zachvac
Legend
Silver Level
Just been thinking about this for a while, most of these are true about not only poker, but also life.
1. Cocky - You are not just a decent poker player, you are the best player sitting at the table. You can outplay everyone there and the only time you lose money is when you either hit bad luck or when YOU make a mistake
2. Modest - Since you are the best poker player at the table, you don't have to say anything to seem better. You are content with everyone thinking you are a donkey and losing money as long as you know you are making the correct plays. The only opinion of your play is yours and the only thing that opinion is based on is long-term profit potential. You also know that even though you are the best at the table, there's always something you can learn, always something that can make you better, even the best player in the world doesn't play the game perfectly. Everyone can learn something.
3. Mentally Tough - Your mind doesn't wander, you are able to give 100% of your brain to the task at hand, winning at poker. You are able to stay focused for long periods of time without starting to crack and play differently. Similarly you do not let anything get to you such as taunting from other players or bad downswings.
4. Competitive - You have to have the will to win. You have to want it bad, which leads into:
5. Work Ethic - You have to be willing to work hard to be the best poker player you can be. You understand that the reason you're the best (see #1) is that you simply outwork everyone. While everyone else is playing for fun or not being honest about their play, you are working hard while playing to ensure that you make the best play at all times and are observant of other play which you can learn from.
6. Discipline - This sounds a lot like #5 and #3, but this means you simply do things right every time. You don't ever say "what the hell, I could hit" or ignore something important during the game. If you are an excellent player part of the time but can't do it every time you sit down at the table, you can't call yourself an excellent poker player.
and finally
7. Love of the game - You have to love playing poker and love putting in the hard work it takes and love seeing the results. This doesn't just mean loving the game when you win. It means embracing the bad runs with the good runs, it means working your ass off to be the best you can be even when you see all the shitty players getting rewarded when they make bad plays.
Now this is not by all means comprehensive, and it's all just my opinion, there are all sorts of lists of this sort (Greenstein did one in his book I believe). This is personally what I strive to accomplish though when I play, and is mostly geared towards online cash games, but can be applied to pretty much everything. They definitely hold true in baseball as well. Comments are welcome.
1. Cocky - You are not just a decent poker player, you are the best player sitting at the table. You can outplay everyone there and the only time you lose money is when you either hit bad luck or when YOU make a mistake
2. Modest - Since you are the best poker player at the table, you don't have to say anything to seem better. You are content with everyone thinking you are a donkey and losing money as long as you know you are making the correct plays. The only opinion of your play is yours and the only thing that opinion is based on is long-term profit potential. You also know that even though you are the best at the table, there's always something you can learn, always something that can make you better, even the best player in the world doesn't play the game perfectly. Everyone can learn something.
3. Mentally Tough - Your mind doesn't wander, you are able to give 100% of your brain to the task at hand, winning at poker. You are able to stay focused for long periods of time without starting to crack and play differently. Similarly you do not let anything get to you such as taunting from other players or bad downswings.
4. Competitive - You have to have the will to win. You have to want it bad, which leads into:
5. Work Ethic - You have to be willing to work hard to be the best poker player you can be. You understand that the reason you're the best (see #1) is that you simply outwork everyone. While everyone else is playing for fun or not being honest about their play, you are working hard while playing to ensure that you make the best play at all times and are observant of other play which you can learn from.
6. Discipline - This sounds a lot like #5 and #3, but this means you simply do things right every time. You don't ever say "what the hell, I could hit" or ignore something important during the game. If you are an excellent player part of the time but can't do it every time you sit down at the table, you can't call yourself an excellent poker player.
and finally
7. Love of the game - You have to love playing poker and love putting in the hard work it takes and love seeing the results. This doesn't just mean loving the game when you win. It means embracing the bad runs with the good runs, it means working your ass off to be the best you can be even when you see all the shitty players getting rewarded when they make bad plays.
Now this is not by all means comprehensive, and it's all just my opinion, there are all sorts of lists of this sort (Greenstein did one in his book I believe). This is personally what I strive to accomplish though when I play, and is mostly geared towards online cash games, but can be applied to pretty much everything. They definitely hold true in baseball as well. Comments are welcome.