Are you serious about poker? I mean really serious about becoming the best player you can become?
Now, are you sure about that?
I read at least 95% of the blogs on site, some of them more than once. It amazes me how often I see people say things like "You can't follow a book, best thing you can do is play as much as you can and you'll get better and start to undertand", don't kill me I am paraphrasing there. This bothers me some. "Why?" you might ask. Well I'll tell you.
If you want to be the best at something, then you have to train, study, watch, review, practice, play, then rinse and repeat. You can't just focus on the playing aspect of the game, because then you are cheating yourself out of what you could become. To become the best you have to make sacrifices, you have to want it, and you have to be willing to do more then the other guy will. Anyone can just play all day and improve, but that improvement peaks out and is soon considered about average.
Train - You work on things like calculating odds/outs, possible hands, proper betting, things of this nature.
Study / Watch - You read the books, you read them some more, you discuss them with other players, you watch the pro's and how they play and bet, not only on t.v. but online as well.
Review - You go over what you've studied and trained, you analyze previous hand histories breakign them down to see where something could have been different.
Practice - This is where you go and work for hours on implementing everything you have done previous, you find what works for you, and how to bend it to you and rebend it to the table your at.
Play - You've got a grasp on what you've been doing and now you go and implement it where it counts, trying to make money wih it, trying to play each hand as perfectly as possible.
Rinse / Repeat - You start over and do it all again.
So again I ask Are you serious?
© Copyright 2008
46 comments
YES RIGHT ON DOG
If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't play. Sounds like you are serious but your repertoire here seems to be missing a bunch of stuff (maybe you just didn't have the time or space to write it in?).
First and foremost my suggestions to newbies or folks wanting to improve their game is to READ, READ, READ, READ,.. rinse and Read some more.
Review,.. review your hand histories and see if you could make any improvements. If you're playing a tournney and find you're not making any mistakes or wouldn't have done anything any differently,.. then you're on the right track. I spend MOST of my time focusing on my opponents and not specifically on my own play.
Oh my my my, I see my point is lost on some.
Yes pro's love the game they play, but do you think that I just sat down and came up with this stuff? NO I didn't, these are things taken from what pro's say you must do to succeed and put ino my own words.
Your not going to be the best if you take things to seriously? Ever hear of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jerry RIce all of them took the game serious and were/are the best in their respective fields. Maybe your not understanding by what I mean when I say serious?
Who said I was playing the game for money? What I said was:
Play - You've got a grasp on what you've been doing and now you go and implement it where it counts, trying to make money wih it, trying to play each hand as perfectly as possible.
Which gives 2 of many motivations for people. For some it's about money, for others it's about trying to play each hand perfectly.
Do me a favor and read what I'm saying and try to understand it, don't jump to conclusions or add your own words to it just to be argumentitive. If your unsure of what I'm trying to say I'm only a PM away.
Thanks and have a good day
MJ, Woods, and Rice are the people they are today b/c they enjoyed what they did. They didn't wake up one day and said "im gonna work my ass to become the best." no. they enjoyed their sport, so they kept on playing. day by day, they improved, and by the time they were in high school/college, they started to train to become the best. and when was i being argumentative??? i wrote my opinion so that everyone can read it, not just you. so please, don't jump to conclusions and try to think my thoughts are agumentative.
Watchdog, you make a solid point, for which I see few valid arguments.
However, the thing to remember is that not all players, and yes, I realize you touched on this, are motivated by the same things. A few players play strictly for money/profit. These are rare, actually. Consider that if you really were playing strictly for money, you wouldn't push/call with a draw as often, you wouldn't make some of the calls you do, some of the bets you do, etc. You know for some it is natural to know the odds of each play. They may think it is 'feel,' but the successful ones are that way because they have practiced, rinsed, and repeated so much that the process of 'feeling' is really just recall.
But the majority of players do not play purely and solely for profit. Why do they continue pumping more and more buy-ins? Why are some able to profit consistently? Because most players have motives outside of profit. They love the competion, maybe. Some love the thrill. We've all faced the player who plays the ridiculous hands simply hoping to crack someone's Aces. You may have done it yourself.
Some play for social reasons. Anyone remember the old days of 7-card Stud at the VFW, or visited the limit tables at your local indian casino? A lot of regulars, retirees, wives of craps players, passing the time hoping to hit the big hand.
I guess what I'm saying is that not everyone can relate to serious poker. It means different things for different people. And I agree with you, watchdog, that some people's idea of serious can be my version of hysterical...and vice versa.
Good blog, good points.
Dangit...that first sentence was supposed to read, "against which I see few valid arguments."
Doh.
Oops, sorry Watchdog,.. guess I wasn't reading closely enough, lol.
Funny to hear the 'perception' of others when ya write something huh. (or is that 'misperception', lol).
I think I go beyond serious,.. I'm freak'n addicted and have dozen of poker books in my library and if I don't have them, I'm ordering them up from the library or putting them on my 'plan to purchase soon' list. I still don't own copies of the new Harrington on Cash Game series,... what am I waiting for?? Am I not serious?!?!,.. cuz I NEED to get them yesterday!
Glad to see I'm not alone, lol.
Looks like some are seriously out of touch with what serious is. Come on now,.. seriously,... going strictly by 'feel' (surely you basing this 'feel' by umpteen hours, days, weeks, years of practise till it becomes second nature).
I asked a player on a table once when they sucked out on me after making a horrible call. I asked them, "Excuse me sir, could you please tell me what you were thinking when you made that call there?" He said he wasn't thinking,.. he just had a 'feeling', lol. Maybe this is what you were referring to but I don't want to quote you on it.
Ok. Maybe I should rephrase the question for some.
Are you serious about getting better and being the best you can be?
Drewster,
I'm not gonna get into it with you other then to say this, Tiger started training when he was about 7 I believe, Jordan got serious around 14, not sure on Jerry Rice.
I'm not saying take everything so serious you don't enjoy what you do. In fact I'm a firm believer that if you don't enjoy it, then don't do it. I was referring to how serious you are about improving your game.
Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone. A lot of people are perfectly happy doing what they do and you know what? That's o.k. if it's what makes them happy I'm all for it. However, there are a core of people on here who truly want to improve and be the best, not necessarily the best ever, but the best they can be, and what I'm saying is to do that then you have to buckle down and do certain things to achieve that. That is all.
If the blog isn't for you because your not interested in being the best you can be that's fine. However, if your interested in being the best you can be, then these are things you will have to do.
Hard to improve on perfection but I'll try
Watchdog
I've been playing online poker for about a year now. I haven't read up on anybooks, just bought Bluff and Poker Pro mags. I have a thing when it comes to reading people. Sometimes players at the table tell me I remind them of Daniel b/c of my reading skills. I have great knowledge of the game, I know what cards to play in what position, I know when to fold. To me, I don't need books, strategies, or poker calculators to improve my game. Why? Because, I trust my reads, and I KNOW what my opponents holds in their hand. You are telling me I need to take your steps to become a good player. Thanks but no thanks, I'll stick to my strategy, that is trusting my reads, and timely aggression.