Like every game there must be a "List of Don't do these things" in the game of Poker. It would always be helpful to know about to play safe as a starter.

If we are talking about offline poker I am always thinking about a few things and also telling others to think about among them are:

1. Do not show others what your hand was. When folding pipe down.
2. Keep focus on the game even if you have lost a lot of hands. Let it go and think about the next move instead.
3. Do not play every hand just to play. Playing more usually means loosing more. Wait for good enough cards and play maybe 3 out of 10 hands if luck is not on your side and gives you amazing cards each time.

There are a lot of tips on this and I can go one forvever but here are a few for you.

I think this is one of the most important rule.

All 3 tips andrew is giving is really important. Something else that I think is vert important to remember is that you should never play with money you can not afford to loose. If you do that you have put your self in a bad position.

These are really golden advises. I also feel massive's advise regarding money is very very important. Players who are playing for the first time or are relatively new might feel the heat and will start doubting on their abilities.

Great advice massive. I wish a lot more players would think about this. Too many start to play and feel entusiatic but when they loose to much money which they can not afford to loose they get scared and stop playing. Or even worse play even more and start borrowing money. It can go in both directions.

Whatever don't borrow to stay in the game. I see this done alot and they usually end up losing all their money plus owe someone when they are done. Doesn't sound like fun to me.

Yes, I think the "don't play every hand" is the one that stands out as it is indeed the most common flaw of many people.

I came across a "list of do things" to become a professional poker player and let me share the link...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...nal_poker.html

Hope the link helps you!!!

Some good advice and pointers in that article. It does not help to just read it though, you have to practice all things listed and take action every day.

One thing that caught my eyes was this: "It is absolutely impossible to know what you're income is going to be weekly, of even daily when you're a professional poker player. "

Because of that I would not go quit my job and go from that to fulltime before I was 100% sure I could survive.