Nine Traits Of Elite Poker Players

What’s the Difference Between a Good Player and an Elite Player?

There are many traits, abilities, and skills that make players good at poker — enough to stay profitable or keep climbing until they hit their personal ceiling.

Matt Berkey suggests imagining poker career-building like character creation in a video game:

While good players often distribute their “points” well, elite players take it a step further — achieving a kind of mastery of balance that goes beyond the usual meaning in poker circles:

If you’re not capable of thinking theoretically — you’re probably in trouble. If you’re not emotionally stable — you’re probably going to fail. How do you strike a balance with all these traits such that you’re not deficient in any one of them? I think that’s probably where the majority of talent gets lost is just going all in on one specific trait. Generally, the logic reason strategy and then ignoring all the intangibles that are so critical to making money in this game.

In short, elite players know how to balance their strengths at a very high level. That’s what allows them to keep learning, grow from mistakes, and dig deeper into the game — not just technically, but mentally and emotionally too.

Photo Credit: Hayley Hochstetler

Elite Trait #1: Deep Love for Poker

Phil Galfond shares that he never knew a top-notch player without a love for poker living deep in their heart. And even if some of them burn out sometimes, they eventually return to the game sooner or later — because their love to play, study the beauty of the game, or a combination of both just does not allow them to part with the game forever. That drive, exactly, helps players get through hardships in the long run, in Phil’s opinion.

Professional performance coach Elliot Roe agrees with Phil by stating that you can’t reach the top of the field — and stay there — without having love for the game as a whole:

Elite Trait #2: Obsession — Without Gambling Problems

Obsession isn’t a very nice word, but it’s the best one to describe how elite players feel towards the game of poker. You can’t climb to the top on the energy of mere fascination or curiosity — you need something deeper and stronger to keep you pumped up for grinding. Or, as Elliot Roe describes it:

Having a healthy obsession with poker, I think, is key for someone to reach the very highest levels of the game. The truth is this is a game of passion. So, some people are going to be living poker as a life to reach the top. And if you’re seeing this as a hobby, if it’s something that you’re just trying to grind out for money — it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to get through the plateaus and reach the highest stakes.

Phil Galfond shares his experience of obsession as an illustration of the power of this trait:

We all have had these periods of our lives and maybe multiple periods where we’re just completely engrossed in the game of poker. I just became so obsessed with the game that I couldn’t think about school entirely.

It was my junior year that I actually dropped out. I was completely checked out. I was sleeping with my computer next to my bed and the volume on max while I was sitting waiting at certain tables, because I didn’t want to miss any action. I just hear the “beep beep” — because it was my turn — I wake up, it’s 4:30 a.m., and I just immediately start playing.

The healthy obsession in this case means being deeply passionate about the game and prioritising it as a form of occupation — but not letting it ruin your life, damage your health, stop you from eating or sleeping well, make poor financial choices, etc.

Elite Trait #3: A Minimum Level of Very High Intelligence

It may seem confusing, but that’s how Phil Galfond describes it. He is sure that elite poker players should have a specific type of intelligence as a prerequisite — one that increases their chances of success.

Matt Berkey explains it further to get the point across more clearly:

Specifically, if you’re in the live realm, I think quite frequently the emotional intelligence side is too often ignored. How social of a game live poker tends to be.

It’s really critical for anybody who wants to have a successful career to understand how to navigate that world. And that’s often just going to require a lot of high level emotional intelligence, being able to pick up on when somebody else is emotionally unstable, assimilate to different amounts of environments, specifically your highest EV ones. Basically making yourself available in a way that isn’t just the nuts and bolts of showing up, playing the game, doing well and getting a pat on the back.

Elite Trait #4: Ability to Maintain Constant Studying

Studying is vital for any poker player who wants to understand the game better and make good decisions more often than mediocre or bad ones. But even in the world of solvers and a wide range of other tools making poker studying more accessible than ever, only a small percentage of players manage to study on a regular basis, according to Elliot Roe:

But consistency in studying isn’t the only thing elite players do differently. They also have the ability to correctly use their knowledge and make appropriate conclusions based on both study and in-game thought processes:

There’s a huge difference between what you can do whilst you’re studying and what you can then implement at the table for many players. What you need to do is you need to close that gap. So, that what you could understand, if you were breaking down a hand history, you can then implement those same skills at the table, when you’re playing for money.

So, really focusing on making sure you can play your A-Game as frequently as possible will have a big impact on the money that you make.

Elite Trait #5: Eccentricity That Shapes Personality

“We all are a little weird” — that’s what Phil Galfond means by “eccentricity” here. And it’s actually very close to the direct dictionary meaning of the word: “unconventional and slightly strange.”

