Best ways to prevent failure in online poker

At the risk of becoming the mister obvious, I will tell you that the best way to avoid failure is to 1) emulate what winning players are doing while 2) avoid making the mistakes they made. Sounds easy, right? In many ways, it really is. The problem with it is not its level of complexity but, on the contrary, with our attitude towards poker. So, I will try to list the most critical elements at both points and build a road map to poker success.

Emulate What Winning Players Are Doing

When I talk about emulating winning players, I mean following everything that makes them winners. And I mean everything! I know it will be impossible to copy 100% what makes them winners mainly because there will be many things that will be inherent in your natural talent towards the game. But fortunately, the vast majority of the decisions they make, we can extrapolate them, learn from them and apply them to our own game. Among those habits of winning players we have...

• Their ability to turn knowledge > action > results
• Be goal-oriented instead of result-oriented
• Build the habit of going over hands before/after each session
• Live a well-balanced life (Make time for friends, family and recreation)
• Maintain a healthy diet
• Exercise regularly
• Surround yourself with winning players and/or people with a positive mindset
• Be active in the poker community (Forums, podcasts, study groups, etc.)

Avoid Making the Mistakes They Made

One thing that all winning players have is that they managed to develop the skill or habit of minimizing the mistakes they make. Either by experience or by learning from what others are doing. And that is exactly what YOU are doing right now. There is no need to put into practice a "trial and error" mentality here that will potentially cost you a lot of time and, inevitably, money also when you can learn from others, assimilate knowledge and apply it in your life.

Taking all this into consideration, I will now begin to list the habits or actions that you should avoid at all costs. Why? Because you will surely end up making a mistake that will potentially cost you a lot of money in the long run. Here we go!

• Playing in high-rake games
• Getting caught up in high-rakeback games neither (they attract too many regulars)
• Slow-playing big hands
• Limping a lot
• Playing while drinking
• Letting your emotions take over your reasoning
• Feeling cocky or superior
• Bluffing too much

There you have it! I find it extremely difficult to conceive that someone who follows (or avoids) these tips do not become a professional WINNING poker player after a few months.