The number one, most important, poker skill.

[David]

Implementation

Being able to implement everything you know and have learnt, be it over years of playing or seconds in a hand. People can talk all they want after a hand is played, or for hours when there aren't even any hands to talk about or justify.. but I beleive the biggest talent is to take what you DO know and USE it as close to 100% of the time as possible.

My implementation is too low. I beleive I know a lot about poker, more than some people might think. I study and watch both professional players and friends/family. I have gleaned so much I can't see how I can make incorrect moves.

But I do.

My implementation is low. The roadblock that I put up that causes me to either ignore or forget everything I've learnt is hard to get past, especially when playing against confident, well drilled people. I let people play me off against me meaning it's two against one in their favour. That's the part I need to get past.

A good example of poor implementation is when you play when you're tired, or when you lack interest in what you are doing. Theory, lessons and ability go out the window in favour of an overuse of strength. The more I play poker, the more I understand the need to prepare your mind and body before playing anything of value, even just a little, to give yourself the best chance to trust who you are as a player.

Well, the fire is burning and I need a cup o'joe. Rant over.

Edit
There seem to be people who have an uncanny knack of making more correct decisions than other people, purely on instinct. The intangible aspect akin to a sports player who doesn't need to do the pre-season training, drills and practice - yet can outperform those who do.

[Brett Kay]

With you there. Everything says fold, but you feel like you can beat him with your 2 outs. LOL.

Lacking focus is one of my biggest downfalls. I get bored through a game, purely because i like things to keep on moving but 10-20 minute blinds mean action can stagnate pretty quickly, so i induce action, which leaves me crippled after a while and out of a tourney.

At the moment, i am playing good poker, purely because i am actually excited again playing. Losing the desire to play is not a good thing for any poker player, as you lose that desire you don't play optimally and end up losing, when it would be cheaper to take a break and come back one week later with the majority of your bankroll still intact.

[AceLosesKing]

Knowing its a fold and actually making the fold is a completely different thing.

Great post David.

[Origami]

Knowing its a fold and actually making the fold is a completely different thing.

Great post David.

hey a thread discussing in part 'folding'.

Knowledge of the game and players/expierence in play
patience is probably my answer to your question.
mental fitness being alert and attentative.
controlling the boredom.
setting targets or a stratergy/ planning both before and during the game are all things I try to implement, in various ways and to varing degrees in all my games.
Studying winning players how and what they do and why and when they do it is the 'fun[challenge ] to this fine game of Poker .

As in Life you are always you are never too old to learn. I try to learn or apply something new in in every game or Day.

[krunchie]

ive always been a tight player, and relatively patient, skills that have served me well at my local, but after 4 state attempts i found that while i was tight and patient it could also be my downfall in longer events as i would eventually get bored then frustrated resulting in a brain fart and be out.

So for this state champs i made some deliberate decisions to see how they would go,

1/ I wore an I pod, the ability to listen to music that interested me at any point, gave me the ability to switch off during hands and give me more concentration during hands, i found i no longer felt bored even after 6 hrs.

2/ at each break i went for a brisk walk around the block, twice i came back quite wet from the rain but i found my self refeshed as i found the playing area quite warm and that made me feel quite tired.

only 2 small changes but i belive they contributed to my improved showing this time around, and fairly simple changes that didnt take much effort.

[bennymacca]

the number one, most important thing i have learned from the weekend of poker is the importance of position, coupled with aggression.

put it this way - you can do pretty much whatever you want when you are in position, and you can do it cheaply.

raising A10 UTG is absolute spew and is a massively wrong play in the long run, but raising 5 7 suited on the button is a good move in a limped pot, as you have a well desguised hand that will stack someone if you hit, you can get away cheaply if you dont hit, and you can continue your aggression and take down a small pot on the flop.

secondly, if its good enough to call with, its good enough to raise with. so why not raise?

there are obviously exceptions to this - i.e if the pot is raised, you dont wanna be 3betting your whole range. also if you have just raised the last 4 pots in a row, you dont wanna be raising with 78 suited, because they will play back eventually. so mixing it up is good as well. but i believe that the standard way to enter a pot is with a raise, not a call.