For different elite poker players, their eccentricity comes from specific behaviour patterns shaped by BPD, OCD, ADHD, depression, ASD, or anything else that heavily influenced their perception and habits. For example, Phil’s personality is partially defined by his anxiety:

Mostly social anxiety and I have been prescribed medications at points in my life for it. You know, everybody has something that’s not entirely typical about the way their brain works in my experience. For whatever reason that creates a mind that excels.

As a mental specialist who has worked with many poker pros, Elliot Roe confirms Phil’s observation:

Elite Trait #6: Inexhaustible Competitive Drive

While a lot of people come to poker just to have fun, relax, or try their luck at winning some extra cash, professional players come for money — but elite ones come to compete as hard as possible.

According to Phil Galfond, their competitive nature pushes them to go further in poker and strive for excellence — and that’s a key to becoming an elite player:

Every great poker player is competitive. Without exception. It’s interesting when you look back at a lot of great players, both of my generation and generations prior — how many of them were really competitive athletes, which you don’t usually associate with a game like poker. Especially with my generation — we’re all nerds. I was very into football my whole childhood and played in high school that was as far as I went ‘cuz I’m 5′ 6.

You look at guys like Jason Koon, Alex Foxen, Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonious, Gus Hansen, David Benyamine — you’ve got a lot of people who excelled in athletics. In addition to that, you’ve got a lot of players who excelled at games like Magic the Gathering or chess. Basically something about being hyper competitive has pushed people to be great at poker which makes sense. If you’re competitive with other people — it’s a very competitive game. If you’re competitive with yourself — you’re going to improve yourself, at and away from the table.

Elliot Roe adds that without a high level of competitiveness, you’ll just fall behind others who have it:

By the way, Phil sees competitiveness as a deep inner desire to compete with himself, to surpass his own previous limits — not necessarily to beat others:

I think it speaks to my competitiveness that I have never been content or satisfied with where I’m at in poker. I always want to push and challenge myself to play against better players. For me personally it’s not a competitiveness of wanting to crush others. It’s wanting to see how far I can go and compete with myself.

Elite Trait #7: Grit, Meaning Mental Toughness

Since poker is a game of great volatility (thanks to variance), no player can become truly successful for the long haul without developing a solid level of psychological stability, as Phil explains:

You can get to the highest stakes without a lot of mental toughness but you can’t stay there. You can’t have a long career and be a long-term top player unless you’re mentally tough because of the variance involved in poker. You are going to be tested. You are going to lose countless buy-ins. You’re going to lose a ton of money. You’re going to lose for an extended period of time, weeks, months. You could lose for years. Dring that time it’s not just the money that you’ve lost that hurts. It’s the fear that you’ll never win again. […]

The game will really, really test you and push you and it’s broken a lot of people. You need to be able to navigate it somehow. Everybody has different methods. I personally take breaks, I work with mental game coaches.

According to Elliot Roe, mental grit for elite poker players isn’t just about surviving losses:

Elite Trait #8: The Right Approach to Networking

A lot of poker players these days start their careers in social isolation — due to a highly competitive environment, personal preferences, social anxiety (like Phil Galfond has), or just the reality of grinding online without talking to people.

However, according to young and rising poker pro Landon Tice, elite players manage to step out of their shell and participate in networking — because they understand how having good people around can actually elevate you.

He personally describes “good people” as those who:

• Consistently push you
• Don’t let you get complacent
• Try to help you reach your potential
• Keep you grounded — not going overboard when things go well, and not becoming too risk-averse when they don’t

These people become your support system, which increases your chances of building a successful poker career. Elliot Roe explains:

Something that I’ve noticed with a lot of highly successful poker players is that they surround themselves with other highly successful poker players. Network is extraordinarily important for you to be able to develop your game and to have support in the bad periods.

If you’re going through the variance on your own, it can be incredibly tough — but having a support network around you of other players who understand variance it’s going to help you through those rough periods.

Elite Trait #9: Sustainable Professionalism

Finally, one common trait of all elite poker players is a tremendous level of professionalism — not just at the tables, but in how they run their lives. They don’t just structure their “job” — they manage to structure everything around it to grow and develop in different areas.

That’s what Elliot Roe sees regularly while working with the highest-level poker pros:

Now nearly all of the players I work with at the highest stakes are working on their physical fitness. They have a personal trainer. They’re meditating. They’re working on their mental game. They’re looking at their sleep. They’re optimizing their family life to try and gain every edge they can. I believe that level of professionalism is something you need to be aware of if you’re looking to reach the highest stakes.