In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : Key to this is knowing your own limits. No-one can grind for ever, and everyone has optimal amounts of time (and numbers of tables). This is one of the reasons why a lot of good poker players (and, coincidentally, me) are ex-chess players, used to concentrating for hours knowing you are often only as good as your one bad play... I would recommend any regular player thinks carefully about how long they will play for on any given day, and what their maximum and typical amount of time should be Posted by Essexphil
Wow Phil that's intresting. Did you play professionally? That in itself is something I never grasped how to play unfortunately.
In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : Wow Phil that's intresting. Did you play professionally? That in itself is something I never grasped how to play unfortunately. Posted by Darkangel7
No-i peaked at 11, when I was ranked 4th in the world for under 12s. Junior international/County player, but wine women and song took over
In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : No-i peaked at 11, when I was ranked 4th in the world for under 12s. Junior international/County player, but wine women and song took over Posted by Essexphil
Omg that is an amazing achievement for someone so young. Something to brag about too. Bit too young at 11 though for wine women and song wasn't it
In Response to Re: What do you need to be a good poker player. : Depends on how we look at things, like is the glass half full or half empty. Did I meet H at MK? Not sure cant remember Posted by Darkangel7
In my case the glass is usually Empty .....who's round is it?
Analytical skills, critical thinking and the ability to execute what you've learnt are more important now than ever before in poker. Why? Simple - the techno revolution has provided us with immense software capable of calcuating extremely complicated simulations in seconds, those same simulations that would be close to impossible for any human to calculate.
You need to be a) curious which would lead to the discovery of the aforementioned software, b) capable of analysing what you've found in your calculations, c) be able to criticially think about what you've found to help you gain greater understanding about how poker works so you can apply it effectively, which leads me nicely on to d) execution. It's all well & good studying and roughly knowing how a spot should work, or watching a Sauce video and thinking you would make the same decisions, but in real time it's a completely different story. You have to incorporate all that you've learnt previously, and then apply it in the 15-30 seconds time that you have to make your decision. And of course once you think you've got a solid game, you need to be able to adjust to your opponents' style of play because poker is one of those beautifully complex games where each opponent is likely to be playing a different strategy in every single spot to another opponent, meaning there's a different optimal response in every single spot. Fun!!!
Like most other things in life, this bunch of stuff is usually required: work-ethic, dedication, perhaps knowing the right people, enjoyment, etc.
Does the 15-30 seconds not shrink dramatically when a player is multi-tabling? Posted by chilling
ja effectively, but someone who is multi-tabling should be very comfortable with the majority of decisions that have to made in poker, i.e. automatic decisions. The more experience someone gains, theoretically they should be more able to play multi-tables. Of course the automatic decisions don't turn much of a significant net profit against other competent players because they'll be roughly doing the same thing, it's the more complex spots that make people the $$$. The less mistakes you make = the more money you make. sounds easy :?
Interesting post! I think this varies so much from person to person. I know some successful players who grind 15 hours a day and are hugely overweight. Then if you look at Negreanu, he is very health conscious, eats well and is heavily into exercise etc. Personally I would say some general factors which might help a player do well are... Being able to find the correct balance between hard maths and creativity. Too much creativity can mean leaking masses of chips and if hard maths were all that mattered the game would filled with mathematicians stockpiling everyones money. So a good balance between the two is key IMO. Strong analytical skills can help players find the best games for them, the right amount of tables for them to play, help them work out the best solutions on specific hands/tourneys etc. An ability to reflect on your own game and constantly make changes when required. Personally I would say one of they most important factors is to be dynamic. For example not be a particular player type such as LAG or TAG or whatever but instead to adapt to the optimal style for the players you are surrounded by or the stack of chips you have in front of you. Posted by markycash
Negreanu is paid a $3 million annual salary. You can't really compare that to your average pro, who needs to grind just to pay the bills and put food on the table.
Having a bit of a roller coaster week this week. I be reet Yorkshire lasses are made of tough stuff. I knew what wanted to say but at that time in morning difficult to find the right words.
In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : Negreanu is paid a $3 million annual salary. You can't really compare that to your average pro, who needs to grind just to pay the bills and put food on the table. Posted by Aerionz
Was just an example, there are a raft of players who keep very healthy lifestyles and probably just as many at the other end of the spectrum.
Don't actually think Negreanu is that bad an example anyway. He might not play insane volume but he plays a fair amount and has amassed some pretty impressive winnings. I would also guess his run to 10th or whatever in last years main event and playing 12 hours + a day for a week would have taken a fair bit of mental stamina.
Another question is how do you stop burn out. Such at tikay and Neil who've been playing for years and other players. Does it not take a toll on your health? Playing and grinding till early hours day after day.
In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : Was just an example, there are a raft of players who keep very healthy lifestyles and probably just as many at the other end of the spectrum. Don't actually think Negreanu is that bad an example anyway. He might not play insane volume but he plays a fair amount and has amassed some pretty impressive winnings. I would also guess his run to 10th or whatever in last years main event and playing 12 hours + a day for a week would have taken a fair bit of mental stamina. Posted by markycash
Well my point was that Negreanu doesn't need the money. He's just playing for fun/pride/ego. Your average grinder needs the money in order to survive, so things like health and fitness might go out the window if they are highly stressed and struggling to make ends meet.
In Response to Re: What attributes do you need to be a poker player? : Well my point was that Negreanu doesn't need the money. He's just playing for fun/pride/ego. Your average grinder needs the money in order to survive, so things like health and fitness might go out the window if they are highly stressed and struggling to make ends meet. Posted by Aerionz
Definitely, I have fell into that trap in the past myself. Negreanu still has a lot of other qualities that could be defined as 'attributes needed to be a good poker player' though.
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omg H lol
Don't actually think Negreanu is that bad an example anyway. He might not play insane volume but he plays a fair amount and has amassed some pretty impressive winnings. I would also guess his run to 10th or whatever in last years main event and playing 12 hours + a day for a week would have taken a fair bit of mental stamina.