Mental obstacles/best mindset?

[Dingdell]

Hiya - a colleague of mine asked me to ask the following - he is a life coach/hypnotherapist specialising in sports performance and he's now looking at activities like poker. 

He writes "was wondering if you could let me know or ask around you fellow poker players, what are the main mental obstacles players have?  What mindset/attributes do the best players have?"

Thanks a lot. 

[Claw75]

If I knew what my mental obstacles were at the moment I would do something about them

I know when I first started playing live, I automatically assumed that everyone else was a better player than me and I was out of my depth.  Same when I started playing at higher levels.  I've spoken to other people who also have the same mindset.  That's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

[Longy]

Self confidence even a touch of arrogance, but not to the point that it blinds you to over estimating your ability.

A willingness to be constantly improving as a player, in anyway you can.

Patience.

Bankroll Management.

Good logical thought processes.

Failing all that luckboxing a monster tournament to outweigh any bad variance you get the rest of the time, step forward any winner of WSOP ME in the recent past.

[DaveShoelace]

Biggest mental obstacles probably include:

Ego - almost all poker players think they are better than they actually are, anyone who has won a tournament or an extended period of winning assumes they are the dogs bollocks. Most of the time people win because of the mistakes of others, not their own ability, but few realise it.

Not understanding the role and significance of luck. Not accepting when they have been lucky when they do win and dismissing all their mistakes an losses to bad luck. Also not being able to keep a cool head during an extended period of bad luck and thinking they are the only one who has taken several bad beats in a row (and trying to tell as many people as possible about how they run bad - in fact generally speaking anyone who goes looking for people to tell bad beat stories to could probably improve their game a lot).

Not willing to learn or analyse their own game, so many decent players who could be come great players if they studied their hands, discussed strategy, got a coach/buddy etc

Tilt obv

Being short term results orientated

Being a 'non believer', thinking people are bluffing all the time.

Not thinking ahead, particularly when they bet, so many players will mindlessly bet with no plan for the hand after that and probably wouldnt be able to tell you why they are betting. Lots of players dont think ahead to further streets or what they will do if reraised.

Anyone who thinks that bankroll management is an arty farty fad has serious problems, anyone who uses the words 'bankroll management' in inverted commas will go broke, anyone who doesnt practice the fundamentally easiest and most important skill in poker will not survive the game.

[thetank]

I don't think there's a set formula for the correct mindset, there are so many contradictions. Players at the top of the ability spectrum showing a wide variety of different traits, there's not a common factor from what I've observed.

Maybe the exception is a willingness to learn new stuff.

Asides from that, you could draw a big recipe list of what every good player needs in terms of a mindset for poker success but it wouldn't be much good. You probably wouldn't be able to swing a cat in the Pokerstars lobby without finding a dozen players who possess all of the listed qualities, but also consistently lose to the rake.

[thetank]

Biggest mental obstacles probably include:

Ego - almost all poker players think they are better than they actually are, anyone who has won a tournament or an extended period of winning assumes they are the dogs bollocks. Most of the time people win because of the mistakes of others, not their own ability, but few realise it.

Not understanding the role and significance of luck. Not accepting when they have been lucky when they do win and dismissing all their mistakes an losses to bad luck. Also not being able to keep a cool head during an extended period of bad luck and thinking they are the only one who has taken several bad beats in a row (and trying to tell as many people as possible about how they run bad - in fact generally speaking anyone who goes looking for people to tell bad beat stories to could probably improve their game a lot).

Not willing to learn or analyse their own game, so many decent players who could be come great players if they studied their hands, discussed strategy, got a coach/buddy etc

Tilt obv

Being short term results orientated

Being a 'non believer', thinking people are bluffing all the time.

Not thinking ahead, particularly when they bet, so many players will mindlessly bet with no plan for the hand after that and probably wouldnt be able to tell you why they are betting. Lots of players dont think ahead to further streets or what they will do if reraised.

Anyone who thinks that bankroll management is an arty farty fad has serious problems, anyone who uses the words 'bankroll management' in inverted commas will go broke, anyone who doesnt practice the fundamentally easiest and most important skill in poker will not survive the game.

Isn't it something of a contradiction though, that a lot of the top earners in poker have massive egos, are prone to tilt, and aren't overly bothered about bankroll mgmt.

[thetank]

Maybe a competitive nature is a prerequisite for success in poker. I can't think of a top player who doesn't have one of them.

If channeled correctly it can help motivate you to want to study/learn/observe as much as you can to be the best you can be.

I think a bit of tilt is inevitable though, it goes alongside the competitive nature. Arguably the greatest player of all time Stu Ungar said "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"
Another canditate for greatest player is Hellmuth. He's not exactly famed for keeping a lid on it either.

I remeber an interview with some guy who makes millions at high stakes heads up games on Pokerstars. Some journo asked him how he plays at such nose bleed stakes every day and endures all the sic variance without tilting.

The simple answer... "I do tilt"


So I wouldn't put avoiding tilt on the list, I don't think it's true. I think it's much more important to be competitive in nature than to not be bothered about losses.

You just need to avoid mad bastard self destructive take all my wad and put it on black I hate myself tilt. A bit of mini-tilt every now and then goes with the territory though, comes as part of the package.

[G1BTW]

INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL

[G1BTW]

As well as disposition, a good winning player actually has a hell of a lot of knowledge. Knowledge on its own is not enough if you do not have self control but a player with much more knowledge and understanding will generally kick an opponent's ass over time. A straw poll of players with one year's experience would probably reveal many who think they know 90 percent of the game, whereas it's nothing near that.

[dino1980]

I think Hellmuth is actually one of the best at controlling tilt. His rants etc are just one way it which he handles tilt. Very often when we've seen him take what he percieves to be a bad beat, he'll wander over to his wife Molly have a rant, walk around a bit more find someone else to moan at and then return to the table 20 minutes later completely off tilt. Many players, myself included often go on tilt, stay at the table and tilt chips off, Hellmuth doesn't.

[blonde17]

I think Hellmuth is actually one of the best at controlling tilt. His rants etc are just one way it which he handles tilt. Very often when we've seen him take what he perceives to be a bad beat, he'll wander over to his wife Molly have a rant, walk around a bit more find someone else to moan at and then return to the table 20 minutes later completely off tilt. Many players, myself included often go on tilt, stay at the table and tilt chips off, Hellmuth doesn't.

John McEnroe used that same formulae years ago, and it worked for him too.

Truth is, most people/players know what`s required but, few can do it . As someone once said being successful is simple, first off you have to be prepared to do what it takes and "pay the price" and then, " go ahead and pay it"!
being willing to pay is easy, but having the strength to pay it is another matter.

[RED-DOG]

Truth is, most people/players know what`s required but, few can do it . As someone once said being successful is simple, first off you have to be prepared to do what it takes and "pay the price" and then, " go ahead and pay it"!
being willing to pay is easy, but having the strength to pay it is another matter.

Great post!

[DBC2007]

the main obstacles are obv the swings that you have to deal with.  they can be huge at times and there is very few poker players who can deal with it.  the winners imo are the people who can just block all losses out of their mind and who know that in the long run if they keep playing their best,  they will win