One of the great things about this site is that I get to talk to a lot of high level thinkers about poker.  Sometimes it feels a bit weird saying “so I was three tabling 20-40”, then someone like Brandon says hold on “I am in a pot for 90k, brb”.  Sort of puts things in perspective.  The other day we were having a conversation on what it takes to be a winning poker player and I thought the conversation was interesting so I am going to share a bit of it.

On handling winning we both agreed that this was the easy part but we both share the thought that when you are winning you should play more because there are a lot of things going in your favor, your confidence is up, your decisions are crisp and overall life is quite good.  Unfortunately this likely only represents maybe 5% of your play.

Losing ironically is not as important but the consequences involved with handling losing incorrectly obviously can make the difference between being a loser and a winner long term.  I like to take time off whereas Brandon starts to look for softer spots and play through a slump.  Both approaches are likely correct and we both likely do a little bit of each.  Obviously when you lose you want to keep them low and when you win you want that to be high but one thing that isn’t as obvious is you should never lose more than you can get back in one session.  That is my rule of thumb.  My biggest wins have been bigger than my biggest losses and I am proud of that.

This is the part we didn’t necessarily agree on.  I thought that the way a player handles “breaking even” for long stretches is the difference between winners and losers.  By breaking even I mean a win or a loss that isn’t significant.  Brandon didn’t necessarily agree but I think the reason why is because the winning and losing in the games that he plays in are more of a factor.

If I were to break down my sessions they would likely look something like winning 30% of the time, losing 10% of the time and being near break even around 60% of the time.  For instance anything under $1000 playing $30-$60 would fit in this category.

For Brandon I would assume the numbers to be more like 50-25-25, the 50 being the win category.  Still, even in that scenario a 10% change for either of us only makes us slightly profitable.

To be honest with you I can handle the losing and winning, it is the breaking even I have a problem with.  You could also call it the grind.  I don’t know if over time I have become too addicted to action or simply I have lost some discipline.  To be completely honest I default to action and discipline was learned it’s just the process of beating my head against the brick wall that annoys me at times and makes me wonder if I am cut out for being a poker player.  Make no mistake about it, my game has holes in it you can drive a truck through but I have been able to develop a style that works for the most part.  It’s the day to day stuff that makes me wonder if I have what it takes long term.