Being a great online poker player

[stillbr]

Just a little topic I'd like to discuss. Is it possible for anyone out there to become a very good online poker player. Think like this-- no matter how hard I try, and how much I wanted it, I could never become a professional football player, I just dont have the natural ability. Can anybody who puts in the time, effort, and study become a great online poker player?

Discuss!

[BusterStacks]

Yes. The reasons you are unable to become a pro football player are physical. I have no doubt you could hypothetically understand the game as well as the best quarterback, given the required effort. Poker has essentially no physical requirements, so if you are an intelligent person, you have the same tools available as the best players. Additionally, poker is not a talent, it is a skill. By this I mean there is no natural poker ability that someone is born with, vs somebody predisposed to athletic activity. With the right ammount of study and effort, I don't see any "top-out" level for people of above-average intelligence. The willingness to set your ego aside, study individual hands for hours, and correct even the tiniest errors in gameplay is what is going to differentiate a great player from a good one. Having said that, you don't need to be a great player to make a ton of money at poker.

[AngryCola]

Why do you make the "online" distinction in your question? It seems to apply to playing poker in general.

[Rasputin]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes. The reasons you are unable to become a pro football player are physical. I have no doubt you could hypothetically understand the game as well as the best quarterback, given the required effort. Poker has essentially no physical requirements, so if you are an intelligent person, you have the same tools available as the best players.

[/ QUOTE ]

But if you don't have the intelligence, you can't.

I'd also suggest that there are emotional/psychological characteristics that help and that if you don't have them you will be handicapped in attempting to become a great player. In particular I'm thinking of courage and a short memory.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
no matter how hard I try, and how much I wanted it, I could never become a professional football player, I just dont have the natural ability. Can anybody who puts in the time, effort, and study become a great online poker player?

[/ QUOTE ]

To get into pro football, you have to make your way through a system that attempts to select only the best 1000 or so players in the entire country.

To beat online poker, you just have to be somewhat better than average. The players all choose to play on their own, and there is no exclusion based on skill. Many of these players make little or no effort to play well or to even learn how to play well. Those who try to learn from experience will usually learn all the wrong things due to the random nature of short term poker results.

Can anybody who puts in the time, effort, and study become a great online poker player? Well, my point is that you don't have to be great to win. Can anyone do it? Of course there will always be some who don't have the psychological make-up to do it, but it's certainly not like trying to break into the elite ranks of pro sports.

[BusterStacks]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes. The reasons you are unable to become a pro football player are physical. I have no doubt you could hypothetically understand the game as well as the best quarterback, given the required effort. Poker has essentially no physical requirements, so if you are an intelligent person, you have the same tools available as the best players.

[/ QUOTE ]

But if you don't have the intelligence, you can't.

I'd also suggest that there are emotional/psychological characteristics that help and that if you don't have them you will be handicapped in attempting to become a great player. In particular I'm thinking of courage and a short memory.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would venture to say that you have enough intelligence if you made it here. Furthermore, a long memory is better. Remember 50 hands ago when that guy limped in with KK?

[Rasputin]

[ QUOTE ]
I would venture to say that you have enough intelligence if you made it here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh, but the question wasn't whether anyone <font color="red"> in here </font> could make it, but if anyone <font color="red">out there </font> could.


[ QUOTE ]
Furthermore, a long memory is better. Remember 50 hands ago when that guy limped in with KK?


[/ QUOTE ]

True enough. I was thinking of short memories in the sense of not letting suckouts prevent you from making the same play again.

What you really need is to determine what to remember and what not to.

[Tosh]

No, there are mental restraints in poker just as much as there physical restraints in many sports. Poker is not a game for the stupid.

[bicyclekick]

No damn way. I think some people in this thread are truly underestimating the total stupidity of some people.

I can think of a person that just could never do it. She can't even do multiplication. (she's 20)

There are a handful of others I'd be very doubtful about as whenever we've tried to play card games they just don't get it. Maybe they could make money in the lowest of games if they had a formula put in front of them for pre-flop play. I don't know.

I think anybody who's at all decent with strategic thinking could definately do it as long as they have decent self control. I think self control is almost as important as inteligence for poker.

[crockett]

I think everyone is going to be in agreement here. The first reply was spot on.

One thing I would like to add is that I bet a lot of people over estimate the amount of intelligence that is required to be a "good" poker player. Yes, the higher the intelligence the easier it will come but I persoanlly feel you don't have to be that intelligent at all to be a good poker player. I'm basising this on past experience and observation. I have no idea how correct my thesis is.

I think practice, repitition and discipline are the keys.

My comments are only in regards to a "good" (winning more than losing) poker player.