Skills Needed for Poker

This tactic is all well and good if you are playing at prime time or at a site like party but in general when I choose to play I have an option of at most 8 tables (usually 4 on average), each with a waiting list of 4 - 5 players. You spot the table you would like to play, get in line and when you finally arrive you find all the juicy players have left and you are faced with a table full of rocks and TAG's [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Maybe I should just go and play at party.

aiyaah when i read this all i wanted to do was make a mock list, including the ability to bend a spoon with your mind etc. but i really cant be bothered making up 10 funny things.

but now im already in the reply i may as well do a serious one (except i AM gonna compromise and include karate, cause that was what i thought of first)

1. Karate!
2. Confidence and aggression
3. betting
4. raising
5. calling
6. folding
7. checking (this is totally serious, im talking about fully understanding HOW and WHEN to use each play. remember these are the only 5 actions in holdem)
8. understanding and applying concepts; equity, etc.
9. hand ranging your opponents and 'playing the player'
10. the psychological ability to tilt your opponents


Edit: i didnt include patience or table selection because i dont believe in them. not going to argue against table selection because i know as far as ev goes i am certainly wrong, but i firmly believe in being able to play any table from any position

[BigBrother]

I will go against the crowd and say that it depends on what your poker goals are.

If you want to maximize your hourly earn then table selection is far and away the most important discipline you can master. If you consistently play in games full of terrible players your edge will be so great you will win plenty just by having decent starting hand selection, understanding your table texture, and being a value-betting machine.

To enable good table selection, you have to be efficient at opponent assessment. The quicker you can determine the player's styles/abilities the quicker you can make good table selection.

So those are by far the top two, coupled with the discipline to only sit in 'good' games.

If you have other goals, like being able to sit in ANY game and feel like you can have the best of it, then you will have a long way to go and many of the other skills will become more important.

In general, I would say you need the skill to think several steps ahead of the present moment and always consider the consequences of your current action.

As a follow-up to thinking ahead, you need the discipline to spend time away from the table reviewing your past actions (and those of your opponents, if you will be playing against them regularly) so that you will improve your results in future sessions. Find a balance that works for you, and stick to it.