We have all seen poker programs on television showing players who are playing for vast amounts of money. Many people would like to emulate them and even spend a great deal of time and effort in doing so. However, the fact of the matter is that most high-stakes poker players are born to a certain extent or are created purely out of individual circumstances.
Only a very small percentage of the people who actually play poker have the proper mindset or financial situation to play high-stakes poker. But even being incredibly rich will not necessarily give you the chance to play high-stakes poker. I know several people personally who could be classed as rich who are incredibly risk adverse people.
What this then highlights is that there are factors that go into the creation of a high-stakes poker player above and beyond just merely having money. If you have a very low attitude to risk then you can never make it as a high-stakes player, this is irrespective of how much you may or may not know about the game of poker.
The fluctuations that these players have to take with regards their bankrolls would leave all of us having sleepless nights. One popular tactic with regards playing in high stakes poker games is to aim to do it at some future point in time by a process of moving up through the levels. The notion that this can be done with nothing more than a solid game and good bankroll management has been underlined by accounts of people who have actually done it this way.
This is an illusion for the vast majority of poker players for the simple reason being that there are far more factors at work than merely having a solid game and good bankroll management. If that were the case then the online poker games would be swarming with high stakes poker players who had carefully built up their bankrolls.
To reach the really high levels, you have to re-educate yourself and learn a new way of playing poker each and every step of the way. Even then, you will never be able to shake off variance which gets even more severe the higher you play. This is for the simple reason that the players are better so your edge is dramatically reduced and in some instances wafer thin.
But can you really stomach the losses and the swings at that level? It’s no use simply reading about it in some book because the only way that you are going to be able to do this is by actually experiencing it yourself. If you are careful and cautious with money then you basically have no chance. All high stakes poker players have an almost cavalier approach to risking their money.
It separates them from people like us in ways that we cannot actually mentally combat. If you cannot stand the thought of losing $1000 in a day playing poker then how are you ever going to get to play for high-stakes where a daily loss could be $500,000?
We also have to remember of course that definition comes into play here and someone who is playing micro-stakes levels may look at someone who loses or wins $1000 in a day as a high-stakes player. This is a long way from the truth, I have played in games where I could have lost $20,000-$30,000 in a day but these are not true high-stakes levels. Years ago the game of seven card stud was the haven for high-stakes players but now it is Texas Hold’em poker and Omaha.
The fact of the matter is that true high-stakes poker play is really beyond all but a very tiny number of people. Here I am talking about the very few who not only try their hand at high- stakes levels but are also good enough to be successful at those levels and to stay there.
This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson
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