Becoming a champion

PokerHack

PokerHack

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Hey Chatters,

The road to becoming a champion starts with a keen interest and builds into a strong desire. Years ago, I developed an interest in darts and rose to a pretty respectable rank over the course of my 8 year career. I played in local leagues, and traveled around the US and Britain playing in professional tourneys.

During this period, I analyzed what made the great players great, the good players good, and the champions consistant winners. I've been playing poker for a couple of years now, mostly online.....which also gives time for analyzing, and have come to see a strong parallel between darts and poker.

1. THE BASICS: Depending on your apptitude, the basics can take a while to master, both in darts and poker. Its practice, practice, practice! And lovin it. Learning the outchart in darts, learning good starting hands, and position in poker. These BASIC skills may take a few months, up to a couple of solid years. and in the beginning, I loved reading about it in my non practicing hours. Once you've played a few hands, and feel like you've got a grip on things, you tackle the outside world, where in real life, you run into some characters. Strong, shy, friendly, standoffish......all types. You learn people, if you plan on spending a lot of time with them in the competitive field, get to know some PERSONALITY TYPES. Remember these are all still basic skills. Now while developing these and once you get your feet wet in the competitive arena, you might spend another year or two gaining.........

2. EXPERIENCE: This is Invaluable!!........The internet has opened up the opportunity to play thousands of hands, depending on your desire to improve, in a relatively short amount of time. Sure I could throw darts for hours, getting the basics down, but once I got out in real life and had truly competitive games, only then did I see how much my skills needed to improve. Learning the basics and gaining experience go very much hand in hand, and the only way to start getting better is by playing a lot of hands.....a ton of hands. You know the players that have experience, they're winning a good percentage of the time, and have great confidence sitting at a poker table, or in front of a dart board. Even normally shy people, shed this persona, once they sit at the poker table. But, what is it that separates, the solid players from the good, the good from the great, and what turns the great ones into Champions we all fear?? .......

3. ATTITUDE: That's right....attitude. We all need to maintain a positive attitude, but we need one that also turns us into a killer in competition. There is NO MERCY. Knowing your opponent, exploiting his hesitation, and knowing how to finish off a hand, same as hitting a double to finish a game in darts.....is vital, and necessary. Showing weakness will get you killed, and if you take a beat, learn to put that behind you, and remain aggressive. Don't back down, because most of the time your opponent won't have that 5th flush card in his hand. Even though you don't either.....BET IT! So. remember.....those 3 elements on the way to the top......Basics, Experience, ATTITUDE! .......So, eat your veggies, live right, have PATIENCE, and maybe the cards will fall right for you.

Pokerhack......or just "Hack"
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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Interesting comparisons. Although I'm barely familiar with darts since I've never played for more than a beer, it strikes me that there are also some major differences. Like is there a significant luck factor in darts? I suppose who you get drawn against matters, but that's also the case in poker.

In any case, I'd be interested to see what you think the main differences are.
 
phatmatt840

phatmatt840

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I'm wondering how odds factor into darts? Do you make decisions based on your opponents, or set a game plan and follow through?
 
PokerHack

PokerHack

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O.K., I was just comparing my experiences in my personal development as I progressed in darts, of course darts is actually standing, and developing hand eye coordination, I was just using a comparison due to the fact that I spent many years developing my skills. There is a luck factor somewhat, but over the course of an extended match, the more experienced players have the edge. However, anyone can have a good day. The point I'm trying to convey, is it won't happen overnight, and you need a solid foundation of Basic skills, some major experience, and above all, to become a champion, you need a positive "Killer" attitude.
 
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