Poker Takes Strategy and Desire

October 14, 2008

Poker players need two main things when playing – strategy and desire. They need a strategy in the sense that they have to know how to play, but they need desire in that they want to win.

The strategy can be taught, but the desire cannot. Two people sit down at a poker game and they are both playing well. However, one takes more chances than the other one. Is one playing it safe with a will to stay in as long as he can? Or is he simply not risking it because he does not have the will to win?

You have to have both when playing. A poker player who only has one will never be a great poker player. You have to want to win – for it you don’t you won’t. You can practice poker playing every day for the rest of your life, but if you don’t have the drive and determination to win, you will not be as successful as someone who has it.

Some go and play it safe so that they can stay in the game and come home with a little bit of money, even if it isn’t more than they walked in with. They are not there to win money, they are simply there to play the game, and they are hoping to do it as long as they can.

But some will go and they will play aggressively because they want to play poker, but even more they want to win. They want to win big. They want their name up there with the big winners so that everyone knows that they are a spectacular poker player. Not everyone has that drive – which is good because not everyone can be that good. But some can – and that is because they have both pieces of the puzzle.