Success in Poker: Are you willing to work for it???

[Talking Poker]

This is an excerpt from Assassinato's blog (I don't have a link, because I'm coping this from a repost). This is pretty good stuff, and I'll be the first to admit I don't work at this game NEARLY as hard as I should. I'm guessing Wes is the only person on this forum who can actually say he's truly dedicated the time to learning/improving, and I'll bet he thinks he should put in more.


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Not to go into the details of who I am backing or what for now, but we got a guy yesterday that just seemed so gung ho to start working for us. It made me happy to see, that kind of new enthuisasm. I can make anyone into a poker player with a great work ethic and a good attitude. I'm hoping he possesses both.

It got me thinking about how many people over the years have told me that they wanted it "so badly."

I've always said the same thing, a lot of people want it, who gives a shit that you do?

Are you going to work for it?

A lot of people say they'd kill for it, or "I'd kill to have what you have." I of course don't believe they actually mean that, but let's say they did, then yeah, okay, you'd go and stab someone, awesome, that'd take 20 minutes.

Most of these people I tell the same thing. You wouldn't sit in your room and end your day running ICM simulations. You wouldn't put 2p2 hands in Hand Replayers and watch them and try to see what everybody was discussing when they made their comments. You wouldn't work out in the mornings to prepare for long sessions, to promote your physical health which will then effect your temperment. You wouldn't discuss hands late into the night with friends. You wouldn't watch training videos and take notes several times a week. You wouldn't grind day after day after day after day after day, for years, seeing no large result, no magical ship come into your port. You wouldn't live for the grind, for perfection of something you love.

Seriously, the huge thing in this business is work ethic, and it requires a healthy love for the game. You need to live, breathe, eat, and sleep poker while you're coming up, and that could very well be years of your life. Yes, once you get to a certain point its a very comfortable living, but until that point its going to be incredibly difficult.

To teach you SNGs I could have you work with three or four different programs, several forums, and a number of training sites. Do you think 90% of the people who tell me over and over again how bad they want it ever do this? No, they're fucking loser gamblers. Just hoping if they keep plugging a major score will just pop out of their ass that will take care of them for life. It doesn't work that way.

You have to play because you genuinely enjoy solving a game. An amazing golfer doesn't do it for the money and notoriety, he goes out at 5:00 AM to practice his swing because he feels a personal satisfaction when he hits the ball a little more solidly than he did last week. He does it for himself.

Honestly, it makes me sick to listen to people who have not put in the a ton of work complain about running bad. How is this unexpected? Did you know how to handle those shorthanded situations? Did you save the hand that worried you and thought about it again? Did you know your exact shove/folding range their with 14 BBs in the cutoff? Did you have a plan for how to play that river? No, so you just complained? No one cares, and I especially don't.

Being a successful poker player has so little to do with actual talent. Talent doesn't mean shit, hours and how much you appreciate what comes in, your competitors, the game...that is what matters most. I can make you into somebody making 100k a year, 200k, if you have a good attitude, if you put your mind to it, if you accept it's going to dark a while before you see light, if you're willing to be positive and work every day. I can't do anything with you if all I get is immature complaining.

There's few things I enjoy more in this business than helping young guys get money. Get them to do what they want to do in life. Of course, getting my piece of that is nice, but its mutually beneficial, where as in other businesses I don't feel that's always the case between employer and employee.

[New Guy]

Love it . Great re-post!!!!

[Wes]

Saying there is no talent and only pure work ethic in poker is a really silly statement.

[JDMcNugent7]

Ya that made me laugh. The rest of the post is true to be great at anything.

First year of poker I worked insanely hard at it (teetering on addiction), since then, aNot so much, but I'm not necessarily mad about that. I never want to be a person to "breathe, sleep, and eat" poker like he claims is necessary. Poker is not my life, far from it. It's a kick-ass way to make way more $ than I ever thought possible at my age, and the $ just serves the purpose of having a more enjoyable and financially easier life.

[RiverBoatFantasy]

I don't think he is saying that there is no talent.

Obviously some people are going to be more talented at the game than others. What he is saying is that you can have a talent for poker but you STILL have to work for it to be at the top echelon of the field.

Using Alex's example of golf, Tiger Woods is a very talented golf player but do you think he would have gotten to where he was today if he just walked onto the course for tournaments and played?

Even he has to put in hours of practice to be who he is. Poker is no different, the talented have to grind for practice just like anyone else does but having talent on their side they are more likely to reach their goals and faster than someone who has no talent for the game.