Personality types-that make best poker players?

CaucasianAsian29 · #1 05-31-2006, 06:08 PM

I'm wondering what type of personality's make the best poker players? Also, does this change depending on the game your playing(ex. L Vs. NL or SNG vs Cash).

I often think about my friends, and try and pick out which one's would be the best poker players. Usually, I pick one's that I consider very smart, calm, and are good at studying.

Do you think people with ADD or ADHD could make good poker players?

CaucasianAsian29 · #2 05-31-2006, 08:17 PM

what personality trait helps you with poker?

xxx · #3 05-31-2006, 10:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'm wondering what type of personality's make the best poker players? Also, does this change depending on the game your playing(ex. L Vs. NL or SNG vs Cash).

I often think about my friends, and try and pick out which one's would be the best poker players. Usually, I pick one's that I consider very smart, calm, and are good at studying.

Do you think people with ADD or ADHD could make good poker players?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Daniel, Layne, Paul P. and Mike M. all have mentioned some form of ADD that they have to fight against.

crablegs33 · #4 06-01-2006, 12:37 AM

i think people with ADD and ADHD are somewhat handicapped in poker although i think it is very case specific... i'm a special ed. teacher, and TRUE ADHD is very difficult to overcome...

many peopled who "have ADD" are misdiagnosed... a whole hell of a lot of them... but i'd imagine true ADD would have the same effect on someone's poker ability as it does on their abililty to concentrate in school... while they can be intelligent as the next man, or even moreso, poker is a game where maintaining concentration over long sessions is crucial...

with that being said, i imagine someone with ADD/ADHD would not have too hard of a time keeping concentration if they were multi-tabling... but the down time of live games would be quite difficult to deal with

Blowup Doll · #5 06-01-2006, 12:49 AM

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i'm a special ed. teacher, and TRUE ADHD is very difficult to overcome...

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I don't mean to be rude, but this statement is amazingly simplistic. ADD and ADHD lie on a continuum. There is severe ADD and mild ADD and a whole lot of ADD in between. All of them are "true" ADD. Do you mean "severe" ADD when you refer to "true" ADD?

Also, many ADD people can focus quite well at certain tasks that they enjoy. I've had ADD all my life (mostly severe and sometimes moderate) and i can play poker just fine. Poker is a game that captures my attention and i have no problems locking in mentally, whether at a single table live or multi-table online. There are other tasks in my life that i also have no problems with, usually the ones that i enjoy. Now reading a journal article is a pain in the ass for me. I read for 10 minutes and i'm blown... unless i take my meds first, of course.

I'm not trying to be a nit, but ADD is often misunderstood and misrepresented.

crablegs33 · #6 06-01-2006, 03:15 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i'm a special ed. teacher, and TRUE ADHD is very difficult to overcome...

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't mean to be rude, but this statement is amazingly simplistic. ADD and ADHD lie on a continuum. There is severe ADD and mild ADD and a whole lot of ADD in between. All of them are "true" ADD. Do you mean "severe" ADD when you refer to "true" ADD?

Also, many ADD people can focus quite well at certain tasks that they enjoy. I've had ADD all my life (mostly severe and sometimes moderate) and i can play poker just fine. Poker is a game that captures my attention and i have no problems locking in mentally, whether at a single table live or multi-table online. There are other tasks in my life that i also have no problems with, usually the ones that i enjoy. Now reading a journal article is a pain in the ass for me. I read for 10 minutes and i'm blown... unless i take my meds first, of course.

I'm not trying to be a nit, but ADD is often misunderstood and misrepresented.

[/ QUOTE ]

and i myself don't mean to be rude in response, but you seem to have clearly missed a letter in my post... I wrote ADHD (attention deficit hyper-activity disorder), not ADD... whiel the two share similar characteristics, there is a clear distinction between the two, and ADHD is much more severe, greatly impeding on the learning process

as someone who spends all day working with high school students who have physical/learning disabilities, i am WELL aware that not just ADD, but every disability falls on a continuum... i work with students who have mild cerebral-palsy, and ones who have severe cerebral palsy... high functioning autism/low functioning autism... and just the same, two periods a day i run a study skills group for mainstreamed students who have learning disabilities... most often ADD. just like the other disabilities, there is a wide range of ADD... ADHD, being the most severe, and for some greatly impairing their ability to learn. on the opposite end of the spectrum, there is a very mild ADD... in these cases it is often questioned if the ADD tag is placed on children too liberally. in my teaching i've often found that having this tag placed on a child who is borderline ADD can be quite detrimental to their education. It often decreases confidence, leading them to a defeatist attitude when confronted with difficult work.

you're right, ADD is often misrepresented... and it is also widely known that it is GREATLY, GREATLY over-diagnosed...

but again, when i say "true ADD", i myself define that as properly diagnosed ADD across the continuum...

when i say "true ADHD", i mean properly diagnosed ADHD which is spread across the same continuum, just much further towards the severe side of ADD...

pokernicus · #7 06-01-2006, 03:33 AM

Barry Greenstein has a list of such traits in Ace on the River. Worth checking out. Don't have the list handy, but perhaps someone can post it.

Fhil Ivey · #8 06-01-2006, 06:39 AM

if you are playing no limit hold'em you need balls of iron.

KPL · #9 06-01-2006, 06:41 AM

I'm working as a clinical neuropsychologist, and I'm also working on a researchproject right now where we're comparing patients with ADHD with patients with traumatic brain injury. NB! All the people in this study are people who have workdisabilities, so you cannot easily compare it to the general population, ie. many people with ADHD and traumatic brain injury are doing very fine.

Anyway, the biggest problem in the neuropsychological testing of group with ADHD is that they lack impulsecontrol on very simple tasks. I think this can be a bigger problem for some of the people with ADHD who play poker rather than attention problems per se.

chesspain · #10 06-01-2006, 07:07 AM

[ QUOTE ]

and i myself don't mean to be rude in response, but you seem to have clearly missed a letter in my post... I wrote ADHD (attention deficit hyper-activity disorder), not ADD... whiel the two share similar characteristics, there is a clear distinction between the two, and ADHD is much more severe, greatly impeding on the learning process

[/ QUOTE ]

Technically, it is nonsensical to try to make a distinction between ADD and ADHD, since ADD is just the layman's name for the subtype of ADHD that is the "inattentive" type, versus the "hyperactive" type.

P.S. This whole thread is silly, since the OP's title refered to personality types, whereas his question actually referred to the benefit vs. handicap of having a psychiatric/brain condition such as ADHD.