Put Down The Poker Book Pointdexter, and Read This Instead

In my years of playing poker, I have coined a term to describe a certain group of players: The know-it-all. A know-it-all is a player who just can’t seem to shut-up about what the right play was, what the odds were, and so on: Think of the person who corrects you when you say, “it’s 10:15″ by saying, “Actually it’s 10:17″.

So, what makes a Know-It-All? These players have one thing in common, they read way too much! I’ve always been an advocate of using a poker book as a guide, not as a manual, but a Know-It-All thinks a poker book is Gospel -and what really throws their ideas out of whack is the fact that they have read so many books that the Know-It-All is full of conflicting concepts.

Here’s the problem with following a poker book as a step-by-step manual to crush the game: Poker is not all about strategy! There are many different aspects that go into making a winning player, and following a good strategy is simply one piece of the puzzle.

I have come to the conclusion that there are four elements to being a long-term winning player: Each part being successive (therefore if you don’t have the strategy down Hard Work or Mental Toughness doesn’t come into play):

1. Strategy & Rote Memorization
2. Experience
3. Hard-Work & Effort
4. Mental Toughness

If you look at each poker player, and grade them in these four categories, you’ll start to see a definite trend occur:

Players who have a good grasp on all four of these areas are your superstar players: The ones who make millions playing poker. Anyone who has the strategies of the game down cold; has a good deal of experience at the tables; is a hard-worker and puts forth maximum effort; and is mentally tough enough to avoid tilt is going to crush the game.

Players who do well in the first three of the four areas are usually good players who have big wins, but also suffer big losses due to their lack of tilt-control. When you have issues with keeping your cool you tend to crush the game when things are going well, but unlike a player who is mentally tough, when things are going bad for you they tend to spiral out of control.

Players who are proficient in the first two of these areas struggle to break even. As you start to get down to players who lack the work ethic and mental toughness needed to beat the game you are at the point where your weaknesses outshine your strengths. It’s at this point you run into players who have so many leaks in their game that they are actually long-term losing players (often times rake-back and bonuses turn these players into slight winners).

Players who focus on simply the first of these four areas tend to be slight losers, always wondering what they are doing wrong. Here is our Know-It-All, these players think knowing a few odds, and having a relatively sound strategy entitles them too every other player’s money. Unfortunately for these players, they are usually the fish at the table.