I've been doing allot of thinking about what it takes to be a successful poker player and I've come up with a few traits that I think are the starting foundation.

The first and most important trait I believe is discipline. This can be applied to many different areas of the game. Discipline can be used with your hand selection, making a tough lay down, how you handle a suck out, what limits you decide to play with the size of your bankroll etc. Discipline is also very important in the poker lifestyle. You need to make sure you get enough sleep, eat right and put in the hours of play you decide on in your initial goals. A big issue I deal with is protecting my wins. I have a good session and win 4 or 5 hundo in a short period of time and take the rest of the night off. Which some people would say sure why wouldn't you right? Well if I always quit when I'm up this amount I'll never be able to jump to the limits I eventually want to. I'll never do better than 4 hundred if everyday is like that. Maybe this sounds greedy but I think you get my point. You should be putting in the hours per day you decide on no matter the wins or losses. You should only leave a game if it's not profitable, not how much you are up or down.

Next I think an important aspect is patience. This is another area I still struggle with. I've been working on a strategy lately that deals alot with patience and letting go pretty much every spot where you could be domintaed. I'm not going to get to into it at this point. Patience is what makes you on the higher pct of showdown wins. I'm sure I lay down the best hand alot. I usually let aq and aj go if theres a puck raise with 19 % or less pfr and 45%+ w$sd. I'm not saying I won't 3 bet but I'm not sure if this play is profitable, especially out of position. You just have to realize that poker is a lifelong session and the hands will come. Your oppenents will make the mistakes you won't and therefore you make money where they lose.

Another important trait is having a learning attitude. It's tough sometimes to think about learning if your already showing a profit pretty much every day. It's not until you go on a downswing that you realize how important this trait is. You need to analize your play and constantly improve. The game is gettting more competitve these days with new software aids like poker tracker. These software programs are great because you can playback every hand you played in every session. Theres no excuse not to improve your play. You should be constanly seeing if there are better ways to play different hands in different situation against different players. A great tool to use is the notetaking which all poker sites offer. Once you notice something about your opponents you can always have it there everytime you sit at a table with that player and have an edge on him at the beginning of the session. You should constantly be watching the current hand for this information even when you are not invloved.

One of the most important traits which has taken me a long time to get under control and I still have issues with is controlling your emotions. This usually comes into play if you take a bad suckout and you lose your cool. You can lose alot of money quickly if you go tilt. Especially online if you're playing more than one table. You may also try to get back at this player if he comes in for a raise and you play a hand you shouldn't be and you end up spewing more to this player which gives him an edge over you. I don't you should ever focus on the money you lose. When your money is in the game it's your tool not spendable cash. You need to realize this and focus on your player rather than how much you are up or down for the session. Never start a session if you are upset about something not related to poker of have something else on your mind. Your focus should be on the game and nothing else. If you can't control your emotions you are doomed to lose. Do yourself a favor and get off the tables. You'll be happy you did. One thing I use to help me handle bad beats is to go over my play, make sure I played the hand correctly and realzie that his chips will evetually come to me. It's just a matter of time. There is no shortage of bad players.

The final trait I will talk about is Bank Roll Management. This is the reason why alot of good players are always broke. They play to high of limits and can't afford to lose. I did this for several years and it caused way to much stress and resulted in having to borrow money from friends to keep playing to pay my bills. I would suggest keeping a seperate account for personal expenses and for your poker bank roll. This way if yu go on a downswing you know all your bills are paid. If you plan on doing it for your full time income I would suggest having 6 months living exenses just incase. Now as for you bank roll I would suggest having at leaste 20 buyins for the limit you are playing. If you are playing 1-2NL which is a $200 max buyin that would be $4000. This is the minimum. and if you go below 15 buyins I would suggest dropping limits to $0.50-$1.00 $100 max buyin untill you get back to $4000. Me personally I want a bit more of a comfort zone and like to have 50 buyins for my level so I don't have to drop limits if I run bad for a week or so. But 20 buyins is the minimum suggestion. Once you get to say 25 buyins you can take shots at the next limit if you would like but just start slow. Play 1 table at the higher limit and 2 table your regular limit that you know you can beat. If you lose 2 buyins move back down until you grind it back. That way you never put yourself in jeoperdy of busting. You should use the already talked about traits to do this properly.

Well thats about it for now. If you can think of anymore important traits let me know. I'd be happy to discuss them in further detail. Check out my blog for more articles and updates http://thorpedosworld.wordpress.com.

nice post good luck with your future man, like you said you know how it is to work (physically) for money, so make that big change =D

Thanks, I've been grinding out my BR for the past 10 months to do this right. Hopefully it pays off

good post!! there is one more thing u need to add it which is aggressiveness. I really believe that u need to be aggressive player in order for u to win because u want it to more than the others, and u put pressure on the opponents. Both tight or loose aggressive styles are all good. I don't mean being too spewy like a donkey. But, u know u need to be aggressive when the situation is right.

Yah you're right about agressiveness. I also forgot to add confidence. I guess they kind of hand hand in hand. Confidence and agression are huge. Especially if you've taken a bit of a downswing and you may lose confidence in your ability and don't play the hand the way you know you should to try and protect your chips. Thanks for the reply

vry nice post with alot of relevant points

Nice post sir. Def some key points there.