I've been around since the early 90's beating poker games and been a pro of sorts because I've always beat the game. The intangibles of what makes winners is always hard to pinpoint but I would like to share some thoughts. When I speak of winners I mean people who have beat the game for years, not just last the 3 months. I have no criticism of people on a hot streak who currently are riding the wave, I just know it doesn't last and a lot of those people are not as good as there recent results. Conversely, a lot of people that havent had good results recently aren't that bad either.

Most people who beat the game are level headed and keep there cool. You can lose so much money in such a short amount of time on tilt in and around poker, if you have a tilt flaw that causes you to flog your bankroll, you probably won't have one. I have never found a form of poker that is emotional rewarding more than say 20% of the time. Most of the time it sucks. Its boring, your stuck, you cant get big cards, your big cards can't win a big hand, your big cards don't hold up, you dont flop sets, in short, most of the time, things just arent going your way. To succeed in the long term, you have to come to terms with disappointment being the average and the normal state of being at the table.
Most pros have thick skin. There is a certain hyper critical nature at a poker table that will be evident when you take peoples money. Its much more pleasant to play online for that reason alone. Live play with stuck, drunk people can get very unpleasant. No matter where the criticism is coming from you just have to ignore it and be satisfied with the cash as your reward. If the unpleasantness tilts you, you probably arent going to make money long term.

Pros know its just a game. It's not that important. The worse thing that should ever happen in a poker game is that you lose money. If you are losing sleep due to a poker game thats a good indication you shouldnt consider being a pro. IF YOU CALL YOUR FRIENDS UP TO TELL THEM BAD BEATS, you shouldnt be a pro. If you destroy property or otherwise misbehave due to a poker game, you probably are not a good candidate to be a pro. If you dont have things in perspective, you won't be able to handle it.

Pros tend to tinker with their poker game like someone tinkers with an old car and works on an unfinished novel. Its this unfinished project that just begs to polished a bit. Its kind of little itch that needs to be scratched, but its always something like, "If I played that hand like this would that likely give more value...." Its much more of a curiosity than an obsession. Its a desire to play at a higher level all the time, a lot times just for the sake of playing at a higher level because that right thing to do, just a way of life. This tinkering is all in the little things, the diffence between a 2.3 BB raise verses a 2.5 BB raise and why. If your tinkering is something along the lines, I hate aces so I'm just going to shove all in with them from now on, thank you for playing, I am glad to provide your entertainment:)

One last point, one to surely make people whine and moan, pros tend to be on the tight side. As in long term money winners in poker, far more of them tend to play less hands than most players. I am not talking about situations, but just a gross generality. If you have trouble sitting on your hands, in spots it doesnt make sense to risk your chips, you probably arent going to make it as a pro. You have to be able to be patient for extended periods of time, sometimes a lot longer than your behind is comfortable with and longer than you eye wants to look to be profitable. Somewhere along the lines, that play was called tight, I would call it intelligent.

It's really ok to just enjoy poker as a game by the way. You don't have to be a pro to be a great person or be really important. Your value as a person has very little to do with playing one game well. All the best at the tables. Aloha.

I wrote about all the things that happened to me yesterday but what i really didnt mention is how people stepped up the plate to support me. A lot of them poker players but some not. It doesnt really matter poker is just a game and whether you are any good at it is irrelevant to your value as a person.

My mom was there every day, every minute and still is there for me. She has provided every type of support I needed and I cant ever thank her enough. Imagine if u ever were homeless at 38 years old and had to call your mom for help and u will know how I feel.

My mother in law and her husband still call me a couple times a week and have been so kind. The very people that normally would despise me have been so kind that has been tremendously helpful.

Mybest poker buddies scgolfer and digitaldoc have keep in touch often with text messages and emails offering encouragement and support throughout this ordeal.

The best poker players you make have or not heard of aapoker, chardrian, glory2god, rizen, and viijon have listened to me for countless hours and offered advice and encouragement.

I guess what I have learned the most is wealth is an illusion. What u have today may be gone tomorrow. It easy to understand that concept with hurricanes and tsuamis, but difficult to understand when it is the voluntary action of someone you were married to for 17 years. Its the relationships that matter. When it all goes away, you find out who your friends are and I am blessed to have bunches.

Funny story about scgolfer (I hope he doesnt beat me for this, but i doubt it because he is seriously the nicest guy every). We played at the MGM for the day and both got our butt kicked. Every straight flush found us and not on the right end. So we eat at the RainForest Cafe and head home. In the middle of the strip at about 1:00 AM, he develops an intestinal emergency in totally stopped traffic. He commands me to drive as he is going to find a restroom and I refuse because I have no idea where I am. I am not the least bit happy, but luckily we only move about half a block in 10 minutes and scgolfer comes to the rescue to take the wheel again. Vegas is crazy in the middle of the night.

