DON'T GET GREEDY.

Successful poker players all have one thing in common:

They understand the PSYCHOLOGY of greed, and how powerful it really is.

Let me share a story with you how *I* fell victim to greed the other night at my local $1-2 no-limit game... and how it emptied my pockets.

Here's how it went down...

I get dealt pocket 6's and am sixth to act.

Josh is first to act and makes it $5 to play. Drew and Brett are next in line and call Josh's pre-flop raise.

The action is to me, with the pot size at $18. There's no doubt I'll play this one
and hope to spike one of my sixes.

One other guy behind me calls the bet.

Okay... flop comes out:

Ah, 9d, 6s

Perfect.

I've just spiked my 6's and there's an ace on the board, which I'm sure someone is holding.

It looks like I'm going to rake a HUGE pot at this point.

Josh comes out firing, as I expect. I immediately put him on AK or AQ.

Brett folds and Drew calls Josh's $20 bet.

Who knows what Drew has... I can neverput him on a hand because he's the manic at the table. He'll play just about anything. He's probably sitting on 10-J, looking for a runner-runner straight draw for all I know.

Needless to say, he's not the guy I'm worried about. Actually, I'm not really worried about ANYONE at this point. I just flopped trips... and all I'm thinking about is how to milk these guys for all their money.

I decide to not slow-play the hand. I want to find out where I'm at... so I re-raise Josh's bet. I'm confident I'll get a call. I know Josh won't fold if he has the ace, like I think.

"Make it $50", I say, as I push in my red chips.

The guy behind me folds and the action is back to Josh. He thinks for awhile as he shuffles his chips.

"I call", he says.

Drew, however, doesn't hesitate one bit. He throws in his chips with some frustration and splashes the pot.

I've done everything right so far... I'm very well-positioned to rake in a huge pot.

The turn card comes... 4 of diamonds.

Now the board reads:

Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d

So the 4 doesn't scare me at all.

Josh and Drew both check this time because I'm in control. 

"Seventy five" I say... in a rather DEMANDING voice that makes it sound like I'm trying to buy the pot.

Josh mucks his hands... which he later told me was an AJ. So he made a good lay down.

Drew, on the other hand, thinks for a moment before calling my $75 bet. Now I'm feeling GREAT about this hand...

Josh was the guy I was really worried about, not Drew. Drew's probably got pocket 2's, or something crazy like that. Who knows?

The river card is a 2 of diamonds.

Now I hope Drew DOES have ducks! If he does, I'm going to take the rest of his stack.

The board now reads:

Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d, 2d

Drew checks to me.

I see the backdoor flush on the board, but I throw out another large bet anyway.

AND THAT'S WHERE I SCREWED UP.

I SHOULD have checked right behind Drew when I saw the flush on the board. Instead, I got GREEDY and made a stupid bet because I figured there was NO WAY he chased the flush all the way down.

Drew raises my large bet by going all in, and he seems confident.

I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath. Then I call... with the remainder of my stack.

He turns over a 7-8 of diamonds.

He's got the flush, which beats my trip sixes.

So he had flopped an open-ended straight draw... and ended up catching the flush instead.

I had played the hand perfectly right until the backdoor flush hit. THAT is when I let greed take over.

I had made another bet when Drew checked to me... but I SHOULD have just checked back.

If I hadn't let greed take over, I would have saved a lot of chips, and stayed in the game.

Greed is a powerful emotion that can empty your pockets... just like it emptied mine.

But of course, you can use greed to your ADVANTAGE...

Because once you have your OWN greed under control, you can learn to make
positioning moves and bets based on the greed of OTHER players.

You can literally COUNT on the factthat your opponents will get greedy too...