Continued Learning in Poker

Poker is an extremely rewarding hobby for those who take the effort to always continue learning. In fact, continued learning in poker is absolutely essential because poker is sort of an uphill battle: if you get lazy and stop working on your game, you’ll start to drift backwards and see decreasing results.

On a positive note, "work" in poker isn't the same as "work" in other areas. Poker is a hobby type of activity so the work involved in poker is comparable to the work involved in improving your golf swing. Some people might consider it work but others consider it play. It’s all about the love of the game.

The Learning Mindset

The learning mindset in poker is the ability to accept the fact that you don’t know everything and the willingness to continue learning. No matter how much money you win in poker, there’s always room for improvement. It requires humility to admit the fact that you still have holes in your game.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen poker players come onto poker forums and complain about how the games are rigged or that small stakes games are too crazy to make any money. People love to blame everything else but themselves for their lack of success, but that only makes it impossible for those players to improve. Instead of focusing on things they can fix, they focus on things that are out of their control.

Small stakes poker games always have been beatable and probably always will be beatable. It requires only that you assume a learning mentality and accept the fact that there are areas in which your game could use improvement. Once you get to that point, you have the world at your fingertips.

A Willingness to Work

Poker is a fun hobby but if you want to excel, it’s going to take a little work. Trust me, I know that reviewing hand histories and reading strategy books can turn into a major drag after a while. That’s where the “work” part comes in. If you’re willing to work harder than everyone else, you’ll also live better than everyone else.

The good news is that a willingness to work on poker leads directly to improved results. You don’t have to work hard for years and hope some boss gives you a pay raise. If you do the work in poker, you will be rewarded for your effort. The more you learn and work, the faster your hourly rate increases.