Research suggests a lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success. British researchers Michael J. Howe, Jane W. Davidson and John A. Sluboda concluded, “The evidence we have surveyed … does not support the [notion][that] excelling is a consequence of possessing innate gifts.”

The secret to greatness? Demanding, even painful, practice and hard work. And what practice can be more demanding than losing day after day, bad beats day after day, the ugly side of variance day after day.
Talk about painful.
By the way, a loss is just a failed experiment which often serves as a rich source of information. Since most poker players lose frequently, we need to learn from the negative.
Nobody is great without work.

There’s no evidence of high-level performance without experience or practice. Even the most accomplished people need approximately ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern known as the ten-year rule. The ten-year rule represents a very rough estimate; most researchers regard ten years as a minimum, not an average. Yet many people work hard for many years without approaching greatness. Many without even getting much better.
Evidence is evident across a wide range of fields. A study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson et al. found the most proficient group averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives; the next-best averaged 7,500 hours; and the next, 5,000. Call this The Ten Thousand Hour Rule.
More deliberate practice equals better performance. A huge amount of practice equals great performance.

The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call “deliberate practice.” Deliberate practice is explicitly intended to improve performance. It’s reaching for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence. Deliberate practice provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition. For example: Simply shooting pool for hours is not deliberate practice, which is why most pool players don’t get much better. Playing the same combination into the side pocket 200 times with a goal of sinking the two-ball off the eight-ball 95% of the time is deliberate practice. Continually observing results and making the appropriate and necessary adjustments, and doing that for hours every day – that’s deliberate practice.
And recording those results – assiduously and scrupulously – is imperative. If you fail to keep complete and accurate records, you are only cheating yourself and slowing any honest attempt to become as good as you can be.

Consistency is crucial. As professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University notes, “Elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends.” How much are you practicing every day? Not playing, practicing. Studying how to play, examining what to play when. Working….
Legendary violinist Vladimir Horowitz supposedly said, “If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, my wife knows it. If I don’t practice for three days, the world knows it.”

To paraphrase – just a little – Allen Iverson: “We’re in here talkin’ about practice. Not talkin’ about the game. We’re talkin’ ’bout practice. We’re not even talkin’ about the actual game. We’re talkin’ ’bout practice. I know it’s important. I do. I honestly do. Practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We’re talkin’ ’bout practice. Not a game. What are we talkin’ about? Practice??? We’re ain’t talkin’ about an actual game. When it matters. We’re talkin’ ’bout practice.”
Speaking of basketball, if talent was all that was needed for success, Michael Jordan wouldn’t have been cut from his high school basketball team. Working harder than anybody else in the game is what made him the greatest. And you can be like Mike, too, if you work just as hard.

For most of us, work is already hard enough. Any extra steps needed are already almost too steep to climb. Such is life. If greatness was easy, it wouldn’t be rare.

Professor Ericsson notes, “Some international chess masters have IQs in the 90s.” The more research that is conducted done, the more solid the deliberate-practice model becomes.

Something to keep in mind. Those who naturally excel at activities are far more likely to devote ten years of deliberate practice to them than those who are lousy.
Most of us never acquire the dedication necessary to achieve greatness, even in areas where we might have natural talent. Hard work – sustained hard work performed daily – is wearing. Individuals who can sustain a focused energy over a long, long period are those most likely to achieve greatness.

The key point is this: you are not limited by some magical gift. Greatness isn’t reserved for a few mystical lucky others. Greatness can be yours.

True, poker can be difficult to practice. Poker requires making judgments and decisions with imperfect information in an uncertain environment, interacting with opponents who are attempting to deceive you.

When you play poker, play as if you are deliberately practicing. Play with a purpose. Instead of merely trying to make the right play, you must aim to figure out all the plays and make the best one. You aren’t just playing the game, remember, you’re explicitly trying to get better at it in the long run. When you play like this, research suggests you will process information better and you will retain it longer. As you play more and more this way, this mindset will automatically become part of your game.

Then there are the poker gods. Perhaps we can practice – work hard enough - so we don’t suffer so much at their hands…. Wouldn’t that be great??

You can make yourself into any number of things, and you can even make yourself great. – Geoffrey

Check out www.pokerheadrush.com when you are done here. Thanks. - JDW

We were somewhere over the desert on the edge of the city when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, “I feel a bit lightheaded…”
My suitcase looked like a mobile pharmacy. I had two bottles of painkillers, one envelope of blood pressure medicine, a few sheets of high-powered blood thinner, a vial of fish oil, some anti-cholesterol tablets and a whole galaxy of vitamins, E, D, C, calcium and senior multis.

