If there is one thing that could be learned from Poker at least from the example of Phil Hellmuth, it is power. Power of money, power of achievement, power of living life on your own terms, basically the power within!
A college drop out, the success story of Phil began in 1988. And that story would make quite a fat book should we say?! Just a few chapters to mention: won the main event at the Seven card Hi/Low tournament being the youngest payer to do so, one of only three players in history to win three gold bracelets within a single year, a feat not unsurpassed of three consecutive WSOP (World Series of Poker) wins in three consecutive days, At age 42, Hellmuth has won over $4 Million and established a legacy as perhaps the Logo of Poker.
Hellmuth has succeeded a lot in life simply by being lucky, And as we all know things are not always easy, especially when you want to succeed something extremely hard. While Hellmuth has not always had a smooth poker career, it’s anyway better known that he was the student of the prestigious University of Texas. And for those of us that know a thing or two about poker, his success is a inspiration to all of us that seek to follow in his footsteps.
When we think of poker we automatically think of magnificent games of high stakes up to $50/$100 tables backfield games, but what about the professional afterwards? Well only in March of this year an amateur poker player named Andrew Barton managed to win a Series H match of $ cruising about $900, 000 dollars. This is an amazingly impressive achievement for no limit hold’em and definitely nothing short of a poker royal flush.
B Barton’s win is significant because it provides a new definition of the term poker player. Up until this point, poker was traditionally thought of as a game of chance with very little skill attached to it. skill was considered an extra element that you either had or didn’t, depending on how good or bad you were.
B Barton’s win suggests to me a different view of the game of poker, and it raises a question that needs exploration, “If you can win at the World Series of Poker with a strategy, is it possible to win at a no limit poker table?”
I believe poker is more a game of skill than a game of chance, and I will tell you why. Take a look at this quote by the great Doyle Brunson “In poker, you are either the best or the worst player at a table. In blackjack, one hit can be worth more than a thousand.”
Doyle Brunson, The Egp88 Brat: “One can, and will, consistently beat the casino longer term, if he knows and has learned how to play the game.”
Doyle Brunson, Super Systems: “Winning the tournament is the first objective, but to do so one has to outplay the casino at every stage of the tournament.”
Doyle Brunson, Poker Super System: “You have to develop a poker face that can fooled your opponents into making all the mistakes required — imagine if the entire poker room was assembled in one room and you had a face that simply Pleases everyone.”
On the other hand, if the poker game was a pure game of chance, one would not need a book to tell them how to play the game, but rather a good one to tell them how not to lose all their money!
There are many poker systems to learn how to play poker. Take my advice, learn How to Play Poker in Easy Steps and then get a book and start practicing what you preach.