Continued Learning in Poker
Poker is an extremely
rewarding hobby for those who take the effort to
always continue learning. In fact, continued
learning in poker is absolutely essential
because poker is sort of an uphill battle: if
you get lazy and stop working on your game,
you’ll start to drift backwards and see
decreasing results.
On a
positive note, "work"
in poker isn't the
same as "work"
in other areas. Poker is a hobby type of
activity so the work involved in poker is
comparable to the work involved in improving
your golf swing. Some people might consider it
work but others consider it play. It’s all about
the love of the game.
The Learning Mindset
The
learning mindset in poker is the ability to
accept the fact that you don’t know everything
and the willingness to continue learning. No
matter how much money you win in poker, there’s
always room for improvement. It requires
humility to admit the fact that you still have
holes in your game.
I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen poker
players come onto poker forums and complain
about how the games are rigged or that small
stakes games are too crazy to make any money.
People love to blame everything else but
themselves for their lack of success, but that
only makes it impossible for those players to
improve. Instead of focusing on things they can
fix, they focus on things that are out of their
control.
Small
stakes poker games always have been beatable and
probably always will be beatable. It requires
only that you assume a learning mentality and
accept the fact that there are areas in which
your game could use improvement. Once you get to
that point, you have the world at your
fingertips.
A Willingness to Work
Poker
is a fun hobby but if you want to excel, it’s
going to take a little work. Trust me, I know
that reviewing hand histories and reading
strategy books can turn into a major drag after
a while. That’s where the “work” part comes in.
If you’re willing to work harder than everyone
else, you’ll also live better than everyone
else.
The
good news is that a willingness to work on poker
leads directly to improved results. You don’t
have to work hard for years and hope some boss
gives you a pay raise. If you do the work in
poker, you will be rewarded for your effort. The
more you learn and work, the faster your hourly
rate increases.
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