It is true for every sport that discipline is a key factor in consistent success. Despite the common understanding that poker is a gambling game of chance, you have to realize that if one day you are to become a profitable pro, you will have to establish sportsmanlike discipline of learning, understanding, and incessant practice. "Talent" is certainly essential, but even the greatest talent needs a method, and method is acquired from careful study.
There is actually no real spontaneous talent. Think of Mozart, truly a talented child protage. One who practiced without end even as a small child, without which he would be just another composer/pianist of some merit. Mozart proves the old adage that talent is oft-practiced potential. No one learns discipline by someone else beating it into them. It must be self-imposed.
The fun of the game to most amateurs lies in the excitement of pitting themselves against blind chance. Poker is popular because of the adrenaline rush that comes with taking a risk. The professional knows his basic chances at poker, but rather than having a pleasurable time, he studies and takes advantage of opponents' mistakes, remembers them and uses them against them while calculating immediate odds. Chance is only one element to challenge his skill and wits. The pro is not playing a half-blind game of chance, he is playing a strategic game of matching himself against another's method and besting him.
It is vital to be familiar with the varieties of poker games and to know which of them best suit your abilities and predispositions; not only to realize what your weaknesses are, but to know also which game incites you to your best effort and best engages your intuitions. Players who haven't the habit of self-introspection keep sullenly playing a game which doesn't engage their best faculties. Sometimes a benevolent professional looking from the side may advise the person to try another game type and the player is surprised to discover that they are much more talented than they thought.
Know the difference between limit and no-limit poker, there is a big one. The player with discipline will not yield to temptation and will go for the game where he feels in control, steady and cool. In limit poker, players play with caution, remain calm, and skillfully and accurately obtain and remember information about the other players in order to overcome them with small moves. This disciplined player will play only the hands he deems to be winning, this may be only about 20% of the hands that are dealt.
The no-limit pro will appear to be the opposite of the reserved, cool limit player. He will play aggressively before the flop, and play hands that to a limit expert would appear to be pure folly. The disciplined no-limit player is always aware of exactly what he is trying to achieve with every bold move.
Whether limit or no-limit, of at least the same importance as the right move, is to not get so carried away that you don't refrain yourself from knowing when to fold. If the situation is hopeless, or you feel a lack of control, which is certainly not uncommon, as a disciplined player aware of your performance, you will not continue with a game bringing only frustration.
On better days, never trust chance to maintain your good fortune forever - learn to leave before you loose the edge. Good players learn to establish not only the limits of their losses, but also the limits of their gain during each session.
There is actually no real spontaneous talent. Think of Mozart, truly a talented child protage. One who practiced without end even as a small child, without which he would be just another composer/pianist of some merit. Mozart proves the old adage that talent is oft-practiced potential. No one learns discipline by someone else beating it into them. It must be self-imposed.
The fun of the game to most amateurs lies in the excitement of pitting themselves against blind chance. Poker is popular because of the adrenaline rush that comes with taking a risk. The professional knows his basic chances at poker, but rather than having a pleasurable time, he studies and takes advantage of opponents' mistakes, remembers them and uses them against them while calculating immediate odds. Chance is only one element to challenge his skill and wits. The pro is not playing a half-blind game of chance, he is playing a strategic game of matching himself against another's method and besting him.
It is vital to be familiar with the varieties of poker games and to know which of them best suit your abilities and predispositions; not only to realize what your weaknesses are, but to know also which game incites you to your best effort and best engages your intuitions. Players who haven't the habit of self-introspection keep sullenly playing a game which doesn't engage their best faculties. Sometimes a benevolent professional looking from the side may advise the person to try another game type and the player is surprised to discover that they are much more talented than they thought.
Know the difference between limit and no-limit poker, there is a big one. The player with discipline will not yield to temptation and will go for the game where he feels in control, steady and cool. In limit poker, players play with caution, remain calm, and skillfully and accurately obtain and remember information about the other players in order to overcome them with small moves. This disciplined player will play only the hands he deems to be winning, this may be only about 20% of the hands that are dealt.
The no-limit pro will appear to be the opposite of the reserved, cool limit player. He will play aggressively before the flop, and play hands that to a limit expert would appear to be pure folly. The disciplined no-limit player is always aware of exactly what he is trying to achieve with every bold move.
Whether limit or no-limit, of at least the same importance as the right move, is to not get so carried away that you don't refrain yourself from knowing when to fold. If the situation is hopeless, or you feel a lack of control, which is certainly not uncommon, as a disciplined player aware of your performance, you will not continue with a game bringing only frustration.
On better days, never trust chance to maintain your good fortune forever - learn to leave before you loose the edge. Good players learn to establish not only the limits of their losses, but also the limits of their gain during each session.
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