Some modern psychologists are convinced that there are two types of motivation - intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from within. People enjoy doing something for the pleasure or reward that the
doing provides them. Extrinsic motivation comes from without. People do something because they must do it or because they want the rewards that will come from completion of the task. Studies have shown that students, athletes, and workers whose performance is internally motivated are significantly more successful than that of those who are externally motivated. If you want to be a great poker player or even a pretty good one, you must understand that there is a lot of work involved. If you enjoy doing that work, you have a reasonable chance to succeed. If you are doing it only because you want money or fame, you will have a much tougher time of it.
Not only will it be much tougher, if not impossible, to succeed, it won't be fun. Imagine a woman who wants to be a doctor because she loves helping people and is fascinated by the process of diagnosis and treatment. Imagine a man who wants to be a doctor because his father says he must and he would like to be something where he makes a lot of money. Who will be the better doctor? Who will enjoy medical school, internship, and having to deal with sick people all day? Think of the difference between a basketball player who loves practicing jump shots and one who hates practice but wants to be an NBA star.
Bobby Knight, a great basketball coach, once said that the will to win wasn't as important as the will to prepare to win. Everyone wants to win tournaments and clean up in cash games, but how many of us are willing to read every book, watch every TV show, study every opponent, and then think about it all. Actively think about things, and discuss them with other players. Are you willing to learn to do the math required to be successful? (It is more often arithmetic than mathematics, but it is work.) Learn to count outs, figure pot odds, and calculate your M (the number of rounds you can play before going broke if you fold every hand, determined by dividing your chip count by the cost per round, which includes the blinds plus the antes) in tournaments. Some knowledge of probability and game theory helps, too. And how about psychology? Have you studied books on tells, maintaining discipline, and learning opponents' patterns? A lot of this is stuff that you have to do away from the table.
At the table, there is a lot more work. A lot of tournaments, unfortunately, still have structures that necessitate incredibly arduous working days. It is not uncommon for a tournament to start at noon and finish with the surviving players bagging their chips at 2 or 3 o'clock the next morning. You have to be extremely tough physically and mentally to put in all of those hours without cracking. One tell that you overlook, one miscalculation, one misread card, or some other seemingly minor error can get you knocked out. Even if you play perfectly, you can still get unlucky and be knocked out. Then, instead of being discouraged, you have to get some rest and be ready to focus in the next day's tournament or side game. You can do that only if you are internally motivated.
If you don't love poker, both playing it and studying it, you are in trouble. Like acting, very few players get anywhere close to the top. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you will be in for a lot of misery. This is a somewhat Buddhist approach to poker. The important thing is to appreciate the journey, and not worry about the destination. (Strangely enough, a lot of the Asian players have this attitude, and seem to enjoy playing more than some of the Westerners, who are too goal-oriented to have fun with the process.)
Of course, you can approach poker as an enjoyable hobby. Lots of people really get a kick out of poker as a form of entertainment. Others find that it is a great escape from reality. (It is certainly better than television.) Sure, you play too many hands and lose a little money, but so what. It's more entertaining than dinner and a movie. That's a perfectly acceptable approach to poker, but don't decide to make it a profession because you had a couple of good months playing with the folks in your home game.
In summary, if you enjoy what you're doing and the reasons for doing it come from within you (whether it is poker, writing, studying, or exercise), you will keep doing it and improve at it. If most of what you're doing seems like a series of unpleasant tasks that you hope will lead to some future reward, you are probably better off looking for something else to do.
Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he spends Thursday afternoons and Friday nights at his bar, Doc Holliday's on Avenue A and 9th Street in New York City, where the lovely Joanna will pour drinks and talk poker, if it is not too busy.
