How have great poker player become great?

I am wanting to know how great poker players became great. I want to become good and make money. I want to know how they did it. Did it come naturally or did they learn it and how did they learn it? What makes a great poker player? How did they become great? That is what i want to know. If you know how they did it let me know and i am sure others want to know also. if you are a winning player please share how you become a winning player thanks for your time

You can find an interview online with Daniel Negreanu where he talks about how he started.
Basically he loved the game so much he decided he will play it full time (8hrs a day on weekdays) instead of trying to find a regular job like washing dishes, and that was when he was 16 or something.
So he then played a lot of poker, like really a lot of poker, earned the same or more money he would with a regular job and then just continued playing..

You can read some here:
https://danielnegreanu.com/biography/
but the info in this post is scarce, I can't find a Youtube video where I watched this but if I find it, I will post it here

Patience and discipline are two skills you must master to succeed at poker long term. You must define your goal, write a plan for achieving it, and do all that is necessary to realize your dream.

Bottom line: LUCK doesnt matter how good you are if luck is not on your side you have no chance. Skill is supposed to play a HUGE roll and it does for most part live but online nope not a chance either your lucky and a winner or your not!!!

You're brain is like a flash drive. the more information you put in to it the more you will know. Almost every pro spent an unbelievable amount of time playing and studying. every time you learn something new you get a little better. the people that spend 15 hours a day for a few years are the ones that make it while the people that play a few hours a day and never study basically have no chance (which is the majority of players, and why the majority of players dont make it).

abwil2 said:

Bottom line: LUCK doesnt matter how good you are if luck is not on your side you have no chance. Skill is supposed to play a HUGE roll and it does for most part live but online nope not a chance either your lucky and a winner or your not!!!

Click to expand...

probably my first time calling out someone elses comment but thats completely absurd. there are countless ways ways to play each hand and each way is a little better than the one before it. having that mindset will give you no chance because you think its luck so you dont try to play optimal and in that case for you it is luck. for the people that study every day and try to get better its skill.

You need to play and improve your skills every day. At least 10 hours a week you need to spend on studying, reading books, articles, watching videos. And most importantly, you need to be able to relax well in order to always start the game with new forces.

As with everything else it is certain percent of talent and certain percent of hard work. Some people learn easier and faster than other but at the end if you invest enough time and work hard enough to achieve it you should be able to become successful player. If you are looking for easy recipe how to become successful pro - i don't think that such exists.

All the "big players" spent (or lose) huge amounts of money and time before they became so big.
Patience, perseverance and willingness to learn!

the key is patience and perseverance all the great poker players have had

Such questions interest us all. We all want to be successful and play plus, otherwise why do we play poker? I’m interested to read the answers, maybe someone will write something new.

chiefmax said:

probably my first time calling out someone elses comment but thats completely absurd. there are countless ways ways to play each hand and each way is a little better than the one before it. having that mindset will give you no chance because you think its luck so you dont try to play optimal and in that case for you it is luck. for the people that study every day and try to get better its skill.

Click to expand...

I hope you will soon prove that luck has nothing to do with it. You prove that you studied the game like other professionals.
Look at the stream of professionals and see how much luck plays in their game.

It takes skill, dedication, but most importantly, money. I saw an interview with a pro (I forget who) who said he had blown his bankroll at one point and his girlfriend at the time offered him $500 to get started again and he declined. He said that now that she's a poker pro herself that she now realizes how useless that little amount of money would have been for a pro.

You have to play with the best and beat them

This Fish Chums said:

It takes skill, dedication, but most importantly, money. I saw an interview with a pro (I forget who) who said he had blown his bankroll at one point and his girlfriend at the time offered him $500 to get started again and he declined. He said that now that she's a poker pro herself that she now realizes how useless that little amount of money would have been for a pro.

Click to expand...

I totally agree with you. Sometimes we forget that poker is a competition and has no place for everyone to be profitable even less professionals. Just the tops in all levels will win.

To be a great player you need to be endowed with great talent, an affinity for the game. This would be no different than being a great footballer, scientist or painter.

I do not believe anyone can simply study or will their way to poker greatness (or few other pursuits).

That said the framing of the question could be different- how do you get to be a very good poker player? Well, that would be as above, study play, study play, study play...an endless loop of playing and studying.

This is why poker remains endlessly fascinating- nobody has ever learnt poker completely and likely never will. We all understand there is always room for improvement.

Study, study and study again...

abwil2 said:

Bottom line: LUCK doesnt matter how good you are if luck is not on your side you have no chance. Skill is supposed to play a HUGE roll and it does for most part live but online nope not a chance either your lucky and a winner or your not!!!

Click to expand...

Very true. I downloaded that DriverHUD thing just to see what it does and holy crapola, that thing looks like a spaceship console. Haven't actually used it and probably (in fact definitely) will uninstall it. Playing online and in a casino is completely different. With that said, luck defintely plays a part in both. AA and such can still lost to 72 off whether in a casino or online. I have found that it is easier to bluff in a casino than online but that's just me.

Oh yeah, about how to become a "great" poker player? Poker not make one "great"...

Dedication and Adaptability to changing times. A great player has humility enough to know he has flaws and will dedicate himself to working on ironing out leaks.

Need talent and performance. One without other will not work.

I have no doubt that the only way is to study a lot, as for everything that one wants to be good, practice, study, analyze and be constant and persevering, there is no other way.

Studying hard and having a lot of patience.

The great poker player have become great because the work hard for it. Becoming a great poker play requires lots of work and study. Even more, once you become a great player you still need to work hand and study. It never ends. I believe it was Jonathan Little would said to become a great player and stay that way, for every 2 hours you play poke your should spend an hour in study of the game or play. This is not watching some random video or twitch steam but really looking at the game and you play.