Oftentimes when you arrive at a table, you will see a player with a mountain of chips in front of them, rifling a stack like a seasoned veteran, staring at you with the steely eyes of a road gambler. The man at that moment might look like goliath, fitting every image we have ever associated with successful players, a warrior of the felt.

Often when we pay attention, we discover that a lot of these players have that gigantic stack in front of them because they outright bought it when they showed up. <READMORE>It’s only when we take the time to ask people in the know that we figure out they actually come to the cardroom every day after work and slowly bleed off their paychecks.

In poker forums, we have a similar way of being fooled to believe that some players are more successful than they really are. Someone may consistently be racking up large wins on a weekly basis that we see in the “recent scores” area, but when we look at them more closely we find out that they play every tournament on the internet, and the amount they are actually making amounts to little when you consider how many hours they put into the game. There are others who have made more money than 98% of us, but who are actually broke now because of bad habits they possess.

On the other hand you will meet many players who do not show up on the leaderboards often or don’t seem to make a big splash anywhere, yet are more successful and have retained more money than 90% of Sunday Million winners. There are guys grinding $50.00 turbo SNGs and 5/10 Limit that are happier and playing more profitably than many of the “hot shots.” The reason they are able to do this, despite not having the talents that other players possess, is that these players possess a discipline that others do not.

The truth is that oftentimes what separates how successful one player is over another has a lot less to do with natural ability and more with personal management. Personal management, in my opinion, is the most neglected facet of what it means to be a professional or successful player. By adopting good habits regarding your approach to poker, you can ensure yourself a better chance of surviving your downswings and allow yourself to reach your full potential when your game does begin to blossom.

The first trap that you will have to avoid if you plan to play seriously has to do with bankroll management. Fox wrote an article for Pocketfives.com a while back that I still consider the definite treatise on the subject, and it was what I used personally to turn one $50.00 deposit into the bankroll I use today. My personal rule is that I must have 200 times the buy-in of any tournament in my bankroll in order to enter it, even though mathematically you can keep your risk of ruin relatively low without having that many buy-ins. The key is to figure out what bankroll size will allow you to handle the swings and make you feel comfortable enough to play fearlessly.

If you do make a regular habit of playing beyond your bankroll, you will not last long. Most of the time when you are playing above your head, you are not in the clearest frame of mind as you will be playing on “scared money." Your opponents will have played more hands at that level than you and will be less fearful, so you will be at a serious disadvantage. Sure, once in a while you will hear a story about how one pro got his start playing way too high and going on a huge rush, but many of those players did eventually adapt good bankroll management habits. Most people who do play high and run up their account balance do not keep the money for very long.

Furthermore, playing too high has a detrimental effect on your play and your work ethic. If you did enjoy a week long joy ride at 10/20 No Limit before negative variance sent your ass packing back to 2/4 No Limit, you will have a hard time playing entire sessions to attain the profits you once could get in one single pot at your old game. Once you experience the rush of playing higher, it is hard to go back to grinding every day. This starts a deadly process of playing at your normal level for a time before the urge gets you to take a shot again. Not only will you be out of action frequently while other players are playing and learning; the emotional process of the whole rollercoaster will take its toll on you as well.

Deciding how many hours you want to play is also very crucial in developing yourself as a player. As I am a complete workaholic, when I do work I usually like to play 12 hours a day with 6-12 games going at a time. Some players do well playing much more than that. Other players I know do very well playing a much more limited schedule. The key is figuring out what works for you. Start paying attention to when you begin feeling tired while you play. Does it happen four hours in? Eight hours? Does it happen two hours in after certain work days? Keep a log and pay attention. You do not want to play too long if you’re playing sub-optimally or play too little when you are playing well.

Eating right, sleeping, and regular exercise are things I have mentioned in a previous article, and I am going to mention them here again because they are so important. This does not apply to everyone, but I find that with a lot of people and myself especially that when I am not working out, eating right, or sleeping regularly, my game quickly deteriorates. I become impatient, I stop caring as much, and I am much more prone to frustration. Obviously this does not apply to machines like Chau Giang, who is known for his marathon 70-hour sessions, but for most of us mere mortals paying attention to how we feel when we change our sleeping, eating, and exercise patterns is very beneficial.

On a more minor note, you have to also watch what you are eating while you are playing. Though Mexican food is my favorite kind of food, I never eat it while I am playing because of how tired it makes me. Drinking a lot of caffeine can have a similar effect, although it is not the same with everybody. Again, the key is paying attention. What are you eating when you play your best?

Taking breaks is also really important. If you pay attention to tournament poker, even warriors like Shaundeeb take a few days off now and again. When you are playing online poker for a living or as a serious hobby, your world is contained within a monitor and limited to a few sound effects, user icons, and some IMs. It is easy for poker to start feeling repetitive.

To keep yourself from becoming burned out, frustrated, or bored, you will need to start keeping tabs on when you become tired. You need to take a step back and keep asking yourself how into it you are on a certain day, or look at your hand histories after a session and see how focused or sloppy you were while playing. Are you thinking through your decisions or just going with your first inclination? Do you really believe you are going to have a huge night or are you just going through the motions?

When you take days off, it is crucial you get the most out of them, especially if you are a professional and every day you take off eats at your bottom line. Try to do social things and not just lay around your house or wherever you are when you are working. Hang around friends that do not even know if a flush beats a straight, and give yourself a total and complete break as opposed to a half-hearted one. If you play professionally or are considering it, you may want to think about moving in with some roommates even if you can afford a place on your own, as they will help you be more social and perhaps say something when you are getting too obsessive.

The type of friends you have in the realm of poker will also affect your success. Try to surround yourself with other players who are positive even during downswings and take an active interest in continuing to learn about the game. If you choose the opposite, players who constantly whine about their bad beats and rarely examine their own play, you may find their own detrimental habits becoming yours. I can say from personal experience that my game did not really take off until I found a few players online who were very positive and also wanted to discuss different strategies as opposed to bad luck. When you do eventually enter a long dry stretch in poker, having this type of friends to talk you through it will feel like a godsend. Just remember to do the same for them when they start running cold.

Though you can get away with not applying these changes to your poker lifestyle, and there are many examples of successful players who do not adhere to much of what I have written, I have found them to be very beneficial to my game and my own sanity.

Good luck to all of you.

-Alex
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