Have you got what it takes?

November 12, 2009

So you want to be a good poker player but do you have the right attributes to be a good poker player. The good thing about poker and especially online poker, is that it’s not a physical sport or beauty contest. It doesn’t matter how vertically challenged you are or how many branches you did or didn’t hit on the fall from the ugly tree.

The things that do matter are what attributes you have or can at least harness. Like your personal temperament and character.

  • Good attributes to have are:
  • Patience
  • Know your numbers
  • Self control and discipline
  • Controlling the ego
  • Aggression
  • Ruthlessness

First there is patience.

Commonly poker is played in the evening and can go on to the wee small hours. If you’re not a night owl this might be a disadvantage. Also the bigger live tournaments can run over several days. Have you got the patience to sit through hours of poker without losing your concentration or giving in the nagging urge to do something rash and reckless that would probably cost you all your chips. Poker at this level requires endurance. Many a lesser poker player has lost more hands and chips from impatience, irritation, tiredness and boredom than any other failings.

Get wise and nerdy with numbers.

Even if you’re not the world’s best mathematician it’s a skill you need to brush up on. It’s not that difficult to calculate the odds of winning a hand seeing as there are only 52 cards in a deck. To reduce or manage the effect of luck, the better poker players use mental arithmetic.

 Do you consider you are self controlled and have discipline?

A successful poker player knows there more times than not that you have to just wait, wait and wait some more. He might play the occasional week hand to throw the pattern on his play. But nothing rash as he is sitting there waiting for his strong starting hand to put his chips to work. The good player will watch the weaker players getting bored and risking their chips on poor hands, only to end up losing. The amount of waiting takes vast amounts of discipline and digging really deep into resources of self control.

Raining in that ego. It was once said by John Gollehan that ‘Big egos and big losses go hand in hand’ Many personality habits and traits become magnified when the cards have been dealt. This means any issues a player may have will be exaggerated and on show when he is playing and can be very costly. Learn to spot a player who has no understanding or control over their issues and target them.

Aggression.

At the poker table, aggression is regarded as a technique. It’s a way of intimidating lesser poker players. No it doesn’t mean snarling and growling and your opponents, but developing a style of play which is disconcertingly strong and unpredictable.

Ruthlessness.

Are you ruthless enough to carry through your attack and destroy your opponent’s confidence. After all, aren’t  you  there to win their chip stack not become best buds. Remove the personal element from the game and you mind.

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