If you want to play like the best, you need to learn to think like the best. In today’s post I decided to share last years most successful poker mindset quotes from the legends of this game. These were the most liked quotes on @thepokermindset Instagram account.
Read this 30 quotes to get inspired, calm your mind and get the courage to face whatever challenges poker throws your way! Enjoy!
Passion for poker
- After I had the cancer operation where I wasn’t expected to live. When I came out of the hospital, I decided I was going to play poker, do what I wanted to do the rest of my life. That’s when I made the turning point to be a professional player. I was 28. I had just got married. I was considering going back into “the real world” and getting “the real job.” After that (surviving cancer) happened, I just decided that life’s too short. I was going to do what I wanted to do. – Doyle Brunson
- If I would have listened to all those people tell me how I should be, I would probably be working for some boss earning my 50K a year patting myself on the back for how much money I made by not pursuing my passion. Bullshit. You have to do you. Live your poker dream. – Jaime Staples
- I hope I’ve inspired others to dream bigger, live a bigger life, and also show the world [that] just because we play poker for a living doesn’t mean that we can’t contribute to society. – Daniel Negreanu
- A lot of people who play professionally don’t enjoy what they’re doing, and you can tell, and it makes a difference. I love poker. I love everything about it. It’s the greatest game in the world. I’m always trying to improve and always thinking about getting better. Some people I play against are just playing because that’s their job, and that’s a big advantage I have over them. – Phil Ivey
- I never thought about poker not working out. When I started playing poker I just thought this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. You have to think that way, and if it doesn’t work out, of course you move on from there. But if you start out thinking any other way, you’re setting yourself up to fail. – Phil Ivey
- Please don’t be an asshole to obvious new players at the poker table. If you can tell someone is new to live poker, try giving them a bit of help and make their experience more comfortable instead of treating them like they are some type of idiot. – Joe Ingram
Losing, downswings and mistakes
- There are tons of mistakes every session, even for me. What separates me from a lot of the other players is that I recognize the mistakes when I make them… I just practice, I think about the game all the time and I am continually trying to get better. – Phil Ivey
- I deeply believe this one thing that players should work on more: Losing. You have to understand that this is natural part of poker. Learning how to lose is not easy, but one has to do it, to be successful. Proper mindset is fundamental. When I lose I have my routine – I apply logic and keep playing. – Fedor Holz
- It’s poker after all and you are going to make mistakes; so learning not to down on yourself, pick yourself up and carry on is really important. – Liv Boeree
- Understand that sometimes the right decision loses you money. – Doug Polk
- Nothing makes me start to re-evaluate my life like a big losing poker session where I break discipline on game/ stake selection/ session length and get punished hard. – Joe Ingram
- There’s no better teacher than losing in a poker game. – Doyle Brunson
- I think one of the most important qualities to be a top poker player is learning how to lose. When you get into a game and you get behind, you just feel like you got to get even that day, and it’s a very desperate, terrible feeling. It takes a long time to get over that and some guys never get over it. – Chip Reese
- You go broke because you don’t have the discipline to follow bankroll management. – Phil Laak
Enjoy the process/ Patience is key
- The key to playing on the highest level is to stay patient. – Fedor Holz
- One of the biggest lessons poker has taught me is to not be too focused on results, but focus on process and making good decisions. – Fedor Holz
- Rather than saying patience is a virtue, I prefer to say: patience is a skill. It’s the skill of understanding what you can, and you can’t control. – Elliot Roe
- Big goals are great, but when you get there it probably won’t be as sweet as you’d hoped. Build your goals around the process; be in love with the day-to-day work. This mindset keeps you present, hungry and full of gratitude. – Jason Koon
Hard Work
- It’s hard work. Playing poker. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Think about what it’s like sitting at a poker table with people whose only goal is to cut your throat, take your money, and leave you out back talking to yourself about what went wrong inside. That probably sounds harsh. But that’s the way it is at the poker table. If you don’t believe me, then you’re the lamb that’s going off to the slaughter. – Stu Ungar
- It’s a very tough way to make an easy living. There are so many variables that go into becoming a successful poker player. Until you’re in it and experience it, you can’t realize how tough it is. No matter how good you are, you’re going to go through some difficult hurdles like running bad, getting unlucky, and going on tilt. – Antonio Esfandiari
- One thing I would highly recommend to players is to take advantage of all of the videos that are available online. Watching these videos will help players learn new concepts by watching the best players in the world execute them and potentially understand leaks in their own game. Set aside time every week to watch and fully analyze these videos to improve their game. – Maria Ho
- Too many players focus on physical tells. For both online and live games, you should be focusing more on betting patterns and histories. The ability to figure out your opponent’s hand based on his betting pattern is a crucial skill. – Daniel Negreanu
Focus
- Where your mental state is at, I think is super-important. So how are you going to succeed at poker if you are doing a lot of things that are causing emotional distress away from the table? It is going to translate to the table. – Daniel Negreanu
- When I’m playing at the table I’m just in a different world, like everything else doesn’t really exist. I have alligator blood and I don’t let anything affect me. – Bryn Kenney
- I’ve been consistently meditating for about two years. There are a lot of studies that show it has positive effects, and physically changes the structure of the brain. – Stephen Chidwick
- There’s a fine line when it comes to detaching yourself from your poker results. Too attached, your emotions will overwhelm your decision-making process & you’ll suffer periods of poker depression. Not attached enough, you may lose motivation – poker can become a boring grind. – Phil Galfond
- The best thing poker teaches you is to not be results-oriented, because it’s crucial for good decision making in all aspects of life. The worst thing poker teaches you is to not be results-oriented, because everyone else in the world is and it’s very annoying. – Phil Galfond
- I think that the worst form of tilt for a professional poker player is auto-pilot. The reason it’s so dangerous is that it happens so often when people are either upset or just not focused. They think they’re playing great because everything is standard, and what happens is that they miss out on a lot of the spots where they normally would pick up an edge and they get lazy. It’s something that happens so frequently, and I think that that’s what costs the pros the most money. – Phil Galfond
- Poker is all about making more right decisions than your opponent. It’s a combination of gathering information, analyzing that information and adapting to your opponents. It’s about thinking rationally while taking emotions and guesswork out of the equation. The more you think logically about your game, the better your decisions will be. – Tom “durrrr” Dwan
- Yes, setting goals in business or poker is important. However, respect your mind and body. This has to be the highest priority. You are in for the longrun. Burning out or getting sick wont bring you anywhere. Set health and a strong mind as the highest priority! – Bencb
Note: Do you want to improve your poker mindset and play your A-Game more often? Check out Elliot Roe’s course: A-Game Poker Masterclass. Learn more now!
