Whether we’re talking about online poker play or live play at a casino, if you want to improve your poker game, it’s important to keep the five P’s of poker in mind.

Patience
The game of poker requires patience. It’s important to wait for good hands to play. One of the mistakes that many new players make is playing too many hands. Playing is fun, so it can be difficult to just sit and wait, mucking hand after hand after hand while you wait for a good hand to show up. There will be times of course, when you will have a spot to make a move with a less than stellar hand, but generally, you’ll want to play good solid starting hands and play them aggressively.

Another place lack of patience shows up is when a player tries to get all their money back playing a hand or hands they shouldn’t, because they lost a big pot due to a bad read or maybe because of taking a bad beat. Going on tilt as it’s called can happen to anyone, because winning and losing can be an emotional experience and winning and losing money can be a very emotional experience. The best players learn to control their emotions. This is because they understand that winning poker is all about making good decisions and you can’t make good decisions if your emotions are in control.

Perseverance
Your attitude at the table plays a very big role in how you will do. Do you expect to win when you sit down to play? Do you still expect to win when you get short on chips? If you’re playing a tournament and start thinking to yourself, “Well, I’m getting short on chips, let me just go in with anything and get this over with,” you don’t possess the attitude to win.

A good player is looking to double up when they get short and they expect to hit that hand that will get them back in the game. There’s an old saying in poker, “All you need to win is a chip and a chair.” Remember, if you have chips, you still have a chance to win. Never give up. Opponents like it when other players are just looking for the door but you earn their respect when you always play tough and play to win.

Psychology
Poker is a people game played with cards, not a card game played with people. Always be focused when you play. It’s no secret that you should focus when you’re in a hand, but you should also maintain that level of focus even when you’re not in a hand.

By focus I mean, watch the players, not the cards. The cards don’t change after they’re dealt, but you may only get one chance at picking up a tell. Watch how someone reacts to his or her cards. Do they sit up a little straighter? Do they glance at their chips? This is valuable information. Of course, this is a little more difficult to see if you are playing online.  Online tells are more about betting and betting patterns. However, always pay attention to the way people bet, whether it’s online or in person. Do they always bet a small amount with bottom or middle pair and a bigger amount with top pair? When you’re playing in a live game, watch to see how other players place their chips in the pot. Do they use the same hand all the time or one hand when they have something and another when they’re bluffing? Do they splash the pot when they have nothing and place the chips in carefully when they have the nuts?

Always be thinking about the other players. What hands do you put them on? In other words, what do you think they have? You should always be trying to put people on hands when you’re in the hand and even when you’re not. If you find yourself bored sitting at the table, you’re either very, very good or you’re wasting opportunities.

Position
It’s important to always be aware of your position at the table in relation to the dealer button. This is another area where beginners make a lot of mistakes. Hands that are very playable in late position are often not playable at all in an early position.

The reason is, if you’re in early position with many players to act after you, you have less information than you would in late position where many of the players have already acted. So choosing which hands to play and how to play them is as much about the cards as it is the position you have in that particular hand.

Practice
If you want to improve, you must play. You can read all the poker books and watch all the videos and television broadcasts, but they can only take you so far. There is no substitute for experience.

If you’re brand new to the game, start out on the play chip tables. I think a one-table sit and go is a good place to start. The reason is, if someone goes crazy and loses all their chips, they’re out, and you don’t have to worry about them reloading and coming back to do it again, like you might see at the play chip “cash” tables.

Once you feel like you know what you’re doing, you can start playing for money. Many online sites will let you play for very low amounts. You can play a sit and go for pennies per tournament. Move up only when you’re winning regularly at your current level.

Another part of practicing is reviewing your books and videos after you have been playing a while. You’ll invariably understand things that maybe weren’t clear the first time you went through those materials after getting some playing experience.

Poker is all about making the right decisions, based on your cards, where you’re sitting and the table and who you’re playing against. Hopefully, the five P’s of poker can help you become a better player and that, will bring you years of enjoyment from one of the greatest games in the world.