Doug Polk needs no introduction to the poker industry as he is actively involved in both playing the game and teaching poker strategy to players from all over the world. Polk who will turn 29 on December 16 and has been playing poker for close to a decade and has won 3 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and over $9.4 million in career prize money based on the Hendon Mob.
Polk who lives in Nevada plays both live poker and online poker tournaments for a living and is considered one of the top young poker players in the world today. Apart from playing poker, he also runs a very popular podcast called ‘Upswing Poker’ where he discusses everything surrounding the game of poker, interviews top poker players in the world, controversies in the industry and even calls out poker players who are bringing the game into disrepute. The podcast has helped build Doug Polk’s brand and has provided him with a better platform for marketing his online training poker website also named ‘Upswing Poker’.
Polk along with Ryan Fee have developed an online poker training course that is constantly updated with strategy videos and poker training modules that provide valuable insight for both amateur and professional poker players. Polk recently shared his views on what he terms as the five key qualities that successful poker players must continuously work on if they want to be consistently successful and have a long term poker career.
Money Sense
Thousands of poker players from across the world are attracted to the game of poker because they believe they can take a $100 and turn it into a million overnight. The lure of traveling the world, playing at multi-million dollar casinos, staying in luxury hotel suites and not working for a living is very appealing as a number of high stakes poker players such as Dan Bilzerian and Bill Perkins.
However Doug Polk warns that the average poker player must understand that the top poker players in the world who are now rolling in money got there because they learned first how to be sensible with their money. One of the biggest traps that poker players face is trying to reach the top too quickly as this forces them to spend money they do not have and enter high stake events that quickly drain them of their finances. Polk says players will need to learn to be wise with their money at the table and in their personal life if they are to be successful at the top.
Emotionally Strong
While the glitz and the glamor can be appealing at first, poker players will soon realize that it can get pretty lonely on the road to being a professional full time poker player. The long hours at the felt, the lonely hotel rooms and the downswings that happen when you don’t win can quickly plunge one into depression and mood swings. Polk says that poker players must work on being emotionally strong and be able to withstand those long periods of not winning to be successful.
Self-Control
Polk says that poker players must learn to exercise self-control and discipline in all areas of their life. This would require them to spend hours learning and reading about the game of poker – something that most players don’t like to do as it can be tedious. However Polk says that a strong poker strategy is developing only by investing countless hours studying the game and successful poker players.
Intellect
Poker is a game of skill and hence many of the successful poker players have brilliant minds and strong academic qualifications. He points out that Vanessa Selbst had a Fullbright scholarship to Yale and Pratyush Buddiga won the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a child. While it isn’t mandatory for one to be intellectually brilliant to be successful at poker, good academic qualifications does help you learn the game very quickly.
Luck
There is a lot of debate as to whether the game of poker involves luck. Polk believes that successful poker players are able to differentiate between bad play and bad luck. They are able to withstand the pressure when things go against them and learn from their mistakes. This helps them turn things around and go through less rough patches. Poker players who are looking at a full time career in poker will do well to work on these aspects of their game.