Natural Talent: A+ at internet, B- live
Work Ethic: C-
Professionalism: Now a solid B+, was probably a D or F a year and a half ago or so
Life Balance/Confidence: F

lol, very nice post though, I'll have to really re-read the parts where I'm weak

Who is he? Is he famous or something?

I just don't get why anyone is supposed to care. What am I missing?

Natural Talent: B+. Excellent (imo) on the theoretical side, not nosebleeds worthy on the practical side. Less than stellar in certain common situations that I've skated by from doing other things well.
Work Ethic: B+. I can put in a ton of volume, but I get lazy and content while doing it and pretty often play my B game.
Professionalism: A-. I am good at focusing on what matters when I'm playing. I do lots of silly 0EV prop bets but I don't consider those unprofessional. I think my focus on making decisions that best help my lifetime $ph (while also not going the douche route) when I'm at work has helped me a ton.
Life Balance & Confidence: C+. I grade it this way because the way my head is built I'll never know whether I could crush nosebleeds, because I simply don't have the mental makeup to play that high and feel strongly averse to that kind of life, even if the EV of it may be very good. I think that earns a mediocre grade for this category. I like my life and have a lot of confidence in myself, but if there's something that's kept me from bigger potential, it's this category. But as mjw's post talked about, it is wise to know when to force yourself to improve and when to just accept who you are.

Your missing your brain, now GTFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im glad i randomly logged in after a while..

talent: B
work ethic: F
professionalism: F
life balance: F

which is why i don't make money

a+ post again rumch

I was just thinking I hadn't seen you post in a while lol. Hoped you hadn't bustod/quit.

As for me,

Talent: A-
this is what I seem to earn when I let my talent do all the talking in most places, so I guess that's about where I stand in poker too.
Work Ethic: B
I have bad work ethic in general, but I love poker so in terms of poker I do more than anywhere else probably, so my poker A balances out with my usual C into a B
Professionalism: B-
Up from a C/C- about a year ago. I don't like taking things seriously. I know this is so very important but douchebag professionals leave a bad taste in my mouth. I'm getting better at it though.
Life, balance & confidence: B+
It used to be an A-/A, then fell to a C+/B- due to work issues (physics sucked). Much better now and I hope to go back to my A-/A ways soon.

Sick post, Rumnchess you have always been one of the A++ posters of 2p2 thanks for sharing such personal thoughts and experiences I really appreciate such candid posting. I hope things work out closer to your goals soon.

best thread that i have ever read on 2+2?

read more threads imo

-85,000? What have you done to the Dragon?

Nice post. Food for thought for every player.

I disagree with your assessment of how important work ethic is. Personally i'd say its more like 70% with the rest coming in as secondary or as a natural extension of having good work ethic. I also don't believe in natural talent in poker, there are no technical or theoretical prerequisites to excel at it. Some people might have backgrounds or knowledge that could help them (like math) but it's still very minor imo.

Just nitpicking, I still read the whole thing and it was quite interesting.

For myself i'd rate it:
1. Natural Talent - C-
I was pretty good at math and liked math until the middle of my high school years where suddenly I hated it. I also dropped out of college because of the math classes. I've always been interested in playing poker for money and I've always loved games so I do have a natural interest in the game but i don't think it's a "talent".

2. Work Ethic - A-
The minus is because I feel like I could do more in terms of my playing hours sometimes.. but I work really hard on improving outside of my playing time so that's why i give myself an A there.

3. Professionalism - A
I bought a new luxury car this year but aside from that i'm pretty nitty with my BR management and when I can save money i try to as much as possible. I treat myself to something once in a while but I don't go out of my way to buy stuff "just because".

4. Life Balance & Confidence - B-
I can't stick to working out as much as I should and I am too cheap (see #3) to hire a personal trainer. I don't socialize that much because I have enough here with my fiancee and 4 pets to keep me company. Family life ftw

awesome post rnc... one thought though, is it possible natural talent and work ethic could be considered a 'merged range' ??

Thanks for writing this up and sharing. Was nice read, much respect.

Not having a go rum but can you honestly give yourself an A on talent if you're not on the Ivey/durrrr/Antonius/jungleman career path?

You could be an A relative to the general population but get a lower grade relative to the professional poker player population.

self reflection quick response

1- Natural Talent B+ Like to say a+ but I grew up around cards, from racko to bridge, gin rummy and plo, just part of family. I think others surrounded by same characters might take more from it.
2. Work Ethic C - in regards to poker, I get very interested in one thing, one challenge, one game type and go all out, then hardly play it for a few years. Even months off from poker at time are common if I just don't feel like playing.
3. Professionalism - F- in terms of poker again, this is hard to even apply. I have no real expectations other than I should be positive in every game I play and every stake I take on. I couldn't force myself to grind over "x" hours if it didn't come natural.
4. Life Balance & Confidence A+ very lucky and hard work + ridiculous willpower has paid off.

Good thread

thanks rnc

First of all, great post Rumnchess! I agree with everything you said.

I would add motivation to the list and give it a pretty high value. When you are motivated worth ethic is automatic. Some people are naturally motivated by money or fame, but motivation is something you can develop yourself as well.

I just read first paragraph and wanted to mention before I forget that I disagree bigtime that confidence only makes up 18% (maybe even half of that since u grouped with balance). Too achieve jungleman like success I'd say confidence is as or more important then any other trait. When u rock like 50-70BIs or w/e jungleman has like his entire HU career and U get smacked bigtime, or go on a like a 50k hand run bad or w/e w/e, it takes a lot of moxy/ confidence (that I'm not sure I could have) to still just know your the man and continue on like you have before (meaning staying at levels where your at 50buyins etc, still playing everyone etc etc).

Nice read, but you should probably consider making money from coaching/mentoring, I think you would make more money that way. No offense.

a-
a-
a
c-/d+

Lifetime graph?

wow bro, do u coach?

Is this a level?

There is a reason we don't get to grade ourselves in school.

Sharkscope says I'm up 80k (65 FTP, 15 stars) or something from sngs/mtts, PTR says I'm up 25ish from online cash, and I'm up about 135k from live poker. Pretty sure some of you trolls will dispute the last part, but either believe me or don't.