that it's impossible. Good players are not so much good at winning hands when they have worse hands, known as bluffing, they are good at getting value from their winning hands and limiting losses from their losing hands. People who are unfamiliar with the subject are unaware of the effect that stealing blinds regularly, 1.5BB per hand, can have on long term profits. Profit is not made by winning every hand, it is made by statistics.

[AbuBhakar]

You will notice that most of the professional poker player only play their cards whenever they really have a good hand even without the flop card like AA, KK or any pair and suited straights or if they are on the blinds for the game trying to make potential play since they are already invested on the pot.

But having a bad cards while they don’t need an action will always make them automatically fold. Great poker player always wait for the right time to jump and still calculate all the potential risk and outcome every card shown on the table.

This is the reason why poker session last long especially on professional tournaments and high stakes table.

[yahoo62278]

You will notice that most of the professional poker player only play their cards whenever they really have a good hand even without the flop card like AA, KK or any pair and suited straights or if they are on the blinds for the game trying to make potential play since they are already invested on the pot.

But having a bad cards while they don’t need an action will always make them automatically fold. Great poker player always wait for the right time to jump and still calculate all the potential risk and outcome every card shown on the table.

This is the reason why poker session last long especially on professional tournaments and high stakes table.

That's not exactly true. Players will see flops with many different kinds of hands. Suited connectors, suited Aces, sometimes even 2 trash cards if lots are in a pot as they know that most of the others are likely sharing some cards and they have a live hand. Then you have players that will play any 2 to a flop and likely those are players that are down a lot over their poker careers, they will win a few posts here and there, but over the long run they will have a terrible win %.

[Smartprofit]

Winning every game won't work because it's impossible, you have to accept it and be prepared for it. I even know that players have a rule that after winning, the bet (or bank in poker) should decrease in each subsequent game, because the more times in a row they win, the closer they are to losing in subsequent games.

Subconsciously, this is preparing yourself for losing the next game, I think this approach is reasonable, because it relieves the player of the responsibility that he needs to win in every game, this is an excellent characteristic of professional players, they perceive gambling more realistically.

By the way, I noticed that I behave similarly in real life. When I win in some situation (achieve great success), then next time I try to lose on purpose. I do not refuse to participate in these life situations, but nevertheless subconsciously strive to lose.

Why does this happen? I do not refuse to fight, because I believe that skills and abilities need to be constantly trained. At the same time, I probably understand that we are taught by defeats, not victories.

Victories and wins put a person into an altered state, when he is in euphoria and inadequately assesses the situation. Defeats and losses bring a person back to earth, balance him, force him to return to reality.

I think that the same thing happens when playing poker. And this tactic with halving the bets (the pot in poker) is a very good tactic.

[Fortify]

I am not a poker player, I just research gambling and read what professional players write. You know, it is very nice to follow the thoughts of great players. I recently came across a book about poker where the author discusses all aspects of the game and, in particular, whether it is necessary to play every game and win every pot. This may seem trivial to you, but I will quote it anyway. If you have no objections, you do not have to comment. Do you think this truth can be applied to other gambling games?

Saying that a poker player plays to make money does not mean that he should
win every pot.
...
In most cases,
the bets you keep are just as important as the ones you win, since your real
goal is to maximize your winnings with minimal losses. Ideally, you want the pots you win to be as big as possible, and the pots you lose to contain nothing but the ante.
You must remember that cutting your losses - for example, by not calling
bets that a weaker player calls - will greatly increase your winnings, and
usually this will be immediately noticeable at the end of the game.
Just as it is important not to hunt every pot, and therefore the money
you have invested in it, it is also important to realize that you are not playing individual games.
Because each of them is part of one big, long game
called life (or poker in our lives). You cannot win every pot, every game,
you play, just as a bowler or a golfer cannot win every time,
every match.

Any good player will know this is obvious, you will not have the best hand every single game and have to adapt your game play accordingly. As it is a positional game, where hand strength can vary depending on where you are in the current sequence and the quality of players around you, you have to be highly adaptable. Your range will fluctuate and you need to be aware of how you are perceived at the table - this may allow you to bully other players, or it might make your bluff more believable if you are usually a tight player. There are no hard and fast rules for poker, but understanding pot odd calculations will go a long way to determining whether your play is profitable or not.

[alegotardo]

I am not a poker player, I just research gambling and read what professional players write. You know, it is very nice to follow the thoughts of great players. I recently came across a book about poker where the author discusses all aspects of the game and, in particular, whether it is necessary to play every game and win every pot. This may seem trivial to you, but I will quote it anyway. If you have no objections, you do not have to comment. Do you think this truth can be applied to other gambling games?

Yeap!!!

The idea that a poker player does not need to win every pot to be successful is a valuable lesson that can be applied to many other areas. This refers to the importance of knowing when to bet and when to fold, maximizing winnings and minimizing losses.