I finally got the chance to meet – in person – my good friend and business partner, Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald.
During a break at the World Series Of Poker, I surprised him, walking up alongside in a Rio hallway. He initially veered away as I approached, as if John Lennon somehow recognized Mark Chapman before the shooting started. I reached out my hand, he might’ve flinched. “Jack Welch,” I said.
His eyes expressed disbelief. “Dude, you’re huge.” Hard to respond to that. “Really, you’re big as a bear. Jesus.”
“Good to meet you.” He was obviously in tournament mode, not absorbing much external stimulus. “Those photos weren’t life-size,” I noted as I gave him – of all things – a bear hug.

Alex was sitting at Table 87. He’s been playing so very, very, very well. I thought I would rail him for the first time ever live. Couldn’t do it. Found myself getting sick to my stomach. Suppose he starts playing badly? Suppose I’m a jinx? I left. So, it was definitely not my fault he made his first boneheaded play of the WSOP and got knocked out. Not my fault.

Now feeling somehow released from potential jinx status, I returned for the next tourny. I found Alex in seat 3, nattily clad in a Sid Vicious t-shirt. I stood on the rail directly in front of him. Me, a “bear of a man” in a blue and white checked shirt, unfortunately high on the light-in-the-loafers scale. I stood there for a full five minutes without a glimmer of recognition from him.
Hell, my shirt even has epaulets.
His focus was somehow startling. I’d be scared to play with the man.

The first two days, I forgot I was carrying my camera. When the third day arrived, I remembered but didn’t pull it out.
I was interested somewhat in catching sight of certain TV poker celebrities, but they all seemed somehow washed out, less brilliant than when appearing on ESPN or Poker After Dark. In real life, the lighting is different.
Daniel Negreanu was hamming it up for the crowd gathered around his table.
Phil Laak was talking non-stop.

The only player I really wanted to interview was Phil Ivey and he is not here. I confirmed there is no truth to the rumor Jimmy Fricke is buying Howard Lederer’s share of Full Tilt. I would like to ask Howard when I might get my money back. And I would like to get Norm Chad’s autograph. Doesn’t everybody?

Saw my first mullet haircut today. Typically, on a normal day alone inside my own home, I am not as poorly clad as these vacationers at the Gold Coast. Here, I somehow manage to be overdressed in a clean pair of jeans and a crisp long-sleeved shirt.

I was initially surprised when I overheard every player in the hallway on his cellphone telling a bad beat story. Then I realized the tourny wasn’t on break.
When the break did start, it dawns on me, many of these MTTs have larger populations than the town I grew up in. The difficulty of winning a bracelet become much more concrete when you see the actual people who must be defeated. One man vs. an army.

No wonder this has become a young man’s game. My back hurts just looking at the chairs the players must sit in, hour after hour after hour.

Since the WSOP and the Rio generously saw fit to bestow upon me a press pass, I feel obliged to offer this observation – I never personally experienced a single problem. Thank you, Nolan Dalla.

Except I kept getting lost. The Rio is so HUGE. You could actually stay at the nearby Gold Coast and be closer perhaps than a more distant room at the Rio itself.

Speaking of the Gold Coast. To be honest, I have stayed in worse places… a motel in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1990, comes to mind. I have a problem paying $12.99 daily for in-room Wi-Fi. A refrigerator can be had, if one can be found, for 15.99 weekly. There is no poker room. The cocktail waitresses are fully clothed. There aren’t even any “casino girls” hanging around. For those of you not in the know, a casino girl is a streetwalker who appreciates air-conditioning.

As for the Rio, it goes without saying it has a poker room or two. The press room at least has free Wi-Fi. The cocktail waitresses are wearing semi-see-through lace mini-dresses. More revealing than anything my wife might’ve worn back in the day to surprise me on our anniversary. Seriously, I have seen bigger bandannas.

I was once denied entry to a popular night spot because I was too old. And that was 20 years ago. So, please look elsewhere for info regarding the hot clubs in Sin City.
I was piqued by this note about FLIRT at the Rio: “Created for women, but a paradise for men.” Close your eyes and picture what that might be.
Truth be told, most of these places don’t even open their doors until my bedtime and most don’t start rockin’ until about the time of my first nocturnal bathroom visit.
So, of course, I started napping in the afternoon, like a reptile.
Some candles only have one end.
Who am I kidding? I don’t want to go to a club that’ll let me in. How much fun would that be?
Better to play the slots at the Rio and heavily tip the cocktail waitresses, you know the ones.

