Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

Patience, calmness, aggression in some cases, a very good memory and determination to win.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

A "working memory" (short-term memory) with a good capacity, i.e. being able to account for many factors at once, hold them all in your head, should be somewhere on the list as well.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
1. Greed
2. Determinatioin
3. Patience
4. Persistence

Jimbo

[/ QUOTE ]

I think greed is more of a liability than an asset.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

Discipline.
Patience.


q/q

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

Memory is not terribly important in hold 'em unless you're really challenged. I mean, you can't have Alzheimer's, but come on -- the community cards are out there for all to see. What's to remember?

A high tolerance for bipolar [censored]tards can be a good thing in the live game. Focus, yes, the ability to make a good decision quickly, yes -- if you have a positive expectation, you want to get in more hands per hour. I see too many people posing as professionals who don't know this basic rule of positive expectation gambling. Discipline, certainly. A tolerance for swings. An ability to read people, yes, although I'm a little surprised at how seldom poker players can carry their people reading skills over to real life. It makes me think there's another factor I haven't put my finger on.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

I haven't read all of the responses (too lazy) but from a mental standpoint, it depends on what game you are playing. Stud takes more memory skills that holdem. But as holdem is the preferred game nowadays....you need situational memory to be proficient. That is, how a player plays (tag, lag, etc) & his betting patterns.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

[ QUOTE ]
We have patterns in our thought and this directly translates into how we play poker-thus good quick decision making is extremely crucial because it solidifies ones good or bad habits as a player.

[/ QUOTE ]

good players balance their play. not saying quickly making decisions isn't important, but you are overemphasizing it.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in pok
 

online memory not that important as you can refer to notes you have made on players,you have to have no fear of losing,if you watch the pros play online some will call big bets when they know they are behind, this proves they are not afraid to gamble and tells the other player you will not dominate me,which gives them an edge as weaker players will tend to fold a lot more when they have marginal hands,
mental strength is very important,a lot of players will self distruct when they reach a final table,moving all in preflop with small pairs, ace 10 in early position, when they have a decent stack ,this i believe is they want to end the hand right there as they are nervous and dont want to play for a lot of chips with marginal hands,if you are on the final table and are relieved when you are not in the bb and get a poor hand so you can fold ,i am not saying everyone is like this but i know i was so it dosent matter how many books you read on poker you will not win if you are afraid to lose

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in poker?
 

the ability to be apathetic at the table gives you a sense on others thoughts and feelings and is a HUGE asset.

Re: What mental skills or functions would you say are important in poker?
 

Able to think in terms of relative value instead of absolute value at whatever level you're playing so that you can make marginally +EV decisions regularly without thinkging, "Why would a risk a car payment when I'm only 45% to win..."

This skill goes hand in hand with bankroll management. Some have described it as a disregard for the value of money. But I think it is simply treating ever decision as an EV decision based on pot size, stacks, and as many other variables as you can piece together. If you think in absolute dollar values (either because they're "too small" at micro limits, or "too big" at larger stakes, then you get in trouble.