Discipline in every sport is an important factor to success on a regular basis. This holds true of poker as well. Even though most considerate it to be a game of chance, to be a money making pro at it, you must build on a foundation of the sportsmanlike attributes of learning, understanding and endless practice. This takes discipline. Natural ability is certainly a good part of it, but even the most blessed require a method, and a method is gotten by a serious and careful study of the game and how it is played by experts.
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 amateur plays for the thrill of risk and the adrenaline rush that comes from fighting against blind chance. Poker is kept alive by this rush. The pros leave nothing to chance, the pro knows what his basic odds are and takes full advantage of his opponents’ errors, notes if there are familiar patterns, and calculates the risk. The serious professional player will not expect to enjoy himself at a friendly game of cards, this is his job. And his job is to take every cent he can from the other players gathered around the table having a casual game of poker to pass the time. The professional’s strategy is to match his wits against chance and his opponent’s methods and come out with a win.
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.
Make no mistake, there is a vast difference between limit and no-limit poker. The disciplined player will keep temptation in check and will prefer the game at which he feels fully in control and can go about it calmly and cautiously, all the while gathering data on his opponents to use against them relentlessly in small moves. They will only play the hands that seem to be the best, disregarding about 80% of the hands that are dealt.
A disciplined no-limit professional will evince the opposite of reserve, will be aggressive before the flop, and will play hands that to the limit expert would seem reckless stunts, always knowing, however, what precisely he is trying to achieve by every aggressive move.
No matter which type of poker the pro is playing, he knows when to fold up his tent, quit the frustration, and move on to other things.
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.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Rakeback at Poker Nordica and Rakeback at Doyles Room.
Tags: card games, Gambling, games, online poker, Poker, poker discipline, recreation