6 Poker Tactics That Apply To WoW Gold Making

Poker vs WoW Gold Making

6 Poker Tactics That Apply To Making Gold In WoW

World of Warcraft and Online Poker are two of the most popular games played on the internet.  As gold makers in World of Warcraft, we can learn something from some of the tactics of poker players.  While anyone can play poker or try to make gold in WoW, both often require more skill than luck to have continued success.  Sure you can get lucky and make a great overpriced sale or win a massive poker pot on accident, but continued success takes skill and understanding.  There is a big difference between good players and winning players and a combination of skill versus luck in poker.  Let's look at a few poker tactics that translate over into making gold in WoW.

KEEP YOUR VITAL INFO SECRET

In poker, you don't show your hand to your opponents.  Hell, you don't even show a winning hand unless forced to call.  In WoW, you want to keep your best markets a secret for as long as possible.  Letting others know what you are selling well, only invites more competition to your market.  So keep your best markets as low key and as much of a secret as possible.

YOU GOTTA TAKE RISKS TO WIN BIG

Only playing the best poker hands will limit your ability to rack in huge pots, as players learn that you only push on with strong hands.  If you want to win big, you are going to have to take some risks with less than ideal hands.  The same is true in World of Warcraft gold making.  You can set back and slowly bring in adequate sales (like with a Netherweave Bag market), but you aren't going to get rich quickly.  By taking bigger risks in new markets with bigger ticket price items, you just might score a massive profit from a single sale.  Although you can lose a lot of gold as well, if you don't understand the market and have a good grasp on the price players are willing to pay for your item.

LEARN TO READ YOUR OPPONENTS

In poker, we are always looking for tells, or signs, that give away your opponents hand.  Maybe his nostrils flare when he gets a strong hand?  Being able to deduce what your opponent is planning is a huge advantage.  Similarly in WoW gold making, you can gain a distinct advantage once you can pre-determine the actions of your competitors.  Do you have you main competition on your friends list?  Can you look at their Undermine Journal posting activity and find a pattern?  Learn when they post and you can undercut them as they are logging out of the game.

MONEY YOU'VE ALREADY SPENT IS IRRELEVANT

Bad poker players tend to think that they need to keep calling on a dead hand, because they've already got a lot invested into the pot.  That's horrible thinking.  What you have already invested into the pot has no relevance on your odds of winning your current hand.  In WoW gold making, some players get stuck in the same rut.  Just because you invested a lot of gold when you crafted the item, doesn't mean you must sell the item for more than the crafting cost.  If that item's value is crashing, unloading it at a loss sooner than later will keep you from losing even more of your investment.  Sitting on it and waiting for the price to return to a higher price may work, but often times just means the item has devalued further by the time you decide to just dump it for whatever you can get.

KNOW WHEN TO FOLD AND WHEN TO PUSH

Similar to the above tactic, good poker players know when to get out.  They calculate the odds of winning the hand and they either stay in or fold based on their calculated odds.  Sometimes, you have to just cut your losses and fold, regardless of what has already been added to the pot.  In WoW gold making, we must also know when to fold and get out of a market all together.  Sometime you will attempt to make gold in a specific market, only to find that there is some major competition in your new market.  Regardless of how much time and gold you invested trying to get into a new market, sometimes it's best to cut your losses and move on to a completely different market.  If your compeition is making life hell in that market, why not spend your gold and energy in a less hectic and less competitive market.  Should you fold or push back and start an undercutting war and makes everyone's profits drop?

MANAGE YOUR BANKROLL PROPERLY

If a poker player continues to gamble with all the cash they have, they will eventually end up broke.  If a poker player only gambles with small amount, then they are limiting their ability to gain larger amounts.  The same holds true in WoW gold making.  You shouldn't be tying up all of your liquid gold in materials or crafted items because the markets could go South on you and cause a major loss.  If you only are willing to invest a small percentage of your bankroll, then you are limiting your ability to earn large chunks of gold at once.

If you are interested in playing poker, be sure to check out the great poker tactics articles over at PokerListings.com

WoW Auction House Fail Tactics | Selling At A Loss To Drive Away Competition



Selling At A Loss To Drive Away Competition
Do Other Auctioneers Think It Works?  Yes.
Does It Really Work?  Only Against Fools.

Selling at a loss means you are selling your goods on the auction house for less than they cost you to craft or for less than you originally paid for the item you tried to flip.  Common reasons you may see someone selling for a loss include:

• Exiting a market
• Dumping of items used only for leveling a profession (Glyphs and Enchants are good examples) *This can be avoided with smarter Common Commodity Crafting instead of wasteful power leveling.
• Lack of storage space
• Poor planning
• Incorrect speculation
• Mistaken crafts (Ever made a whole ton of Netherweave Nets instead of Netherweave Bags?)
• Attempting to scare away competition
• Stupidity, ignorance, or poor math skills.

Auction House Market Bullies

I tend to also refer to this "selling at a loss to scare away competition" tactic as "bullying others out of the market."  The idea is this:

• Your market has too many competitors and undercutters.
• You are getting less profit per sale than you would like.
• You start posting your items in large quanitites and at rock bottom prices.
• This forces your competition to sell for less than you, often for a loss per sale, or stop selling.
• Once everyone stops selling for the stupid low prices, you return to a less competitive market.
• You raise prices back up and get more profit per sale.

In a market full of idiots, you may see some success.  This tactic can work, but usually only temporarily and very rarely will it work against a seasoned WoW gold maker or an intelligent competitor.  Why?  Because we are wise enough to see through the glyph wall or the rock bottom bullying pricing structure.  In response to your low price bullying tactics, a seasoned WoW auction house veteran will:

• Buy out your poorly priced items to sell later for a profit.
• Wait out your pricing blockade and return to the market once prices rebound.  You can't continue to sell for a loss forever and why would you want to?

Protecting Yourself Against Low Pricing Blockades

If you are a newer auctioneer or a poorly diversified auctioneer, then you are much more succeptable to this type of low priced market bullying.  If your main WoW gold making tactics are within a single market, then you have no choice but to follow suit and sell for lower prices to compete with the market bully or jump out of the market all together.  If you are wise, you should check back and re-enter the same market once the prices raise back to a more profitable selling price.

I've always preached about the need for leveling additional crafting alts, as well as the need for more diversification on your WoW auction house market investments.  Having multiple crafters with multiple profession coverage diversifies your crafting and earning options.  Having multiple profitable markets available to you allows you to easily step aside during undercutting pricing wars, low priced market bullying, and bear markets and you can always return to the same market once the higher profitable prices return. 

If you only work in 1 market, then you are going to be heavily handicapped when compared to the seasoned veterans with more market options and staying power.  Regardless, don't fall for the scare tactics that some auctioneers believe will work to get you out of their market.  Have patience to return to a bull market and diversify your options to protect against all types of unprofitable market collapses.


Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. Also Check Out The Teenager's Gold Guide To Get Started With Learning The Auction House As A Younger Player Or Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide.