do poker skills deteriorate with age?

[PokerPaul]

doyle, amarillo, TJ are getting on with age, and it 'appears' their glory poker years are over.

so does age affect a players game?

should they open a seniors WPT tour lol?

[LetsRock]

I would think that some poker skills would deteriorate with age.

Failing eyesite could lead to misreading your cards or the board and a particulalry hectic hand could get one a little bewildered. Stamina is likely also an issue.

Regarding Doyle, Slim and the likes, it's possible that they aren't getting the results we (and they) "expect' may be due to not adjusting their "old tried and true" games to the current style of play. It also shows that poker is not as much about skill as we like to believe.

[Toro]

I certainly hope not as I'm approaching 55. But I can honestly say that the eyesight thing is definitely a factor. I now wear these progressive bifocals and have misread a hand or two.

But that aside, I feel that I'm still improving as a Poker player with experience being a big factor. Now if you're talking about the greats of the game, I think that if you have reached the highest level of play it's inevitable that one may not be able to maintain that level indefinitely.

But it's more likely that everyone else is catching up. Poker is in a new era and with the many thousands of new players it's not surprising that there talented players good enough to challenge the old guard.

[astroglide]

doyle still plays in the biggest cash games in the world (and had a respectable series showing this year), tj is still making final tables all over the place, and amarillo slim has never really been a winning tournament player

[andyfox]

I also have the progressive bifocals and have messed up because of them.

I find the younger players are, by and large, much tougher than the older ones. The old guys seem to play the same way they did twenty years ago despite the changes in the game. The young ones don't have old habits to unlearn. Plus they seem more fearless than the average player was years ago. More skill and more balls.

[Ed Miller]

Everything deteriorates with age. Even "non-physical" competitors (like chess players) lose a LOT when they hit their 70s. There is no way that any top poker players are over 70. It's just the way humans are built.

If you see someone who is over 70 and competing at what you think is a world class level, if I were you, I'd look to see if something else isn't at work...

[charlie_t_jr]

[ QUOTE ]
If you see someone who is over 70 and competing at what you think is a world class level, if I were you, I'd look to see if something else isn't at work...

[/ QUOTE ]

Doyle had a good showing in WSOP, and plays in the top cash games, and I assume he is still a winning player at this level...I assume....Ed what are you suggesting?

[Jive Dadson]

If you get old enough, everything deteriorates -- or so I've been told.

But when a fifty- or sixty-something doesn't play an intellectual game (poker, chess, whatever) as well as he did in his youth, I suspect it's because it no longer seems as important. I remember the fierce concentration I used to give competetive games, particularly when I was playing games as my only source of income. It seems kind of silly now. As the saying goes, "It's a hard way to make easy money." But of course, I never won $5.5 million, either.

[Yeknom58]

That he was even more bad-ass when he was younger. I think mike tyson will be able to kick your butt well into his 70's...but when you looked at him when he was in his prime...ouch.

[Robbe]

Um, you be the one to tell TJ that he is getting on in years and should limit himself to Sr events.