What makes a good player? Part 6

     At first you believed me when I said the 'secret' would be in the next post. And you waited for it to come in the post after that one. After you heard me say it will be in the next, by the third one, you didn't believe me anymore and yet it will truly eventually come. I led the story for the 'secret' to be revealed. Poker is relayed in the same way. You have the ability to tell a story with your chips, you have the ability to lead them to the next chapter, they follow and willingly give you their attention (read that to mean chips) as they go to the end of the story. Whether it be, that you have convinced them you know the secret of their hand compared to yours causing them to fold, or have given them a story they cannot believe and gave you a lot of chips in the end, a story is being told. You must be good at telling the story. In the story of poker there must be twists and turns. You must make them believe it is going one way when it goes another. You must know who your audience is. Are they listening to your story, are they aware a story is even being told, or are you unwittingly telling a story you did not want told.
      The magician holds the 'secret' to every illusion he performs. He practiced the illusion so often it is second nature to him. The magician does not have to stop to think about what to do to make the trick work, he has memorized it, knows it works and continues to dazzle new crowds. Part of that 'secret' is the awareness of who the audience is. A magician does not pull out the big 'death defying' tricks for the young kids that will be scared or confused. A magician cannot dazzle a crowd of adults with the easy tricks that do not fool them. They yawn and think to themselves, “I've seen that before.” No, he uses his skills and pulls out the level of sophistication needed for the particular crowd to achieve the response he desired. He knows, to whom, he is performing.
      It has taken a bit to get to the secret of being a good player, and yet the secret has been implied throughout this writing. To pull it out, you needed to think deeper than just the words that are written. The secret is probably the most difficult part of the game because it is not something that can just be written down. It must be investigated, it is often beyond our expertise, it must be practiced. I often go to games, not to win, but to test boundaries, to see the response of a player when I do this, or I do that. Why? Why not just go for the win every time? Because I'm thinking long term. I'm practicing, I'm investigating, and I am keenly aware that as of this point, without the 'secret' part of the game being second nature, my 'magic' will not dazzle the audiences, it will fail more than it will work. Knowing the secret and being able to flawlessly employ it a majority of the time, are miles apart. While I have the ability to win more than I lose, until I have all the aspects of the game in hand, I can't say that I am a good player, I can merely say that I am good at this aspect or that, based on the results of this or that.
      We can go around and around the different parts of the game, such as the 'ability' to fold, the 'ability' to call, the 'ability' to know when to bet, check and chase a hand to the river, but really it all comes down to the 'secret'. Dan Harrington's Harrington on Hold'em book is 376 pages long. His second and third books in the series are near the same size, and yet it is one single paragraph within his first book that lays out what most good players gloss over in their explanations and dissections of the game. Over the years I have found it to be the key to every bit of poker wisdom contained within his book and any other. When I use it well, I win, when I don't, I am 'fighting the tide'.  Harrington states, “The truth is that good players are really good at remembering everything that goes on around the table, and making use of the information in a logical fashion.”

     There it is...the secret. Having the ability to know, to a high degree, what your opponent will do no matter what you do. You guide the game, you stay out of chip giving circumstances, you win chips when you are generally not supposed to. This is how the good players win games, and the reason that players are able to repeatedly do well among large fields of players. I will continue to push and pull in games to test, to try, to learn how to know exactly what a player will do. I will wait before making a move in games early to gain information. To be a good player you must be good at profiling in combination with all the other aspects of the game. Be the practiced magician that has every aspect of each trick he uses down perfectly and knows to whom he should perform the trick.  I do not have it down at this point, and will continue to read more, talk with other players and test my theories until I do. In dealing with people and personalities, it is not an exact science; however, the best players, do it better than others. Without the 'secret', you better hope luck in on your side.