We all want to be professional poker players making $1 million a year. Why play if this is something we do not want? We also like to forget that in any sport there are certain traits in your mental character that must be present in order to achieve a high level of success. Examples are the big game clutch ability of a basketball or football player, the self confidence of a sprint runner or the ruthless streak of a poker player. If we are missing any of the key traits to a poker player’s mental make-up, we might do quite well but we will never reach the top. Let’s look at the mental strengths you need to be a top pro, once you know what they are you can work at obtaining them.

1. Ability to bounce back from a Bad Beat.

Fortunately this is something you can learn over time and if you are a regular player you will get plenty of practise at it! If you tilt because of a bad beat then you will be losing money, it is just that simple. Imagine if you play twelve tables at once which is not uncommon for online players. At one of the tables you suffer a bad beat that affects you for five minutes each time. Let’s assume you suffer one bad beat per half an hour playing 1000 hands per hour over many tables. That means 120 hands per hour or 12% of your total play is negatively affected by a bad beat. You cannot allow this to happen as this is enough to make you a losing poker player. The best players take the bad beat, grimace for a second then carry on as normal. Developing a steely resistance to negative emotion is good for every aspect of life and in particular the part that dictates whether or not you win at poker!

2. Being Ruthless and Pouncing on the Weak

If you spend your summer holidays caring for children overseas and would rather be cold after giving away your jacket in winter then you will need to develop a particularly different persona to win money playing poker. Using an extreme example if you were offered everyone’s money in the poker room you would take it, the only difference between that and playing poker is that people do not want to give their money away; you must use your poker skills to take it from them. You need to have the mentality that you want to take all the chips everytime you play. Poker is not a fair game where everyone can win and happily discuss it afterwards. If there is a fish at the table it is not the time to help them but the time to take their chips before your opponents do. Poker can be a ruthless game but we all take the same risks when our money is on the felt.

3. A High Level of Concentration for Long Periods of Time

You must be able to bring your ‘A’ game to the table and keep it there. You may need a sports psychologist to help you maintain your concentration but those with a short attention span who can play amazing poker for thirty minutes will invariably go broke! A top sports player can often out perform themselves playing top level for a short time but eventually their equilibrium will return. You must put in the study and work to bring your level of concentration up to a high and maintainable point. In a cash game you only need to play long enough until you do not want to play anymore, but realistically it is likely that in a good game you need to put in the hours and extract maximum value from the game. Having the ability to play long periods will give you a great advantage over those players who go a little lacklustre and play bad poker on autopilot. Their chips are there for the taking.

By Malcolm Clarke

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