When you sit down at a poker table it’s only to win. It’s obvious, no one hopes to lose their money !
To win money at poker, we know that you have to learn and that you have to be disciplined… but before all that, you have to define the word “win”.
When you use the word “win” it refers to a large number of games. If you play a single tournament and you make 1st place, or if you play cash game and you win, this result doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t mean that you are a winning player. It sounds strange but it’s the truth because you need several parts to generate a positive balance.
And the proof is that you can find a very happy player who wins a tournament but who loses a lot of money at the end of the year, and also a dissatisfied player who has failed in his successive tournaments but who wins money at the end of the year.
These winning players I mentioned in the title assimilate this concept.
To conclude, it’s obvious to work on the game and not to be interested in the short term ( this helps to reduce the tilt when you lose ) and the positive result will come automatically.
The winning poker players work to improve their game but also open their eyes to learn from and encourage the players around them. They aren’t obsessed with an outcome yet they take pride in a well played game, even if it doesn’t play out in the end. @ChicagoSerbs@Litenin@tomkat287@pmv@Sue13 and @RavenL are just a few of those true winners that I have patterned my game and my attitude after.
I feel the same way about you southwestmba. Thank you for the kind remarks. I am here for the friendships, and if the cards fall right, then I am one lucky girl.
Thank you for the great topic. The winning player to me is the one who leaves the tournament, win or loose with a happy & proud satisfaction of enjoying the experience of learning or helping others during the process. Therefor there can be multiple winning players in every game!!!
I think the concept of real winning player is purely dependant on size of tournaments to how often you score. Back in 2014/2015 when I started poker everyone was playing these megafield tournaments where it was normal even for excellent player to win only 1-2 tournament in a year, but usually because the tournament would have over 10 000 players the win of that 1 tournament would be ridicilously high.
Like $1 to literal $1000 just in one tournament
or
For high-stakes players $100 into $20 000 in a single tournament
You could classify those players as winning players even if they were slightly losing at other times during a year
You always have to measure it based on player count per tournament but to me what classifies winning player:
in 6-9 man tournaments you have to win over 80% days (if you play lets say 50 a day)
in 50-100 player tournaments one tourney win one tournament every week (if you play 50 a week)
in about 200 player tournaments I think win once every 2-3 weeks is (if you play 50 a week)
I think everyone truly knows whether they are winning player or not within just few days of STTs, within just few weeks in 200 player tournaments. In megafield tournaments it would take over a year to figure it out.
I think if you only play recreationally, then you can be happy whether you win or lose. However, if you want to truly know if you are a winning player or not, you need to keep meticulous records of all of your buy-ins and your results. It is not good if you overly focus on the results, but you need to make note of them. You also need to be honest with yourself about your play and whether you played correctly or not regardless of the results. Playing badly and winning, could make you a winning player in the short-term but will not serve you well over time.
That’s the same thing as anything in life. If you don’t do it correctly, don’t do it at all. This is a recreational poker site where players come together for fun and enjoyment.
I play WSOP once in a while, it’s a grind and usually not fun. I like the mix of folks here and enjoy most games and the good banter of the forums. It’s a good practice site for many but you could learn bad habits also. You’ve got to keep it in perspective and what you want to get out of being here.
Yes, it’s a good point. That dopamine rush from taking a silly risk and it paying off will strengthen those neural circuits and it’s likely you’ll keep doing it and not feel any need to learn. It is a losing strategy over the longer term.
The game of poker is every evolving with free and materials for purchase such as courses and coaching to improve your game.
Which i think is so widely available these days poker had become a much harder game in general due to player level, knowledge and expertise getting better.
Thankfully you can find out who are the winning players when you sit down at a table these days via sharkscope.
GGpoker has its own system called pokercraft for tracking winning along with alot of other aspects.
I hope more sites adopte this so it will be easy tp find out if your sat on a table with only crushers and no casuals.
I read this, rather generic but true, quote online somewhere (paraphrased from memory):
"Winning in poker is like winning in life – it’s a journey, not a single destination.
Poker is not just a game; it’s a journey of self-improvement, growth, and learning. Your goal should never be limited to winning a single tournament or hitting a jackpot once. Instead, think of poker as a lifelong pursuit of excellence."
BUT I have to add to what others have stated already in the thread that this applies mainly to serious poker for money that means something to you.
On Replay Poker I sometimes play a lot more hands than usual, especially pre-flop since most of us play for fun here and: No flop, no shot at the pot!
As long as you KNOW that you are making a mistake and not playing perfectly, if it’s anywhere you can do it without being too hard on yourself is when you play with free (or almost free) chips.
Winning here or winning real money on the tables? Winning here is just taking chips from players who sometimes just bet because they have chips. Knowing odds and strategy comes next. Combine experience and guile does the rest. Winning hundreds of games here is nice but only that - nice.
