It (poker) takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. ~Mike Sexton
Even though the following seven levels are presented separately, and in a certain ascending order, as if they were the independent steps of a ladder; the levels will instead, each overlap, share component parts, and often be accomplished in a different order. This is because the process of learning and advancement is different for every player.
There is not a uniform, fixed template, or ladder, for success; as the arrangement of these levels might imply. Instead, there is just you, doing as best you can with what you got, and advancing at your own pace and in your own way. Thus, as you might imagine, there are as many paths leading to tournament poker success, as there are successful players.
Every one of us is different in many ways. We each have different strengths and weaknesses, different temperaments, and we each learn differently and at different rates. And darn it, there are a lot of players who just have a lot more natural talent, or gray matter, or photographic memory, or something else real cool, than the rest of us.
Consequently, some players will have to work much harder at various of the levels than will others. For some, there will be things that will come easy and naturally. While for others, those same things might be extremely difficult, even entirely alien. Most every player who masters these levels, will do so at a different rate, and probably in a different order, than any other player.
In the final analysis, though, every successful tournament player will have mastered each of these levels, one way or another. So, let's get started.
This presentation begins with poker fundamentals, then adds layer-by-layer the capabilities that will usually lead to the next level of performance. Thus, these seven levels are arranged somewhat in order of difficulty, somewhat in their usual order of mastery, somewhat in the order that they build upon each other, and from the fundamental to the most advanced.
Level #7. Command of Fundamentals - Playing the Cards.
What I know about poker, you can fit into a thimble with room left over, but I'm learning. ~Wilford Brimley
Learn the fundamentals, the mechanics of poker. Things, for example, such as:
- playing position,
- starting hands,
- bankroll management,
- outs and odds,
- bet sizing, and
- reading the board.
These are among the things you must first master before there is any hope at all. This is the beginning point for everyone. Practice. Think. Study. And, learn.
Level #6. Understand the Tournament - Playing the Game.
Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers. ~Magic Johnson
Learn the formula for success for each style of tournament that you intend to play. There are very many different and difficult factors that influence tournament play, such as:
- Full table, and short table play,
- Heads up play,
- Bubble play,
- Rate and amount of blind increases,
- Early, middle, and late game play,
- Starting stack size to blind ratio, and
- Single table, and multi-table tournaments.
Each style of tournament, and each stage of a tournament, requires specialized techniques for successful play. Becoming a tournament specialist requires an immense amount of plain old hard work spent in research, calculation, and strategic planning.
The most important attribute a player must have is mental toughness. ~Mia Hamm
The preceding two, and to a degree some of the following, levels deal with mastery of the mechanics of the game. That is, what you might already know, and can learn about the basics of the game. The book learning and dues paying sides of the game, so to speak.
Next, the following five levels primarily address matters about the mastery of yourself - how you think, how you decide, what you desire, and overcoming your internal roadblocks. Thus, the remaining five have to do with the oftentimes more difficult aspects of the game - the things going on inside your head. In a sense, mastery of the following are what, to use a common expression, separate 'those that can, but don't' from 'those that do'.
In other words, almost anyone can become proficient at executing the mechanics of the game. But, only a relative few advance from basic proficiency to becoming winning professional quality players. Like many have said, the basics of poker can be learned in a few minutes; but, the game takes a lifetime to master, provided you are also mastering yourself.
In the lingo of poker, it is at this point that you will have learned how to 'play the cards' and to 'play the game'. But, there is a whole lot more to learn.
Level #5. Know Your Opponents - Playing the Player.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand. ~Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke, 1967
This level is about a lot more than simply identifying an opponent's playing style - for example, loose, tight, tricky, etc. Or, being able to run a bluff on an opponent. Or, for that matter, being able to put your opponent on a hand.
Knowing your opponent is also about the higher levels of thinking. Like, thinking what he is thinking about what you are thinking about what he is thinking. And, then taking the necessary action to mislead his thinking.
This level requires that you really sharpen your observational skills. As T. J. Cloutier puts it in Poker Wizards by Warrwick Dunnett, "...if a wing fell off a gnat at the other end of the table, I would see it." Of course, our focus here is with on-line play, but there are plenty of on-line opponent tells throughout a tournament.
Again in poker lingo, at this point you will have advanced beyond the basics to being able to 'play the player'. But, there is much more yet to learn.
Level #4. Strategic Adjustment - Playing the Situation.
To succeed in baseball, as in life, you must make adjustments. ~Ken Griffey Sr.
Strategic adjustment is just a fancy way of saying something we have all heard about - switching gears. Once you have mastered multiple playing strategies - for example, small-ball, long-ball, push-or-fold, tight aggressive, loose aggressive - you will be able to switch between them as an evolving situation might require.
In addition to helping you to become an unpredictable player, switching gears will also provide you the versatility to address all manner of challenging situations. Like, for example, the ability to pull yourself out of a nose dive, or to correctly respond to any given table texture.
You are just about there. You have learned a lot, and now you have a command of the advanced capability to 'play the situation'. But, there is still more.
Level #3. Decision Making Under Pressure - Playing Yourself.