Well anyways, I think I am getting the bug to write a lot more for a while. I use to write a lot and u can find the link to my old stuff here

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ker-t3027.html

I just did a podcast and you can find it here

http://www.grinderschool.com/grinder...y-podcasts.php

Over the years I have had some part in developing a lot a great poker poker players. If I was to give any tips right now they would be.....

I would rather teach you how to think then how to play a hand. One hand never makes the difference. Its your mindset, your approach, the way you approach 10's of thousands of hands that make a difference. Yes there is value in playing one hand perfectly but there is a lot of value in playing all your hands nearly perfectly and you cant realize that value for months or years most of the time.

You have to humble yourself to learn from ever hand. Take notes, check your tracking software, be flexible, and keep your mouth shut and keep learning. Whatever you know today will be ancient history in 2 months. You have to keep up or you will lose value or be a loser.

No matter who you are, the young guys are coming to eat you even if you are just 18 right now. In 5 years, you will be old and they will sitting in their parents basement with no bills waiting to destroy you.

Aloha my friends until next time. Soupie

If you need more cowbell or Colonel Angus this blog is for you.

My story.....

I used to be good, really good, and I still think i am but here is the rest of the story.

I started way back when Paradise Poker was the bomb and u could only play 1 sit and go at a time, there were no multitable tourneys. We would sit and wait for the 10 player 100 dollars sng's to fill and that was the best it got.

Then there were the good old days. Paradise Poker, Party Poker, Pokerstars, UltimateBet, Empire Poker, Pokerroom, Pacific Poker, Bodog all stalked with fish. Somewhere along the line I managed to get ranked as high as 9th on pocketfives. It was all just shooting fish in a barrel really. The average player then was so bad u really didnt have to try very hard. Just make the best hand and stack them. Bluffing was stupid, you cant bluff someone who wont fold.

Then came Washington State for me where i lived at the time. About exactly the same time it became a felony to play poker, my business was broken into 5 times and basically destroyed financially. So both of my 2 streams of income dried up at the same time. If I was young and single, not that big a deal but when u are old with 4 kids, it is substantial.

So........the wife wants to move to Hawaii. OK, I suppose as long as u let me grind my way back to a bankroll.

So i show up in Hawaii, 1500 bankroll, 1 wife and 4 kids to feed and manage to grind it up to about 120000 in 6 months. Sounds like we are living the dream except as my lawyer says it "its kind of hard to concentrate when your wife is giving the neighbor blow jobs." After the affair started, things really went to crap, i couldnt concentrate to work, and bascially made very little money for a long time.

So I write her a letter detailing her affair and the next day she leaves with the kids. She drains off all the credit cards for about 30K and the police show up at my door with a restraining order 4 days later. I have 10 minutes to pack my personal belonging and leave. Meanwhile, my exwife watches from a window across the street and laughs at me.

Right now, if u were astute, you might be thinking I'm not telling the whole story. Here's what did happen, i was mad, there were a lot of arguments, I slammed the phone on the floor one night(she was always on the phone to him), I was so distraught i did wonder around in the dark a lot and pray that she wasnt destroying my family. What didnt happen was i didnt hit her, i never left a mark on her, I was just suffering from panic attacks brought on by her obvious infidelity. The neighbors all called her the block whore.

So back to the story, I'm 38 homeless in Hilo, Hawaii. I have had everything taken from me except what i could take in 10 minutes. I rent a room in a shared house and try to fight for my sanity for the next several months.

Meanwhile.....My exwife moves her boyfriend into my house almost immediately into my bed following the restraining order. He is a married man from across the street with 2 boys of his own. He simply abandons his wife and childern and moves into my house. And this is legal....seriuosly.

So now i served with a barrage of court motions. The first one is for 11000 a month support the latest is for about 13000 a month. All the undercurrent of the motions is since you are doing something that might be illegal u have to pay it or we will turn u into the DA. Thats all well and good, but that much after tax money is a whole whale of lot of online poker winnings to some one nursing a 6k bankroll. Its silly and anyone who plays professionally knows that.

But I disgress there is so much more to write about, she stole my car, refused to bring the kids to court ordered visitation 25 times, her boyfriend paid my daughter to crap on my floor and she told her mother she was trying to destroy me.

So I am a year and half into this divorce lawsuit and there is no end in sight. Thanks for reading. You can find all my old stuff on flop turn river in the mtt forum. Aloha.