When poker players sit down at a poker table they have a lot of different goals in mind. Some people play the game purely for recreation. Their main goal is to have a good time. They may want to kick back a few beers and catch up with friends and poker is just something to be doing while this happens. These players don’t mind losing a few bucks each time they play. If this is you that’s fine as long as you are aware that this is why you play. Other players are strictly business. They play strictly for the money. In reality most poker players are some combination of these reasons with money being on most peoples mind to at least some degree.

If you do play the game for money and seek to make some or all of your income from poker, you should be looking to move up in limits and play in the bigger games. Bigger games mean bigger money right? Unfortunately you generally find tougher competition and less loose wild players at the higher limits as well. This means that you need to continue to evolve as a poker player and improve your game as you move up from limit to limit. It seems natural that the more poker you play, the better you should get at it. There are some traps that people fall into on their way to the big game though and some players never find their way out.

An easy trap to fall into as an online player is what I refer to as “The MultiTable Trap”. This is when a low limit player continues to add more and more tables to his daily routine instead of focusing on moving up the ladder to the real prize. Low limit grinders may find that they can beat 1/2 limit holdem for 1 big bet or more per hundred hands. They start to think about playing 6 tables at once. How about 8, 10, or 12 tables at a time. Before long they have 4 monitors hooked up to their computer and they’re playing 16 tables at once. While this may be a decent income, I guarantee you’re not improving your poker. There is very little time to think when you play this many tables and zero time to learn anything. You are playing ABC poker against very poor opposition. Your bankroll will grow and you will have the money to move up in limits before too long assuming that you can maintain your winrate with that many tables. Unfortunately your skill level will not be ready and you will find yourself back in the kiddy pool trying to recoup your losses over and over.

Another related trap is the rakeback trap. While rakeback is great and should be taken advantage of by every serious online poker player, you should treat it as what it is; Something extra. Players often get caught up in earning as much rakeback as they can rather than trying to get better and move up. I often see players playing online who stop moving up when they get to 3/6 or 5/10 limit hold’em. These limits will allow you to make good money just in rakeback if you play enough tables, but, again the real money is in the big games.

If you continue to learn and grow as a player you should be able to continue to move up the ladder to the big games. Rakeback will be a great boost to your bankroll but you should be thinking about winning at the tables first and foremost. Don’t let this important point slip by. You may find yourself playing 16 tables at the micro limits for the rest of your career.

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