just one mistake an hour...

About once an hour I get tempted to play a hand to 'mix it up.' Truth is, I'm probably bored, and just want to see another flop. Usually, it's a hand like J9s or 98s in early or middle position. I'm hoping to flop a big hand, but I might be setting myself up for disaster. The cost for these kinds of mistakes can be huge.
In limit, one extra 'speculative hand' per hour could cost you anywhere from 0.5 big bets per hour to twelve big bets per hour. Unless you're lucky enough to take down the pot, that's a huge swing!
If you can eliminate one 'speculative hand' per hour from your game, you'll be on your way to playing winning poker.
If you're making mistakes calculating odds, and making the same mistake a few times each hour, you could be costing yourself twenty big bets an hour! Make sure you've got the odds down cold for every situation that arises in Texas Hold 'Em with Poker Flash Cards for Texas Hold 'Em (www.pokerflashcards.com).

Double Down by F. & S. Barthelme

Double Down by Frederick & Steven Barthelme chronicles two brothers' acceptance of the fever grip of gambling. While they were intoxicated by the blackjack tables and not the green felt of the poker room, they perfectly capture the rush of both in this excellently written book.

"When you're sitting at the blackjack table with some guy with a Boston accent... listening to him tell transcendently stupid snail jokes, it's a battle to believe that life is a dreary chore, designed that way by the Good Lord for some inexplicable reason. In fact, at that moment the world looks like a place of great tenderness and beauty....

In this way we understood other gamblers too. They hoped as we hoped, they knew what we knew. They were always talking about what their husbands or wives were going to do to them (a wiry little drunk checks his watch at six a.m. and says, 'She's a'ready thrown my clothes in the yard, but tha's a'right. I can change in the yard. I got to be at work at eight, and it's only a two-hour drive from here')....

A community of vice makes hypocrisy unnecessary."

The Hustler

Yes, it's about pool, but it's really about gambling. It's a great movie. And it's an even better book.

Written by Walter Tevis in 1959, it has a lot to say about gambling, and will resonate with anyone who plays poker, as well as with anyone who plays pool.

"There was the rule -- possibly the only real rule... Win... Maybe that was what Bert meant by character -- the need for winning. To love the game itself is a fine thing; it is loving the art you live by. There are many things to love in the art -- the excitement of it, the difficulty, the use of skill -- but to work it at only for those would be to be [a loser]."
-- from THE HUSTLER by Walter Tevis

Mike Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker

This is a slight book that covers a lot of topics. I think the most useful advice addresses limit hold 'em. Caro cautions:
"Abandon many straight draws against a bet if two suited cards flop. You often need a pair AND a straight draw to call."

Simple yet powerful. A player holding four parts to a flush will make his hand more often than a player holding four parts to a straight. And, if two cards of the same suit flop, you may only have 6 clean outs. And, you may make your hand on the turn, and bet and raise appropriately, only to get out-drawn on the river.

It's tempting to always call with a straight draw, especially in limit action, but finding a spot to save a few bets is what separates the winners from the losers.

Education of a Poker Player by Yardley

"Keep them guessing. And when you think you have them beat, play the hand hard. You don't need a lock to win at poker. It's the law of averages that will win for you.... Set your man up with a bluff. Then knock him down with the winning hand."
-- from THE EDUCATION OF A POKER PLAYER by Herbert O. Yardley