- Learning mindset
- game selection
- discipline
- sure, basic math skills
- Anger/tilt mgmt
Last edited:
-
This site contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, Poker Chip Forum may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
What makes a successful poker player? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Rhodeman77
- Start date
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
Being Cuban seems to help, but only in seats 1 or 6
@Rhodeman77 What are your thoughts on this?
Lil Tuna
4 of a Kind
Game selection and the ability to quickly pick up on other players tendencies or tells.
Understanding human nature and reverse psychology.
Understanding human nature and reverse psychology.
Doyle Brunson says “the key to no limit is to put a man to a decision for all his chips"
Yeah, but people can intuit math without knowing math. People like to laugh at Mike Matusow, but they shouldn’t. He’s got $10 million in career earnings, and just this year he had five cashes in holdem events and three top ten finishes in mixed events at the WSOP. He’s a successful poker player.
If you asked him how many combinations of AK there are, he couldn’t tell you.
Jackypoo
Two Pair
borisasaurus
High Hand
borisasaurus
High Hand
Mike is quite a character, but I don't think he's that successful of a player. He has a lot of unpaid debts, and who knows how much in buy-ins for that $10 million in cashes
He’s an idiot who has made a lot of bad life choices, but his resume speaks for itself. 15-20 years ago, he was one of the better players in the world. Today, he’s still successful, especially at mixed games, but surprisingly at Holdem too (game selection these days.)
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-players/1342-mike-matusow
borisasaurus
High Hand
Don't get me wrong, I'm not buying into any tournaments for even a fraction of the stakes he plays, so I really have no valuable insight. I just think the presentation of players via cashes only is a purposefully misleading statistic that makes everyone seem a lot more successful than they are by leaving out factors like ABI & ROI
That’s totally fair, and maybe we could get into a debate about what “successful” means. But I’ll say it again, he had THREE top ten finishes at the WSOP this year. I don’t care if he entered every goddamned event (he didnt; he was in far fewer than half of them,) to me, that makes him successful. (On top of his four career bracelets from back in the day when he was dominating against competition that was admittedly less skilled than today’s.)
Anyway, my whole point is, this guy has had an almost borderline hall of fame career, is still successful today, and he honestly couldn’t tell you how many combinations of AK there are.
I agree with a lot of what others have already said: patience, a learning mindset, tilt control, BRM, math. But one that seems to be overlooked so far is the ability and willingness to socialize with other players.
Poker is a social game. Recreational players are at the table to have fun - often, socializing is as important to them (if not more) than playing poker or winning money. If you're a pro or semi-pro, you want the recreational players to get that socialization and entertainment. It encourages them to come back and keep giving you their money.
As a recreational player myself, I abhor sitting at a table with a bunch of hoodies and headphones. I will snap table change if I can, or probably just leave if I can't.
Poker is a social game. Recreational players are at the table to have fun - often, socializing is as important to them (if not more) than playing poker or winning money. If you're a pro or semi-pro, you want the recreational players to get that socialization and entertainment. It encourages them to come back and keep giving you their money.
As a recreational player myself, I abhor sitting at a table with a bunch of hoodies and headphones. I will snap table change if I can, or probably just leave if I can't.
On an unrelated note, the likes on this quoted post made me laugh really hard just now:
ramrod961
Sitting Out
I would say years of experience and being people savvy. You simply have it or you don't. A fish will stay a fish for years whilst a pro will count on decades of skill, humor, sportsmanship to deal with adverse downswings/upswings. Be a consistent student of the game. Be a gentleman/gentlewoman. Have and show respect. The poker Gods will feed you.
borisasaurus
High Hand
*online player sheds single tear but does not recognize the emotion*
OP
OP
Assuming average player that you find at the casino asked me what is the biggest bankroll improvement he/she could make for immediate results:
1.Tilt control. Nobody is completely immune to it. But the less it effects you the better off you will be. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen someone having a really good session then take a beat, get bluffed, etc to put them on tilt. They may still be winning but the fire has been lit and the gasoline is being poured on their stack.
In general more money is made from other people’s mistakes than from our own (brilliant) play and tilt makes it very easy for them to win that money.
Being able to recognize people on tilt (or drunk/ tired/ stoned, etc) that are far from playing their best game is also important to increasing win rates.
A break even player at a game on a Wednesday at 2pm could be a big winner in a Saturday at 3am game if they have the right mindset. Being able to find the players that are stuck for the night chasing their losses, the drunks and casual players looking for a good time will turn into big profits.
In a home game this not as easy to do as it usually one table but tilt will show up still.
There are obviously many many other factors that will contribute to win rate, but I think tilt effects all of them and none of them will make or break your session as fast.
Matusow annoys the shit out of me, but maybe he's a nice guy, I don't know. Thinks he's the GOAT (or was in his prime) but I don't buy it.
