A Dash of This, a Pinch of That - Ingredients for Winning Poker

I have received a lot of e-mail asking for advice on navigating the waters of becoming a professional poker player. Despite considering myself only about 25 percent of a quality pro thus far, I thought this forum would be an interesting way to attempt to answer some of these questions, as well as consolidate my own thoughts on the subject. Hopefully, some of these thoughts will be of some value to you in your own quest to join the big kids on the green playground.



To begin with, my first piece of advice would be, "Don't do it, man! It's a sick and twisted way to make a living! You will wind up with no hair, if you have hair now, or no sanity, if you are lucky enough to be a sane man now!" All right, with that out of my system, it might make sense to identify what loosely defined qualities have served me best as I have been learning. Here are some of the most important traits for becoming a successful poker player, through my eyes:



Adaptability and Willingness to Learn

Most players, as we all know, think they are the best poker players ever to grace the planet. Many believe that the only thing holding them back from playing in higher-stakes games than they do now is their limited bankroll. Some even go so far as to think they could contend with the toughest of professionals with a larger backing behind them. I'm sad to say that the only thing that would probably happen if they did have that bankroll they so desperately say they need is their opponents would just have more cash to win from them.



Playing winning poker and moving up in limits is tough, and the attitude "Hey, I am all that and a bag of Cheetos" will do nothing but put you further behind where you want to be. You need to come into every game, or every tournament, with the idea that you want to learn something. I always consider it a failure if I don't either make the final table of the event I am playing or learn something that helps me to play more effectively the next time.



Even when you are facing weak opponents, there is something to be learned. Perhaps you will be taught what not to do in certain situations. One of the best lessons to learn is how to beat up on those shaky players; that is, how best to take advantage of that matchup when you know your opponent doesn't have the same skills that you may possess. The fact of the matter is that most of the time, you will be facing weak players. Let's face it, there are many thousands more bad players than there are good ones in this world, despite all of us thinking we belong in the latter group.



Brutal Honesty – With Yourself

This is an area where most players are woefully lacking. In my early playing days – ha, about a year ago – I would suffer through losing sessions and be so frustrated by the end of the night that I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I had played so well! I was making great moves, and always being outdrawn. What was the deal here?



The deal was that I was playing leagues below where I thought I was playing. I distinctly remember that if I ever had a hand like the 10 9 or the 8 7 in any position, I would play it. I would play these suited connectors in an aggressive limit game continually, even from early position, where I almost always was forced to put in two or even three bets. This is a sure recipe for disaster, and I had nights that were Titanic-esque. Somehow, I had gotten it into my head that I wanted to play these hands, and play them I did, regardless of the circumstance.



The point of this example is that I wasn't being at all honest with myself about how I was playing. I also ran into similar issues when playing no-limit hold'em and not being able to avoid certain kinds of traps. An example is not being wary of playing hands like A-10 and K-J, hands with which you can easily get locked in and lose all of your chips. In limit hold'em, you can get away from these hands, or at least gain some knowledge throughout the hand to decide that you either have the best of it or not. In no-limit, it often is going to cost you all of your chips to find out the same thing. Despite this, many people have hands with which they just fall in love, whether those hands regularly choke the life out of them or not.



Of course, these are specific examples. The classic case is when you can't be truthful with yourself about anything. You play too many hands and you play them from out of position. You call far too many bets in hopeless situations and bleed off all of your chips. If this is you, go to a Liars Anonymous seminar, or consider finding yourself another vocation.



Ability to Handle Pressure Situations
As you move deeper in tournaments, the pressure just mounts and mounts. If you are lucky enough to reach the final table in whatever event you are playing, it ratchets up to levels where it may become difficult to think straight. A similar effect occurs when many players begin losing in cash games. Remember, when we are losing, we feel much more pressure. I know when I am winning in a cash game or have a big chip lead in a tournament; I am completely at ease and having a good time playing. The ability to handle pressure becomes paramount in situations in which you aren't on top.



So often in the later stages of big tournaments, one player makes a big blunder and the others are more than happy to gather his chips into their own stacks. I should know about this particular issue. I made two very large mistakes at both of the World Series of Poker final tables I made this year. They weren't in any way whatsoever due to being outplayed by my opponents. They were completely due to my making unforced errors that cost me either all or most of my stack. There is just absolutely nothing worse than feeling that you just handed your chance to win to someone else at the table.



Those final tables hark back to an earlier lesson I spoke of, though. If I couldn't take down the title during those days in June, I at least wanted to learn a few things to aid me in doing so the next time. I certainly did so, and will be that much more able to shut out the pressure and focus on the problem at hand next time.



Plain Old Mental Toughness
Poker is a brutal game, and there is no getting around that. In order to succeed, you must be able to take beating after beating when you have the best of it. I truly believe that the best players in the world are those who are so psychologically tough that nothing can beat them down. Think about it. When was the last time you saw Phil Ivey start whining about being outdrawn? Doyle? Chip? That's right – never. I don't think I have ever seen any of those players whine about anything – ever.



This is because they are straight-up psychological bulldogs, plain and simple. There is no point to trying to beat them down, because it just can't be done. I try to emulate this and play accordingly. It is so impressive when someone can take beat after beat and then come back at the end of the night and run the table down. It's a huge sign of strength, and one that we all should try to acquire.



I love this concept, especially in no-limit hold'em tournaments. It is so much fun to find players who can be beaten into submission. You know who they are; they are the players you push around to such an extent that they really lose the ability to be able to play with you at all. They finally get to the point that the only hands they can play with any degree of confidence are those that contain big pairs or A-K. Once they find one, though … boom, you fold. It takes that mental toughness to keep pounding on them and putting the pressure on, and it also takes toughness to withstand a pounding, and then pick your spot.



At any rate, these are just a few of the qualities I think about every day while I am playing. You will need to identify the ones that you think are the most important, as well as the ones that you need to work on. As is the case with everything else in this great game of ours, though, if you spend the time and put in the energy to become a better player, you will be rewarded with good results. You may even get to keep your hair … or your sanity … or if you're lucky, both.

Joe Sebok loves to receive all of your questions and concerns. You can reach him at [email protected], and can view all of his past columns at www.barrygreenstein.com under the "joepoker" link.