This philosophy can easily be adapted to other games of chance, such as blackjack, roulette or even financial investments, but in all of these contexts, the ability to identify high-value opportunities and avoid unnecessary risks is crucial to long-term success. Furthermore, understanding that each action is part of a larger strategy and not an isolated event helps to keep calm and make more informed decisions, even in the face of losses or wins.

The best strategy is to always maintain perspective, learn from mistakes and continue to improve to maximize the chances of success over time, as this pragmatic and long-term approach can be applied to many aspects of life, making the lesson of poker relevant and valuable far beyond the world of gambling.

[Upgrade00]

This is good advice for poker, but if taken for face value, it's not directly applicable to other gambling options like casino or sports betting as they are very different from poker.

You can choose to apply the concept of caution and controlled gambling into any option and even to real life and it could help improve your results.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Or maybe we'll need to call on Poker player to respond to this? Bahahaha!! (Pun intended)
Well, the quote is more of a fixation process that'd prolly have the same resolution at the end, but different paths to figure it out... Yunno what the real deal is in that context? The ability for you to distinguish between games that would pay off huge, pay less, not pay at all, or games that you shouldn't even dare to try... This is where the vast collection of odds and option comes into play; Yes, cause what makes my ticket with same game different from yours is the options I choose to bet with... So you may lose at the end, but it might (luckily) be a win for me..

A good rule like I said earlier, but it's left for anyone who'd wanna try to decide their fate...
PS; mind you, this wasn't just about poker alone... An additional summary from the gambler's end could change the narrative yeah? Yes.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

I am not a poker player, I just research gambling and read what professional players write. You know, it is very nice to follow the thoughts of great players. I recently came across a book about poker where the author discusses all aspects of the game and, in particular, whether it is necessary to play every game and win every pot. This may seem trivial to you, but I will quote it anyway. If you have no objections, you do not have to comment. Do you think this truth can be applied to other gambling games?

We can't conclude in saying this is true yet, because there is always an objections to how we win each time we are gambling, the least winning may not take the same effect or pattern with the previous ones, once we are gambling, irrespective of the game we are playing, things remains almost the same in some particular aspect, while that of winning are rare occasions already.

We don't have to apply the same experience we've got before to what the actual games now are, we have to work on different approaches with each kind of games in considerations, if it comes fine and if we could have it, next time is welcome.

[acroman08]

Do you think this truth can be applied to other gambling games?

yeah, in some ways, I mean, the whole thing basically says that you should know when to cut losses, you can't win every game, control yourself and be patient. all those things can be applied to every(or maybe almost) gambling game out there.

by the way, it great quote, would you mind sharing who wrote this?

[aoluain]

I wonder actually if poker player tactics can be applied to other games, maybe they
can or maybe parts of their tactics can be.

A lot of poker play is about psychology and being able to read all the other
players you are playing against and not all about card tactics.

So some poker play tactics are going to be irrelevant for some games.

The quote from the OP is very interesting though.

[uneng]

You do not have to win all local battles. It is important for you to win the war. And you define the criteria of this victory yourself. In poker and other gambling games, this is the money you win. The most important human resource is focusing on important tasks. And this resource is not unlimited. People tend to get tired and lose focus.

That is why you should not strive to win every game. Sometimes you need to be passive and meditate.

It's not that uncommon to lose a battle and already feel completely demotivated about everything else. I think that happens because people don't have a complete understanding of what long term is. They are short-termist and want everything right now. If something goes out their expectations it's the end of the world. In gambling it just becomes much more evident because the consequences can be tragical.

And ironically, by being impulsive and wishing everything in the present moment doesn't mean people are really living the moment, neither enjoying the process. Their impulsivity doesn't let them enjoy the moment. I truly think wisdom here is directly related to the ability of being passive and meditating when it's needed. You don't have to win every battle and you don't have to reply every insult received in life.

To accept things won't work always favourable to us and to know when to stop and retreat shouldn't be considered signal of weakness.

[Text]

I'm not a poker player either but as I understand it this serves as a reminder about balancing ambition with restraint and how lasting success is often about making smart decisions rather than chasing opportunities or victories.

Sometimes we need to cut our losses and recognize that walking away can be more valuable than holding on.

I think this applies to any gambling game because in the end it all comes down to playing with a clear understanding of our priorities.

[BitMaxz]

The advice looks similar to trading called risk management without it you won't be able to make profit in the long run.

The only difference is that there is no pot in trading, but strategies such as cutting losses are part of risk management to stay in the game for a long time because, in the end, if you have fewer losses and more winnings from large pots, you make a better profit.

However, I believe this strategy will not work on slots because I occasionally play them manually, but the results are different from playing the slot with auto bets, which is time-consuming and negative result.