Is he successful? I took a look at the last 5 years of tourney cashes.
This doesn't factor in any backers money being paid bak OR taxes paid on winnings.
Nor does if factor in all the other tournaments he didn't cash in. Would love to see those numbers.
Cursory glance at last 5 years and factoring backers/ taxes/ no-cashed tourneys
I don't think he's been successful.
2021. -Cashed 11 Events
Total buy-in $52,000
Total Cash $185,029
Backers paid?
Taxes paid ?
2020. - Cashed 14 events
Total buy-ins $30,700
Total Cashed $66,287
backers paid?
taxes paid?
2019 -Cashed 8 Events
Total Buy-ins. $49,500
Total Cashed $254,555
backers paid$
Taxes paid?
2018 - Cashed 7 Events
Total Buy-ins $30,000
Total Cashed $139,403
backers paid?
Taxes paid?
2017 -Cashed 8 events
Total Buy-ins $88,100
Total Cashed $266,936
backers paid?
taxes paid.
Is he successful? I took a look at the last 5 years of tourney cashes.
This doesn't factor in any backers money being paid bak OR taxes paid on winnings.
Nor does if factor in all the other tournaments he didn't cash in. Would love to see those numbers.
Cursory glance at last 5 years and factoring backers/ taxes/ no-cashed tourneys
I don't think he's been successful.
2021. -Cashed 11 Events
Total buy-in $52,000
Total Cash $185,029
Backers paid?
Taxes paid ?
2020. - Cashed 14 events
Total buy-ins $30,700
Total Cashed $66,287
backers paid?
taxes paid?
2019 -Cashed 8 Events
Total Buy-ins. $49,500
Total Cashed $254,555
backers paid$
Taxes paid?
2018 - Cashed 7 Events
Total Buy-ins $30,000
Total Cashed $139,403
backers paid?
Taxes paid?
2017 -Cashed 8 events
Total Buy-ins $88,100
Total Cashed $266,936
backers paid?
taxes paid.
(With apologies for turning this into a matusow thread.)
As far as I can tell, he’s more of a $5/10 grinder these days, and over the past few years he’s not only made a living doing that, but he’s also managed to pay down a big portion of the debt he incurred during his bad years.
If he’s making a living playing poker, I’d call that successful. If he’s frequently final tabling at the WSOP, I’d call that successful. If he’s 103rd on the all time money list, I’d call that successful.
I hate that I have to focus this point on him, because he’s an idiot and a big mouth and people love to shit on him, but the point remains, HE’S A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A “FEEL” PLAYER - A GUY WHO CANT REALLY EXPLAIN MATHMATICALLY OR OTHERWISE WHY HE WINS - YET HE HAS HAD SUCCESS IN POKER ACROSS MULTIPLE ERAS AND IN DIFFERENT GAMES.
* Watchfulness — observing others’ habits and your own
* Patience (as others have said)
* Discipline
* Lack of fear of failure, without edging into recklessness
* Balance in your play and equilibrium in your emotional state (e.g. not tilting)
* Analytical ability, both in game to read others, and between games to self-assess
* Patience (as others have said)
* Discipline
* Lack of fear of failure, without edging into recklessness
* Balance in your play and equilibrium in your emotional state (e.g. not tilting)
* Analytical ability, both in game to read others, and between games to self-assess
borisasaurus
High Hand
I realized this was your main point about Mike, and I can't disagree. Like you pointed out, I was really making a somewhat unrelated point about Hendon mob / tourney cashes as a metric, and Matusow just happened to be the example in this case. That point does relate a bit more to the OP, as I'm really arguing against a common metric used to define tournament players as successful. I'd be interested on other people's opinions- I think you can pick nearly any player outside of the top few hundred or whatever and make the same argument that their total cashes don't represent their actual success and/or skill as a player. A few main event winners come to mind.....
I think we could probably have an entire dedicated thread to discuss opinions on "the mouth"
ekricket
Royal Flush
CTO makes a player suspiciously great
CrazyEddie
Full House
Everyone whose only source of income is poker is successful.
CrazyEddie
Full House
We should definitely hold him up as an example of a successful "feel" player, because that will encourage people who are bad at math but think they're good at poker to keep playing.
OP
OP
I realize now OP was really indirectly asking me this question.
You’ll just have to buy the book
Will you be like Barry Greenstein and give a free autographed copy for knocking you out of a tournament? I may play one again this year if so!
$10 million in career earnings is no good if you have $10.00001 million in buyins and expenses.
RiverKingCali
Pair
A little bit of skills combined with a lot of patience and luck... being ugly helps too (poker face)
Create an account or login to comment
You must be a member in order to leave a comment
Create account
Create an account and join our community. It's easy!
Log in
Already have an account? Log in here.
Similar threads
