How Would You Define a "Strong Player" ?

Strong player

I think that a strong player is one that gives no body language tells while sitting at the table.

Someone who does not go balls out every hand and knows when to reign in a full tilt.

Someone who gives me no readings, micro movements, wears hat and sunglasses.

Someone who ... when in a hang, people change their behaviors just based on that player
being in a hand.

So many other things, but I'd definitely look for other players showing unreasonable respect
to a certain opponent.

So with little to go on, as you sit down at a new table with people you have never played
with before, these would be the things I would look at to determine who is the stronger players.

mioou2011 said:

what is your definition of a good player in poker?

Click to expand...

never do action until you 100 sure about that action, and for that happend observation and notes should take place NO REGRETS, did everything right lose or win doesn't matter.

good player

The qualities that make you a top. What does a good poker player do? He knows that first his opponent, then his cards. Perhaps one of the most common problems for beginning players, which does not allow them to grow, is a constant card game. He observes the daily routine. In order for your regime to have a positive effect on your game, you only need to stick to old rules like the world: sleep at least 8 hours, eat healthy foods (vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts) and exercise regularly.

Then your brain will work faster, which will allow you to make decisions faster, play more tables and so on. It does not concentrate on the bad. Namely on the bad beats. Or travel, as it is more convenient. It is important to understand that moving your AA in poker is just as common and regular as the sun in Spain. It does not give way to emotions and He correctly assesses the forces.:motz::motz::motz:

A good player is one who can make adjustments to the other players on the table... & then one who can quickly make adjustments to how other's are adjusting to them.


A good player capitalizes on the leaks & tendencies of other players.


A good player is one who thinks on multi-levels... but doesn't attempt to play level 3 thinking poker vs. a player who's only thinking along level 1 lines (if you don't understand what I'm referring to... look up 'levels of thinking in poker')

A good player is always adapting to the changing environment of the game. (a good player from 2009 might not be a good player in 2019).

New people come. There is a new tactic. All in some good.

someone who is able to read his opponents hands very well and also "puts his money in good"

I think you need a lot of hours to somehow know what hands

A good player minimized the loses and maximized the earnings.

A strong player is the one who is disciplined

I think a strong player is who is disciplined, have a schedule and also follow it, study really hard and try to learn new things everyday about poker like strategies and bet sizes, a strong player always know how to control his or her emotions and know what hands should be played in the correct moment, always paying attention on what is happening on the poker table and analyzing other poker player's game.

A strong player is always visualizing victory and has self confident.

big amount of money won on the tourneys defines a tough player according to myself.

A good player is one who can laydown a hand when he knows he is beat.
A good player can adapt to table conditions
A good player puts pressure on his fellow players
A good player knows when to get up from the table because he is out matched
A good player knows when he is fatguied and must get a break
A good player can read right throw you.
A good player can play just about any limit and not worry about the money

terryk said:

Playing without emotions may work for some,but i'm jumping out of my chair and shouting/fist pumping all the time,,,,passion is good if can channel it to make good decisions. :ridinghor

Click to expand...

A strong player would know that this ^ is incorrect

For me, a good poker player has to have some skills, such as understanding the structure of the game, defending the right hands, bluffing when it is viable without taking big risks, knowing how to control the pot and correctly measuring bets, besides having a bit of luck.

someone who adapt, is tough to read and isnt afraid to lose a hand then play the next one

In one sentence: A good poker player always knows to make the best move for him in any given situation!

good poker player = winning poker player

all others are just losers with different excuses

Strong Player can go against type also

There are a lot of labels, TAG, LAG, etc for players. Players take notes to label who they have played with, their tendencies.
A strong player has the ability to recognize when to switch it up, not use their normal style of play. It is easy to get in a pattern, difficult to see you are in a pattern, and break-out, to your advantage.

A player with total recall memory and the concentration of johnny chan. You can tell they are processing all the variables in the hand and making their decisions without emotion. A good player is also a player who does not put themselves in poisonous structures.

jaymfc420 is a good lag and MTcashman style is great for cash games.

LanaRhoades said:

big amount of money won on the tourneys defines a tough player according to myself.

Click to expand...

I see a lot of descriptions of what a good or strong player does, or how they play, but only a few of you seem to get the point that the good player is the winning player in the long run.

The best poker players in the world do not always play well, and they do not always win. But they are the best because they win the most often through their consistently good playing. Simply put: they are far more consistent in winning and earning profit than they are in losing. The frequency of their wins/big cashes vs. the frequency of their losses/non-cashes.


And of course there are anomalies and contradictions. Take Gus Hansen for example. I'm sure some people would argue he is not a good/strong player and point to his $20 million in online losses, while others would point to his titles and his lifetime earnings in live games and claim he is a legend. So, it would be best to try to avoid false dichotomies here, because it is not simply either or; strong players can and do lose tournaments and cash sessions, and weak players can and do win those games as well. But if you zoom out to the overall bigger picture, you will see that some players tend to lose most of the time, and other players manage to win enough to make profit and continue playing.

It is sort of like trying to say, a strong baseball player hits home runs, and gets on base. Well, sure, pretty much all of the strongest hitters do in fact hit home runs and get on base a lot. But just because a player hits one or two home runs, or gets on base every now and then, it does not make them a strong/good player, in the same way that owning a guitar does not automatically make you a musician, and owning a gun does not make you a marksman.

In my mind, the good player is the long term winning player. If you ask it as, "what makes one a good poker player?" and you list all of these things that many have listed here, but do not include being a profiting/winning player, you are basically saying that a player can consistently lose and still be a good/strong player. I don't see any other sport/game/competition where that philosophy would fly. The football teams with losing records are not considered good/strong teams. Chess players who compete at the highest levels yet consistently lose are not considered good/strong players.

You know the old taunt, "SCOREBOARD!!!"? That exists because we directly correlate the results of games/competitions with ability strength and skill level. No one cares if you are a "good" boxer who can never seem to actually win a pro fight. You might be good at sparing in the gym and hitting a heavy bag, but in the actual competition, you fail and lose. That could mean you are not necessarily a terrible boxer, but you certainly cannot be considered a good one. Would you then say "good boxer, bad competitor?" I don't think so. In order to be considered a good boxer, you must compete and perform as one, and when you fail, losing more times than you win, no one will be there to say you are a strong boxer.

So if you do not yet have a lot of experience playing poker, don't get too discouraged if you are not yet a winning player. This is a lifelong war, not a handful of battles. I have seen plenty of good players whose stats show how much they struggled to perform well and win consistently at the onset. Do you think they focus on the part of their past where they were still a losing player? No. They focus on the present and the future, and are ready to work harder in the present to improve more in the future.

A good player in poker by definition is one who is making rather than losing money playing.

A good player is a player who knows how to balance his range an playthe one who knows how to exploit other players by picking the best spots to 3bet, to open shove ,to flat call their bets or just to lay down his AA or AK it's the kind of player I hate to face on the tables.

playinggameswithu said:

jaymfc420 is a good lag and MTcashman style is great for cash games.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure cashman doesn't even play cash games.

Poker Orifice said:

Pretty sure cashman doesn't even play cash games.

Click to expand...

pretty sure I said his style.

to me a really good player can ride out the lows and not get too high on the peaks.

A studier of the game. And winning player.

Emotional control and bankroll management are also a primary component.

And yes blata8ruga sums up the balance. You’re neither as good or as bad as your last result.