The greats

[Leonardo]

How much time do you think they spend analyzing situations, replaying hands and making calculations etc? It seems to me that great chess players spend the majority of their time not actually playing chess, but analyzing different situations, moves etc. The best golfers practice putting, chipping, hit balls at the range for almost infinately more hours than actually playing. Same for most sports. How many minutes does Kobe spend practicing jumpers for every minute spent on court? Tonnes. My point is, how long does Chan, Seidel, Negreanu, Helmuth, Reese, Brunson, Varkonyi(lol) spend away from the table analyzing , per hour spent playing. To me it seems like not so much. Lots of pro poker players seems to play 40 hours a week (+ or - ) and maybe a few hours analyzing. Will this change with the introduction of such large prizes at tournaments (> 2 mill eg). I think that although these players are considered great, we will see a whole new type of player over the next ten years, who will be on a whole new level.

[neoliminal]

Much of what happens in poker is specific to the time and place of the action. Unlike chess, you are unlikely to find yourself in exactly the same postion/hand/chip/players.

Because it's situational, you're less likely to get benefit from scouting your opponents or reading theory.

I would think the most important thing would be to keep current on the trends. For example, the large influx of new players and the introduction of an 'online' style of play are both big factors in the way the pro's have to play in tournaments.

[zoziac]

Just a brief note to say that i think your chess reference is very innacurate. Finding yourself in the same position in a chess game is much less common than HE. I think that similar situations are much more common in poker. Maybe other players of both games think differently though.

zoziac

[PairTheBoard]

I think top chess players spend a lot of time coming up with and studying new innovations in established openings. There's almost limitless research challenges in that area.

PairTheBoard

[cero_z]

Hi Leonardo,
I think you're way off base, here. I personally spend many hours a week thinking about poker, analyzing common situations, mostly, but also reviewing/revising my notebook on players, etc., in order to get better. I'm sure that many other good players do the same. I'm certain that most great players do that, if they are trying to get better at poker.
Now, I'm also sure that great players don't spend as much time in analysis as they did early in their careers, as there's just not as much to be gained, once you reach expert status. But good players (and anyone better)have spent a lot of time and energy determining how to win at poker.