You are really never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself. ~Arthur Ashe
Your ability to make accurate tournament decisions while sitting in a comfortable chair watching the pros play on TV is one thing. But, being there, and doing it under pressure is quite another. Especially, when after a few hours of play, you have been struggling with being card dead, misreading your opponents, betting too much with too little at the wrong time, and getting kicked in the butt repeatedly by Lady Luck.
After all of that, if you are to return to contention, somehow you have to pull yourself together, and start afresh making good decisions. Even though, being under the even greater pressure of playing with a short stack.
So, how do you become able to routinely make good poker decisions, regardless of whether you are calm, cool, and collected, or stressed out and under pressure? Most players are mentally inclined to solve problems (make decisions) either logically or intuitively. There are plenty of winning players in either camp, so it does not matter how you reach your decisions, logically or intuitively. Although, with a great deal of game experience, your inclination will be to think more intuitively, that is, going with your gut. That is a natural consequence of that huge storehouse of the seen and the unseen, your sub-conscious, at work.
Either way, all that really matters is that your decisions be correct, at least more frequently than any of your opponents. Here, there is no substitute for lots of experience, including lots of bad decisions and failures. Failures are the feedback necessary for improvement. So, make lots of mistakes (you will anyway without my encouragement), but just be sure to learn from your mistakes.
Out of all of this experience, the good and the bad, and your desire to improve, is born a principal ingredient of good decision making - mental toughness. Without mental toughness, when at a crucial point and under stress and pressure, you would likely be the most vulnerable of your opponents to crack - to make that fatal tournament mistaken decision.
If you invariably make bad decisions or use poor judgment, regardless of your book learning, experience, and other capabilities, you will never achieve beyond basic competency, if that.
Level #2. Determination to be The Best - Playing to Win.
Setting a goal is not the main thing, it's deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. The key is discipline. ~Tom Landry
To be the best poker tournament player, you have to want to be the best. But, 'wanting' is not enough. Your goal must be translated into a step-by-step action plan. That is pretty much the standard formula for achievement for anyone, regardless of their enterprise. However, if action planning is not your strong suit, do not lose hope. Because, if you possess an abundant supply of a few other key traits - such as discipline and desire - then you should be in good shape.
Discipline is a good example of an overlapping component, one that applies to every one of the levels. Without discipline, you really can never leave square one. Because, you will not have applied yourself to learn how to correctly execute the fundamentals. Nor, will you accomplish any of the other more advanced tasks. And, in the case of poker, discipline has an even broader meaning. Away from the table, discipline speaks to expending the effort to accomplish your goals. At the table, disciplined play is the hallmark of an accomplished player, while undisciplined play leads to certain disaster. In other words, it takes discipline to study and practice, and then more discipline to properly execute the play of the game.
As to the matter of desire, the effect is rather predictable - you will almost always find a way to achieve your heart's desire. It is that extra psychological push from within - your desire - that will see you through to overcome obstacles and weaknesses, and on to becoming a consistently great player.
And, now for Level #1, the top dog. Or, should I say, the top 'attack' dog. If you have mastered all of the preceding levels, you have really come a long way. In many poker circles, you definitely will have arrived. But, there is one last finishing touch. The one that separates the great 'also rans' from the champions.
Level #1. Relentless, Suffocating Aggression - Playing for Keeps.
My aggressive style has nothing to do with being macho at the poker table - it is simply the right way to play the game. ~Gus Hansen, Every Hand Revealed
Once you can say that you have mastered all of the preceding six levels, then you indeed will have become an accomplished player. Perhaps, even a great player. But, if you have not achieved the highest level of performance that you desire, it may be because you are lacking this finishing touch - the ability to relentlessly, suffocatingly aggress. Especially, if it does not feel comfortable.
We have natural inhibitors - mainly fear and logic - that tend to restrain our ability to correctly aggress. When we have learned to unleash the power of aggression our game will skyrocket. At the minimum, the ability to aggress demonstrates to ourselves and our opponents, that we are in mental control of our game. With aggression, we are announcing to the world that we are not mentally shackled by uncertainty, fear of the unknown, or fear of failure. And, that is a powerful and enabling statement.
Take note though, that correct aggression is very different from blind aggression. For aggression to work correctly, you must still pick your spots and targets, and know when to switch gears. But, when you have identified an opportunity to accumulate tournament chips, you must be willing to act - quickly, boldly, and decisively. Tournament windows of opportunity can be few and far between, and they open and close quickly, forever.
Winner: Someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals. ~Larry Bird
And, there you have it, the seven levels of mastery for tournament poker:
- Playing the Cards,
- Playing the Game,
- Playing the Player,
- Playing the Situation,
- Playing Yourself,
- Playing to Win, and
- Playing for Keeps.
Is there a better plan, perhaps one with more or different levels? Probably. There are many individual traits and aptitudes, and many facets of poker and tournament play, with which one could sculpt a much different, yet successful path.
Nevertheless, you now have a good overall inventory of the skills required for professional level performance. If you will rigorously set about the mastery of each, you will find that not anything, nor anyone, can stand between you and whatever it is in tournament poker that you desire to achieve.
Here is an extra bonus: change a few words, and you will find that this format for the mastery of tournament poker will work for any of life's ambitions. Like they say, "poker is life."
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Thanks and Good Luck!
R. Steve McCollum (rstevemccollum) www.sitngoholdempoker.com
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgement." ~Cowboy Proverb
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