The Biggest Poker Myths

Poker is a game of chance and the uncertainty associated with the short term poker results is responsible for the creation of many different myths surrounding our favorite game. Human beings like things to be simple and predictable. If said predictability is denied to us we tend to rush to conclusions, make our own creative explanations and become superstitious.

The urge to come up with easy, reductionist explanations is our evolutionary defense mechanism, it's what allowed our ancestors to avoid danger. In a world full of tigers hiding in tall grass it's healthy to be a bit paranoid about the tall grass. In a similar vein, we become distrustful of a setting in which a few mouse clicks or moving some clay chips can result in a loss of money.

Online Poker is Rigged

For as long as it was possible to play poker over the internet in the comfort of our own homes the myth about rigged poker rooms persisted. There are few reasons why this theory is still so prevalent. First of all, the perceived frequency of bad beats in online poker is very high, but this can be partially explained with the high pace at which online games are played.

The second part of the explanation would be the fact that there is an even greater disconnect between virtual chips and money than between regular clay chips and money. This is the reason why in-app purchases became so prevalent and why various companies are so quick to implement solutions allowing you to pay for products and services with your phone.

Recreational players are even more likely to make outrageous calls online and that, in turn, adds to the sensation many players have that there's something wrong with online poker. In reality, the decision to tinker with the random card distribution would be a business suicide in the context of online poker.

Think about it this way, how many sleazy bar owners mix some water in the beer they're selling? Now, how many of them would still do that if every regular bar customer kept an extensive record of every beer they ever drank and were able to analyze these records via the use of various advanced tools. This is precisely the reality of online poker where every regular player uses a HUD and collect a huge database of hands.

The Best Players Always Win

This is obviously untrue and thank the heavens for that! While the fact that the luck factor plays a very important role in short term poker results (and small edges seriously affect the long-term ones) is often frustrating for professional players, a very real possibility that a random businessman could beat an insanely tough field of known pros in a live high roller tournament makes poker very attractive for the recreational players.

Where else can enthusiasts "touch gloves" with the best of the best and beat them at their own game? If a random MMA fan tried to hang in the ring with Conor McGregor he would get head kicked into oblivion no matter how badass he is at sparring in his local Muay-Thai gym. In poker, it's not impossible for a $1 heads up sit and go grinder to win a match against Phil Ivey.

Poker is All About Huge Bluffs

While bluffs are a vital part of successful poker player's strategy and only about 25% of hands ever reach the showdown, huge triple barrel bluffs  or river check/raises with air are a relatively rare occurrence. The impact big bluffs have on one's win rate is roughly similar (depending on several factors like the playstyle, stakes or metagame of course) to the impact of huge pots generated by nuts vs. second nuts situations.

While both big bluffs and big hands are romanticized in the popular culture the reality is much more mundane. Small and medium size hands usually allow for more edge to be gained than big collision courses that huge bluffs and obvious value bets set players on.

There's not much play to a triple barrel bluff with A-high blocker on a perfect turn and river, and you don't really have a choice other than to get it in preflop with aces, but there's a lot of play to 89s that you decided to open in middle position or K9o you isolated the limper with.

Poker World is Full of Cheaters

This is a sensitive subject that had it's origins in the humble beginnings of live poker. In the good old days when players almost always acted as dealers, their card handling skills could prove much more lucrative than a good strategy especially given the fact that poker education wasn't exactly a robust filed back then.

The image of a card shark was further popularized and glorified in Hollywood movies like Maverick but it has very little to do with the reality of modern casino games and live tournaments where the integrity of the play is guarded by state of the art surveillance systems and professional dealers. As for the online games, bots are a real issue that's far more common than poker players used to think.

Move Up Where They Respect Your Raises!

This extremely misguided attitude is very popular among frustrated micro stakes regs who react poorly to the frequency of bad beats that they face in an environment full of recreational players.

While playing against competitive players is indeed more predictable due to the fact that they don't play random hands and are very consistent in what they do with certain parts of their ranges, it's also far less profitable. At the same time, a simple thin value betting strategy is enough to crush loose-passive players in the long run and more than makes up for frequent bad beats that beginner regs have trouble seeing past.

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