Poker Discipline

Discipline is one of the key ingredients of poker success. In fact, discipline or more accurately, self-discipline is the cornerstone of success in almost any of life's pursuits.

Have you ever heard of a successful, but undisciplined individual in any of these fields:

• stock market investing,
• professional gambling, or
• professional athletics?

The answer, of course, is no. And furthermore, you never will. Almost any form of personal accomplishment requires self-discipline, especially professional accomplishment. The higher you aspire, the higher the level of required discipline.

I often refer to discipline as a virtue. Indeed, it seems that many are blessed with perfect discipline at birth. And there are some, who throughout their lives never seem to have a clue or care. While, the rest of us literally struggle daily to hold everything together. But, despite or perhaps because of the struggle, even we strugglers will eventually succeed.

So, what is poker discipline? First, a general description. Poker discipline, both at the table and away from the table, is about:

• self-denial,
• study,
• practice, and
• doing the things that are not fun, and that you would rather not be doing.

Poker discipline is about doing all the things all of the time that you know you should be doing to play your best and to constantly improve.

Here are a few examples of poker discipline in action: