You may think that you can’t actually gain anything from watching poker games live either on the television or in an actual casino. You would, of course, be wrong because there are definite advantages to be gained by recognizing plays. Learning to play poker is very easy and a child can play within five or ten minutes of watching someone. Learning to play poker well, is an altogether different story and usually takes even the most gifted of players years.
That’s why in days gone by we never saw young poker players making it big anywhere. Now of course it’s a totally different ball (card?) game where the young player is king of all they survey. So how is it that these young upstarts have made it so big so quickly and why haven’t they had to do their time on the circuit like the gold old boys? Well a lot of it has to do with being able to watch the pros on television from a young age.
These days there are not so many players starting out their poker career that are really wet behind the ears. We have moved in to a new era of the television and the cyber poker player. Take Nick Mitchell who at 20 years old had already won over $1.8m on PokerStars and $1.3m on Full Tilt Poker! A staggering amount and his own story of watching poker games live explains how he managed it.
He states that when he came home from school in Columbus Ohio, he just used to switch on the TV like most other teenagers. The difference was that Nick was watching PokerStars instead of MTV and that’s how he learnt his skill. When he made his first $25 deposit he played in one dollar sit and goes for a while until his confidence grew. He went on to become one of online pokers biggest earners.
Another twenty year old that has made it big in online poker is Jake Toole who is yet another online poker millionaire. This is obviously down to the poker revolution that has meant poker is now beamed across the airwaves practically twenty four hours every day. Ok so you can play poker online and win a little here and there but watching the professionals can give you that cutting edge.
Knowing when to fold and when to see the next card used to be something you had to experience a hundred times before you really had it down. Then as soon as you left the table you would forget it all by the next time you played. It would take you a good few lost pots before you got back in to the swing of things. Now you don’t forget because you can watch poker games live everyday so even if you don’t play a hand you still think like a player.
For most people that watch poker games live, poker is not an obsession and they only watch because it really is entertaining. When get to know the game and even the players, you will see someone make the wrong move and you really feel involved. Especially when you can see the cards they have and the cards their opponent has.
It can teach you a lot about how to act in those critical situations where you may not have been a 100% accurate in your judgment before. Watching poker games live is almost like watching an instruction video. You can also recognize the signs of someone breaking under the pressure of the moment, as their good thought processes begin to desert them. You can see their body movement become more animated as they get down to the last two or three and the odd deep sigh of relief when the cards are turned.
As the game speeds up toward the end of the match you can almost cut the atmosphere with a knife from your side of the television. Even the players that have been knocked out in earlier rounds are waiting to see the outcome. When a good character falls at the final hurdle it’s always a little sad but when they win it is great to see the reaction of everyone in the studio.
It’s amazing to think of these household names starting off sitting in front of their own televisions and computer screens not that long ago. It really doesn’t take long to rise to the top echelons in poker and people rarely stay there for long when they do. In all fairness, they will have made so much money by that time that they are probably too busy spending it all.
It’s great that by having poker games live to see every day we can all gain access to the high life. If that doesn’t appeal to some people then at least they can be happy for the people that they see on the television that have made it. The important thing to remember is that not everyone does make it, but lots do.
