What makes a good player? Part 1

     You will hear players say, "I'm better than you."  Maybe not in that way, but I hear often one player say to another, "You have to suck-out on me to win", which means the same thing.  They have a high opinion of their own play compared to the other player.  Or, possibly you have sat at a table and thought to yourself, 'that player is good'.  But what makes a good player?  Was the player just lucky when you were thinking that?  Why do some believe they are better than others?  Why are some players better than others?  Are they luckier?  If you ask the average player exactly what he thinks it is, that makes him better, you will hear:  "Well, I win games", "I'm lucky", "I know what cards to play", or "I bluff really well'.  Quite honestly, most players don't even know if they are good or not.  They just believe they are better than most of the players at the level they play.
     I have sat at many tables where it was just obvious that I was not destined to win that game, no matter how well I played.  One game in particular that I will not forget, I was playing a single table sit and go.  I had been patient and waited for the most part.  I won some small uncontested pots here and there and had made it to the 'bubble'.  (Generally in 9 or 10 player sngs, 3 players are paid.  When there are 4 players left it is called the 'bubble'.  The player with the lowest stack is 'on the bubble'.)  I was dealt QQ, AK, KK, AA in succession.  This is a dream run (of starting hands) when the bubble is a factor.  One player had amassed a very large stack up to this point.  He had been calling everything and hitting everything.  After those 4 hands I was out of the tournament in 4th, losing all 4 hands to that player.  There was no style of play that would have made the outcome of those hands any different.  All I could say was, "That is some horseshoe you are sitting on."  His reply was, "No kidding!"
     There are times, when it happens that no matter how well you play, you cannot win.  But this fact is not our concern.  We want to know what it is that makes a player consistently good.  Not just good in one game, not just a lucky streak, but good over a long period of many games.  Why do people pay professionals ghastly amounts of money for private lessons, when all the information they need is contained in books.  They believe themselves decent players with potential or they would not waste the money.  Players want to know what the 'secret' is and believe they will get that by seeing the pro face to face. 
     How often does a book cover tell you that this is the 'way to win'.  Some believe that this particular book or that particular book is what contains THE strategy to nearly guarantee the millions of dollars given out at the WSOP.  These same players continue to struggle and blame the poker site, the dealer, their own luck, the other players or anything else they can find to blame.  After reading book after book (and still I buy and read more), I have learned what the 'secret' is.  The crazy thing is, while each book has touched on the 'secret', few put it into words or explain the reason in a way that makes it jump off the page.  Its blah, its bland, but its real and it works!  I did not even have to pay thousands of dollars to get the secret from a professional.  I will give you the secret...in part 2.

http://www.glossforum.com/2009/04/06/what-makes-a-good-player-part-2/page1/