Knowing when to quit playing poker can take many forms. The most common situation you’ll be in when it’s time to quit is when you’re getting pounded at the table. If you’re not winning your share of the hands, and the players at the table seem to know every move you’re trying to make, it’s a good time to quit that game. Sometimes your style just doesn’t match up with the tempo of the table.

If you’ve been playing for hours and you suddenly find yourself playing a stagnant game, it’s time to stop. After enough hours of play anyone will begin to play a passive loose style. This style is rarely profitable and is certainly not the poker you want to be playing.

If I experience enough bad beats in a short period of time I will also quit that game, just to change the situation that I’m in.

1. Thou shalt play at the right table – don’t play over your bankroll.

2. Thou shalt play with patience – don’t tilt out your chips after bad beats.

3. Thou shalt not bluff into multi-player pots – save the bluffs for head-to-head.

4. Thou shalt not draw to the low end of a straight – just to the high end.

5. Thou shalt not overplay AK after a raise in no-limit hold’em – tread carefully with this hand.

6. Thou shalt not raise pocket aces under the gun – keep opponents in the hand.

7. Thou shalt not stay in a game when you’re getting crushed – find a better game.

8. Thou shalt not belittle weak players when they get lucky – they are your profit margin.

9. Thou shalt not play when distracted or have other pressing things to do – lapses in concentration can kill your momentum and your game.

10. Thou shalt only play with the money one can afford to lose – food before poker, kids.

Super System – Doyle Brunson
The original poker guide is still one of the best sources of poker information, tips and tactics. Brunson was way ahead of the curve when he put this book together back in the 1970’s.

Harrington on Hold’em – Dan Harrington
Harrington released three books on Hold’em with tips and tactics that won him the 1995 World Series of Poker and allowed him to make the final table in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004. Some of Harrington’s advice is for intermediate or advanced players so leave this one on the shelf until you’ve learned the game.

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells – Mike Caro
Important education provided by Mad Mike all about poker tells, whether leaking or recognizing.

The Theory of Poker – David Sklansky
The best of Sklansky’s extensive poker library. Read it twice.

Poker for Dummies
Strictly for beginners.

The Poker Player’s Bible – Lou Krieger
Another good beginner book. Krieger is an excellent teacher and outlines all the rules and intricate parts of poker you must know to play it right.

The Complete Book of Hold’em Poker – Gary Carson
The game, tips and tactics are analyzed sharply and succinctly. An advanced player may not find very much new information.

Killer Poker – John Vorhaus
Aggression dissected. How to fix your game, exploit others’ weaknesses and make money.

Phil Gordon’s Little Black Book – Phil Gordon
A solid foundation on the basics.

Play Poker Like the Pros – Phil Hellmuth
Hellmuth outlines some good basic strategies and also includes some advanced tactics on everything from bluffing, to raising, to folding, that should improve your game.

Going on tilt is difficult to avoid. You’re only at risk of tilting when you’ve suffered a couple of crushing bad beats. You start to think that the entire universe is out to get you and you lose it. Your state of mind is pure negativity, and your chances of rebounding are next to nil.

You can counter and even stop this by thinking of things that make you happy, and realizing that poker has an inherent win / loss variance and this is just part of the game. If that doesn’t work, then you have to leave the game before you dump everything. If you’re in a tournament that you can’t leave, you should take a walk and sit out a couple of hands until you can get your mind back to good place. If you can’t control your emotions, keep a picture nearby of something you love, to look at when it runs bad.

The only way to lose at strip poker is if you don’t get any of your opponents’ clothes off. The best way to ensure that you reach the goal of getting them naked is to overvalue the amount of the chips in the game. Make the clothing the chips, and when you make a bet throw your shirt in the middle of the table. It will get the action flowing in a hurry.

The average strip poker game shouldn’t last longer than 20 hands or so. Let’s face it – if you’re playing strip poker you’re not doing it to play poker. Keep your focus on getting as much clothing off of your “opponents” as quickly as possible. And never loan any clothing to someone who’s down to their last items. Action is what you want to see in a game of strip poker, so force the play pre-flop; you’ll get more callers.