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What makes a good poker player?

EA damn good question, on which many laymen keep throwing their heads. Internalizing the rules of the poker game is not difficult. With some routine, developing a sense of how strong your own hand is is also not rocket science. And yet, players who meet these two requirements are regularly pulled over the table by better players. If the discrepancy between the poker skills of the players is correspondingly large, this will soon have almost nothing to do with luck. But what exactly separates the wheat from the chaff?

Read the game

An important skill of poker players is the so-called board reading. This describes the ability of a player to be able to continuously determine the strength not only of his hand on the basis of the open Coummunity Cards. But also what dangers he has to expect from other players and which hands they probably represent. The community cards plus the cards he holds himself give him conclusions about conceivable card constellations at the table. He now has to weigh this up. What are the mathematical chances that his hand is the strongest hand? How is his hand influenced by his position at the table? And how have his teammates presented themselves so far? Do they bluff often? Does one only play strictly according to the rule book? The so-called "tight-nit", a security player ..... and thus easier to see through than anyone else. He almost never comes in danger. Or does he have a Desperado at the table, who probably thinks himself is a daring bluffer, but actually only plays more hands than is good for him? Or is there someone he can't assess at all? Which leads us straight to the next point.

The Table Image

Card values, the value of positions and chip distribution at the game table as well as being able to consider or even mathematically determine chances of victory, certainly sets a player apart from the rough mass. If he then still calls a good knowledge of human nature his own and player types can usually recognize their strengths and weaknesses when he has them in front of him, then he is a passable player. Not quite yet.

A good poker player has all these skills. But above all, he can make himself unrecognizable. He is the aforementioned player who cannot be assessed at all. And not only because he has a kind of poker face. But because it does not follow an outwardly comprehensible pattern. His game type can't be determined .... because he doesn't have one.

Not many players can do that. Seemingly insane and yet actually calculated play ..... without putting yourself in danger. Or give an image of yourself at the table that does not correspond to the way of playing behind it. This is the biggest form of deception that goes far beyond a simple bluff.