What Saves Cash?
Multiplying the initial stake after a number of games is what actually serves as the evidence of skills, knowledge and luck of the player. Only winning in the long term, the player can be proud of his actions and consider himself a good player. Of course, we can not win money without taking pots, but it is only half the battle. Another half is not to lose more then we win, and this is done by saving poker money. Not calling with a weak hand is as valuable as applying appropriate aggressive tactics and making an opponent call when you have a stronger hand. By our nature we find offensive play more impressive and tend to it without realizing that defense is much more effective as a playing tactic.
You do not have to recover the money you lost, so you need as few winning hands as possible to have positive balance.
Money saved by not placing a bet is the same money that is gained, winning the hand. Really good players do not win more than one or one and a half big bets per hour, but they always come out winners in the end, because they do not waste their winnings betting too loosely and leave the game with more money than they had entering it.
In a standard game, each player is in the blind approximately six times per hour, and some of the blinds will be raised. Calling each raise from the blind may result a bit expensive. The same thing is true about calling when the flop neither hits your hand nor provides a draw to a straight or a flush. Avoiding such actions will help you to save poker money, which you will certainly need for future bets. Even if the sum does not seem large, such bets add up and result unprofitable for the player.
In a game played between opponents with more or less equal skills, the decisive factor is the discipline to save poker money with weak hands, which not only include totally hopeless hands, but also hands that are not strong enough to justify the risk. Folding when it is the right move, of course, does not satisfy the ego of the player, but it is not dramatic either. Fold when it is the time to fold and feel yourself a winner in the end, counting your earnings.
