Jennifer Harman:
What's important is to be a student of the game and be completely objective about your skills, results, and how you play. If you just think you're unlucky, you're probably not playing the hands well anyway. You never judge how you play when you're winning, but you do when you're losing. You can tell a good player by how they play when they are losing. Everyone can play well when they are winning.
Erick Lindgren:
What makes a winning player? The same quality that makes a losing player: the ability to gamble. How you handle adversity, your character, is very important. Everyone's "A" game is pretty good, but playing well and losing the least with less than you're "A" game is important.
Erik Seidel:
One of the unique things about poker is that you can come with different types of skills, and the game can accommodate. But you do need flexibility and patience. The top players have a certain sense of street smarts. They are good at evaluating their way through problems. Objectivity is very important. Good players are able to look at each given situation without bringing their own biases into the hand.
Mike Matusow:
A fishcake [translation: a player who plays worse that you].
Discipline [translation: not getting four 10-minute penalties in the same outburst for profanity].
The ability to read the other players and act decisively on the read.
And, horseshoes buried deeply within your butt cheeks.
[At this point in the interview, Seidel says, "Mikey, how would you know?" and we're done.]
Howard Lederer:
Great players have a fierce competitive drive. They are absolutely and objectively honest with themselves. Winning takes a high tolerance for risk and pain. Even when you make good changes to your game and you start playing better, those changes won't always be rewarded in the short run. You have to take the pain of losses, be objective about your results, and evaluate if you've really been unlucky or if you really haven't made the right change. Sticking with the right thing despite poor results, or giving up something that really isn't working, is vital to success and moving up the poker ladder.
Andy Bloch:
Patience, knowing the odds, reading the opponents, and not being afraid to make the right play are all winning attributes. After every day of play or session, winning players think over the hands and try to improve. Game selection is one of the most important things -- sit wherever Mike Matusow is playing. Winning requires the discipline to play within your bankroll. Even the top pros go broke because they play too big.
Clonie Gowen:
Discipline is very important. Try to do everything that Mike doesn't do. Your bankroll is incredibly important. Game selection, for cash players, is the most important factor in success or failure. Knowing when to pick a spot, when to change gears, and knowing the players are all important to a winning strategy. And perhaps most important, is playing with confidence.
John Juanda:
I'd love to know. The attitude is all-important. If your livelihood depends on it, anyone can win. Motivation to play your best and a willingness to do anything to improve are very important. So is Matusow's prescription for Ritalin. Game selection, and choosing games where you have an edge is clearly very important. There are games that are unbeatable no matter how good you are.
Phil Ivey:
Winning takes a lot of work. Play all the time, practice, and always think about the game. Some people are just never going to be good. I can tell if they have a chance to be good after just a few minutes of play. Some people just don't have card sense, and no amount of work will help them. Great players have a natural instinct for the game, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. The key is to not have bigger losses than wins -- manage the losses, but don't limit the wins. When winning, sit there until your opponents go broke. On the other hand, sometimes when the game is good, it's still right to quit if you're losing.
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