Champion of Poker

Millions of players play online poker everyday and large amounts of money swirls around the poker rooms making some players millions and others suffer losses, only to rebound later on. Some players lose all of the time and eventually leave the game. How would you rank these players and exactly what skills dictate whether one player is better than the other?

In the movie “The Color of Money” Paul Newman’s character Eddie Felson is quoted as saying, “The best is the guy with the most; the best is the guy with the most in any walk of life”. We can excuse “Fast Eddie” a slight inaccuracy in regards to internet poker as it had not been invented in 1986! You will have heard pros say that the chips are a way of keeping score in Poker so if you have the most chips surely you must be the best player?

There is a difference between having the most poker skills and being the best poker player. You not only have to have an excellent grasp of poker theory you must be able to manage the emotion involved with wagering large amounts of money. You must also be able to play your best poker game after a large loss and a large win and series of them in a row. This is part of the reason poker bots are so feared, they deal with this aspect of play by simply not being aware of it and this can give them a big advantage over us emotional humans.

From a skills perspective a good player is an excellent hand reader. This involves analysing parts of the game like the players stack size, their betting tendencies often focusing on very subtle parts of their playing patterns and putting it all together to form opinions on what their hand ranges are. No-one is perfect but as long as you reach a point where you make the right decision most of the time you are going to do well. Good players make better decisions further into hands where the pots are larger. Sometimes when you watch poker on TV you forget they cannot see their opponents cards, their hand reading sometimes appears to be that good.

Players should not have a complete disregard for money because when bankroll management is required it should be utilised. A fearless gambler is great when they are winning because they maximise their winning potential but when losing it is hard for them to slow down and the natural reaction to panic and attempt to bet big to chase the losses can take over. This can be devastating to a bankroll. Many years work building a bankroll can be undone in a large downswing. Part of pokers skill is managing the downswing and ensuring that you maintain what should be a winning game when luck is more even and that you keep money around. Again this is something that the top players do very well, but there are professionals who only survive thanks to income they receive outside of poker. They are still great players, but they do not manage their bankroll properly.

To be a great poker player you need great hand reading skills, pot control awareness and implementation skills, a sound grasp of the math and theory behind poker and a sensible regard for your bankroll. Few players have the total package, but working on each part of what makes the perfect poker player will see you make huge strides in improving into a good poker player who profits from the game long term.

There is also no rule that exists saying you must play at a higher level. Some of the best players in the world grind it out at lower levels showing an excellent profit. It is comfortable for them and there is no reason to ever leave your comfort zone.

By Malcolm Clarke