We can all learn how to play poker and understand push fold ranges but these players understand poker on a different level than we do. They are a few percentage points ahead of the general player on key parts of the game and it is up to us to close that gap with study and hard work.

Phil Hellmuth is often berated as a loudmouth but much of what he does is to maintain his poker brat image which has very real benefits for himself in his back tournament wins and subsequent TV coverage. Aside from the fun and games, Hellmuth has won eleven No Limit Texas Holdem WSOP bracelets. That is huge. He regularly goes deep in poker tournaments and the reason he gets so upset at “crazy plays” is because he understands the game so well his play is almost flawless against standard poker. Perhaps his undoing is that players know that they are expected to have certain hands against Phil and by playing randomly and more loosely they can have an advantage over him when they catch a good hand with speculative holdings. However, this strategy works both ways as Phil picks up lots of pots when the speculative hands of his opponents do not improve and this also helps him build his stack.

Calmness in any situation is a trait most of the top players use very well. It is well-known that Phil Ivey has a lot of money. He will be playing the final table of the WSOP next month without any real regard for the money although I am sure he would love the $8.5 million first prize. This is probably the only prize he would be happy with considering his status in poker. Can you say that for the rest of the players at the final table? Money will be a real consideration for them. The top players play for the win at all times and most are rich enough that this is genuine and not just an attempt to look cool.

To emulate these great players we need to watch what they do and try to incorporate the strategies we see implemented into our own poker games. On the poker sites where we play online poker we need to work on our game and learn the professional players approach. Professional players have tons of experience but we can also learn that online, with lots of tournaments to choose from and learn from. There are also many coaching websites appearing. We have all the tools out there to become very good at poker and perhaps even challenge the supremacy of these top players at the top of pokers tree.

By Malcolm Clarke