Then there are the shows. Nothing appealed to me but Wiz Khalifa at the Hard Rock and he’s been sold out for two weeks.
The Stratosphere beckons with BITE. “Topless Vampires. Classic Rock.” I am so over classic rock. But breasts? Their appeal continues.

I find myself playing video poker, instead of simply setting afire one $20 bill after another. An ATM, free drinks and video poker…what could possibly go wrong?
The whole week, I managed but one trip to the cashiers’ window.

So, I am walking through a big name casino, just passing by, I overhear some drunk pleading with an Asian woman with a skirt up to her hoohah. “Would you lick my ass for 300?” You had me at rim job….

More disappointing news from the WSOP. I have been here five days and no one has yet mistaken me for Patrick Antonius. Who, by the way, I never did see.

At dinner with Alex, Paul Varano and Faraz Jaka, I offer the following question, “Is winning a result or a procedure?” Hoping, of course, you can be a winner without an actual victory. That the way you compete and conduct yourself is a triumph in itself. To a man, they agreed I was probably full of crap. To be a winner, you have to win.

I leave town before the Main Event, feeling slightly overwhelmed. What a roller-coaster.
When I first got to Vegas, I said, aloud even, I am coming back every year, I am going to make this an annual pilgrimage. A couple days later, I am mumbling, never again, never, never coming back to the WSOP. Too much, just too much.
Ultimately, I decided this trip has been an exploration, a Beta test, for future visits. I know now what to expect next time, what to do next year. Proof once again, you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Next year, for example, I will bring more money.

The one time I actually checked the temperature, it was 104 F. That’s F*ckinhaut. “But it’s a dry heat.” Yeah, so is my convection oven.
Tomorrow’s supposed to be hotter.

Las Vegas is somebody’s idea of heaven and somebody else’s vision of hell. I am thinking they are both right. - JDW

Check out www.PokerHeadRush.com Thinking Poker. Mindful Life.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. - Anais Nin

I was talking to a successful young pro. He has come a long way since Grandmama taught him to play, those many years ago at the cabin in the woods by the lake.
He is winning comfortably, the bankroll is growing, the bills are paid. By most measures, life is good. But what happens, when going good isn't good enough? When you are paying the bills and want more... and you want to grow, you want to improve?

I honestly can't remember who said it first...okay, it was me. He was chatting, I was working.
I am always working when I have a conversation with a client. I can't help myself. I actually care.
"What next?," I asked.
"What do you mean?," he asked back.
"Well," I responded. "If you are not moving forward, you are falling behind."
"Really?"
"Not always, but usually. Good to keep in mind."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"Heads-up cash," I offered.

Silence.

Eventually, the inevitable question. "HU cash? Really?"

So, I explained. I had been watching Poker After Dark. Ali Nejad remarked that three of the four remaining players made their careers playing heads-up cash online.
Durrrr, LuckyChewy, Melanie Weisner...not a bracelet among that trio, yet they are all sponsored pros, wearing Full Tilt logos, on television. We're talking The Big Time.
Makes me think. Perhaps winning HU cash games might be a more efficacious avenue to The Promised Land.

Isildur1 comes to mind immediately. OMGPhilGalfond.

To become successful, you have to become uncomfortable first. And I don't mean the discomfort that comes from grinding and multi-tabling donkaments every week. Week in, week out. Face it...that's what you know, that's what you're doing now, that's where you are most comfortable.

"I admit it. Heads-up cash is more than a little scary."

You are already looking at the negatives, I told him. You are afraid of what might be lurking in the dark. Put on the light.
Think about the positives. More money, more time for fun away from the table. Maybe fame, maybe even one of those stick-on logos I suspect you covet.

"Geez, I don't know."

Try this, I suggested. Set aside a part of your bankroll, a small part of your next big score even, and think of it as tuition for your new studies. Start real low. Maybe play two-man sit-and-go's, if that seems more appealing to you. Just give it a try.

"I'm doing so good right now."

You are doing better. You are doing, some might say, well.
But, you are not yet where you want to be and it's my job to get you there.
I am telling you...again. Get uncomfortable.

Check out my new website PokerHeadRush.com. Thinking Poker. Mindful Life. - JDW