Champion of Poker

Poker is a game of egos. You only need look at the WSOP coverage and you see all kinds of chip shuffling, fancy shades, funky clothes and cocky behaviour designed to show how good a player is. Although I disagree with ladies only poker events because they do not have a skill deficiency compared to the male players you can understand why they want a break from the testosterone filled male poker tables on occasion, where primal alpha male battles are commonplace.

There is a bizarre trait in most poker players. They believe they are better than they are. You will not hear an interview (and if you do I have never heard one) where the player will come on camera and say, “I had a good tournament, but I’m not really a good player yet so I need to go away and learn how to play”. Every poker player believes they are capable of going to the WSOP and bagging a bracelet. Even I do and I am not even a cocky person by nature. I won a small poker tournament in my local casino and immediately thought I was good enough to take on the best and beat them. The reality may be something slightly different for me.

It really is strange the high opinion poker players have of themselves. Maybe it is because bad plays can be masked by instantly mucking the hand. You can convince yourself of a good play by saying that your opponents range was in your favour when really you know that the way he played the hand in that spot would only ever have a good hand. Some player’s style even gives them reasons to think they are good. An aggressive player who goes all in liberally and builds a stack at a tight table thinks they are good because they are winning chips. Pushing all-in is not skill, the only time it is skill is when it is deliberate. Often the jamming player would not adjust if the table was also aggressive, so they are not good at all.

We are told never to “rock the aquarium”. Therefore, any fish reading this article you are probably the exception to the rule! But seriously, find one player that you know that would admit to being a fish. Good luck.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on poker players. After all, there are millions of subscribers to sites like Leggo Poker, Deuces Cracked and Card Runners that use video from highly profitable players to teach basic and advanced poker skills to their students, who are paying each month to have access to the learning materials. When poker training sites first arrived on the scene, I read articles that said they would never work because players were too arrogant to realise that they needed training. Maybe they secretly admit to their shortcomings, or maybe they use training sites to get even better than they believe they already are. I believe the latter to be true in most cases.

I become humble when I watch players like Durrrr, Antonius and Ivey play. I know that I am just not as good as these players. Other players should also accept this fact and lose the ego. It is fine to have an image at the table where you look like you are the best, but have some awareness of your shortcomings and work hard to improve them. That is the key to winning poker; stop doing the things that are making you lose hands. Then you are left with the components of your game that make you a winner. Learn poker skills that you can use to win and forget about telling people how good you are and show them how good you are. Maybe you will be the best. Maybe as good as most others think they are, but maybe that is not even possible!

By Malcolm Clarke