[Matty Norwood]

bruce always folds when he thinks fold

[AJG]

Sorry David, but I think what you said 'Implementation', kinda goes without saying? In ANYTHING in life... Sure it is an attribute of playing, putting what you know into actions on the felt, but is not what I'd think of as the number one most important skill.

I wore an I pod, the ability to listen to music that interested me at any point, gave me the ability to switch off during hands and give me more concentration during hands, i found i no longer felt bored even after 6 hrs.

2/ at each break i went for a brisk walk around the block, twice i came back quite wet from the rain but i found my self refeshed as i found the playing area quite warm and that made me feel quite tired.

Why are you switching off during hands that your not in? This is usually the BEST time to gain information on how your opponents play... Because your not involved in the hand, all your focus can go to observation... What cards did they showdown? Did the call on every street only to muck? (you know u can get value from these players!)

I do a similar thing at breaks, using a Tai Chi technique I learnt for 'gathering' energy, and mental focus... May sound starange, but I also spend time before events visualizing Hands I want or even just a big pile of chips in fromt of me... and I wouldnt say it was a waste of time!

the number one, most important thing i have learned from the weekend of poker is the importance of position, coupled with aggression.

put it this way - you can do pretty much whatever you want when you are in position, and you can do it cheaply.

raising A10 UTG is absolute spew and is a massively wrong play in the long run, but raising 5 7 suited on the button is a good move in a limped pot, as you have a well desguised hand that will stack someone if you hit, you can get away cheaply if you dont hit, and you can continue your aggression and take down a small pot on the flop.

secondly, if its good enough to call with, its good enough to raise with. so why not raise?

there are obviously exceptions to this - i.e if the pot is raised, you dont wanna be 3betting your whole range. also if you have just raised the last 4 pots in a row, you dont wanna be raising with 78 suited, because they will play back eventually. so mixing it up is good as well. but i believe that the standard way to enter a pot is with a raise, not a call.

Yeah benny the cunt, position and aggression!
And about 'if its good enough for a call, then its good enough to raise', thats usually if your first into the pot?
Early in deepstacked games, I might limp alot with marginal hands, even down to 56s, hoping to hit a big flop (flopped a very well disguised boat with 56s once... tripled my stack!), and win a big pot. If there's nothin on the flop, then cya! But still raise of course with good hands, and sometimes limp with them. This also sets up a certain image with observant opponents, so you can then tighten up a bit. Or do it the other way around and play ultra tight for a while, then loosen up.
The one common denominator in everything Ive heard about successful styles of play is Aggression, be it LAG, TAG whatever, aggression is in there...
And the amount of orphanded pots you can pick up from late position is almost ridiculous (call a raise from from the button, then bet when its chked to you on a 6 high board... Yeah sure you connected lol, but u bet - they fold SO often)
Also (alluding to what I say below), up the aggression, especially from late pos, when the antes come into play, especially the bigger the ratio of SB:Ante as its worth more to steal. Same with the bubble... play on peoples natural fear of busting... In the book I mentioned in another thread 'Every Hand Revealed' by Gus Hansen, he mentioned that near the money bubble, Antonius raised EVERY hand for 16 hands in a row, and wasnt called once, picking up ALOT of chips without any resistence, WOW!

In the end, I don't think there really is ONE most important poker skill, but I would vote ADAPTABILITY (some times referred to as 'changing gears') as the most important skill. followed closely by DISCIPLINE, FOCUS and OBSERVATION. just my 2cents.

[Scotty]

Sorry David, but I think what you said 'Implementation', kinda goes without saying? In ANYTHING in life... Sure it is an attribute of playing, putting what you know into actions on the felt, but is not what I'd think of as the number one most important skill.

The point was that implementing what you should be doing at the poker table is mutually exclusive to implementing, say, stopping at a red light.

[AceLosesKing]

Maybe putting what you know about poker into practice in the table doesn't come as easily for everyone else. I know it doesn't at times for me.