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Essentials of a Good Poker Player?

is calculating pot odds correctly in ones favour an essential? e.g, my friend plays very well but says he never really uses it much.(i play as good as him but he has way more experiance and strategies 6yrs>5mnths). But Chris Ferguson is a completely mathematical guy and he's one of the best. Btw, i was wondering how you'd describe phil hellmuth style of play,out of curiosity?

Public Comments

1. Poker face
2. yess u need a good poker face to bluff big hands
3. well a good poker player doesnt bet a lot every hand unless you start seeing good matches...but even then dont bet over the limit
4. calculating the odds can only help your decision. it cant win the pot. Chris F is a freak. and since his title win his oponents are more likely to fold any hand he bets into. Phil H is a people player. he bets on reaction and pattern.
5. good player should know the pot odds and also have great reading skills like Negreanua when he is put to a big test. IMO it is more important to know your opponents personality more than what the math tells me what to do. phil hellmuth is a calculating with ugly nastiness type guy, with a lot of patience in live play. I personally hate the poker brat. he insults you to try and put you on tilt. I personally think that "constant insulting" tactic is disgraceful poker ettiquette. my style is steal a lotta small pots until I get enough weight to play more hands. kinda like eric lindgren.
6. This is a broad subject and the quickest answer is that there is no one style of play that is inherently superior to another, and there is no one style of play that will work for every player equally well. For example, my brother plays very tight/aggressive and I play very loose. We are both successful players. Pot Odds are important, you need to treat every hand as a banker or a real estate investor would. Is this investment wise? Do I have the odds to win to justify the call/purchase? A general rule of thumb is that your pot odds need to be higher then your win odds for you to be able to justify a call or bet. For example, let's say you are in late position and you hold AK of diamonds. The flop comes A K 3 of hearts. You've hit best two pair and you bet. The next player down the line raises. Do you have the odds to win to justify the call? The answer is no. NO? That's right, no, you don't, unless you feel like gambling. Chances are your opponent has already netted the flush. Simple, flush beats 2 pair, every time. Even if your opponent is only drawing to the flush, he has implied odds equal to you're pot odds. He needs only one more heart to fall to beat you. Knowing when to lay a DOMINATED hand down is KEY in poker. It's the hardest thing to do, and many players never learn this lesson. It can be very hard to lay AA down when you bet and you get re-raised. But if your opponent is holding a straight, a flush, three of a kind, or even two pair, and you're AA hasn't improved, you are beaten. Remember that. Some people don't have to calculate pot odds consciously but I would wager that all good players take pot odds into account whether they realize it or not. Phil hellmuth, like many of the pros advocates tight aggressive play, it is a good style for beginners. Also, he tries to 'play the person' by putting them on 'tilt'. The condition of another player playing emotionally, leading one to make bad calls. As far as whether to play tight or loose, personally I tend to see about 80% of flops and I do well. Success depends on what you do once you are in a hand, period.
7. Honestly its PATIENCE!!!! It is a virtue....
8. I personally believe that the whole "pot odds" thing is overrated! Or at the very least, an often misapplied concept. The idea behind pot odds is quite simple. It says that IF your chances of winning the hand are at least even if not better than the ratio of money risked to potential money earned then you should make the call. It's a purely statistical play. Here is an example of how it works: Let's say that EVERY TIME you are in a hand, you must put in 30 dollars and if you win, you will win 150 dollars. We say your pot odds are 5 to 1; i.e., you get a return of 5 to 1 on your money. If at the same time, every time you call those 5 to 1 pot odds you have a 40 percent chance of winning the hand, that means that statistically speaking you will win 4 out of every 10 times. Here's how it works: The 6 times out of 10 you lose the hand, you will have called and lost $30 or 6 times $30 or $180. On the other hand, the 4 out of 10 times you win the hand (statistically speaking), you will win 4 times $150 or $600. See how you win more than you lose, even though you lost a majority of the hands? That's the concept of pot odds. In order to make such calls, you must be able to calculate BOTH the pot odds AND the hand odds. It's an interesting concept for me, one that I mostly use as an excuse to fold a hand. For example, say that I'm on a draw; e.g., the nut flush draw. I want to call! WOW I want to call. But I know that chasing can get you in trouble. So, I'm sitting there going back and forth. If I see that I will hit my flush 1 out of 5 times or 20 percent of the time and I'm only getting a 3 to 1 return on my money, I say, "It's not worth it." Here's the things that people often miss who love pot odds. 1. It's STATISTICALLY speaking. STATISTICALLY speaking, you have a 1 in 3 chance of catching a flush if you are 4 to a flush after the flop. But you may NEVER catch another flush in your life! In other words, the statistics behind the percentages don't guarantee you that you'll catch 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 times. People mistakenly treat it as a fact. I seem to go in streaks where every draw comes in and NO DRAWS come in. What if I'm playing these statistical games and suddenly I go 6 months of the numbers lying to me? 2. ALL poker is NOT the same! I believe the idea behind pot odds is ONLY applicable to CASH GAMES. It says, over the long run, this will prove profitable. But in tournament play, you can go out on any given hand. To me, you cannot put your tournament life on the line based solely on pot odds. If you miss in a cash game, you can rebuy. In a tournament, you're done! I play cash games completely differently than tournaments. The essentials of of good poker player are ... Craftiness, cunning, nerves of steel, solid play (usually tight-aggressive), but with an ability to mix up your game. Good players can read their opponents, situations, consider many factors, etc. They say that novice players play only their cards. Mid-level palyers play not only their cards, but try to figure out what the other guy has. The best players play their cards, try to figure out what the other guy has, AND try to figure out what the other guy thinks you have, which considers your own craftiness, cunning, what you've led him to believe, how the board reads, etc. It's a tough game with high risks and potentially high rewards. One of the least important factors in making money is playing pot odds.
9. luck
10. straight face
11. Here's an article: www.pokerhandreplays.com/articles/7 The article provides knowledge on how to make money while you are losing. How to win against odds.
12. Being able to calculate pot odds is essential in the long run. Remember, you can beat the odds in the short term but over time, the odds will play out. That's why it's hard, even for the pros, to be consistent tournament winners. It just takes one hand, where a guy sucks out on you, and your tournament is over. Phil Helmuth has admitted that he's not a "numbers guy". I'm sure he knows the basic probabilities, but he's much more a "feel type" player. He'll put you on a hand and go from there.