Essentials of a Good Poker Player?

is calculating pot odds correctly in ones favour an essential?
e.g, my friend plays very well but says he never really uses it much.(i play as good as him but he has way more experiance and strategies 6yrs>5mnths).
But Chris Ferguson is a completely mathematical guy and he's one of the best.
Btw, i was wondering how you'd describe phil hellmuth style of play,out of curiosity?

I personally believe that the whole "pot odds" thing is overrated! Or at the very least, an often misapplied concept. The idea behind pot odds is quite simple. It says that IF your chances of winning the hand are at least even if not better than the ratio of money risked to potential money earned then you should make the call. It's a purely statistical play. Here is an example of how it works:

Let's say that EVERY TIME you are in a hand, you must put in 30 dollars and if you win, you will win 150 dollars. We say your pot odds are 5 to 1; i.e., you get a return of 5 to 1 on your money. If at the same time, every time you call those 5 to 1 pot odds you have a 40 percent chance of winning the hand, that means that statistically speaking you will win 4 out of every 10 times. Here's how it works:

The 6 times out of 10 you lose the hand, you will have called and lost $30 or 6 times $30 or $180. On the other hand, the 4 out of 10 times you win the hand (statistically speaking), you will win 4 times $150 or $600. See how you win more than you lose, even though you lost a majority of the hands? That's the concept of pot odds. In order to make such calls, you must be able to calculate BOTH the pot odds AND the hand odds. It's an interesting concept for me, one that I mostly use as an excuse to fold a hand. For example, say that I'm on a draw; e.g., the nut flush draw. I want to call! WOW I want to call. But I know that chasing can get you in trouble. So, I'm sitting there going back and forth. If I see that I will hit my flush 1 out of 5 times or 20 percent of the time and I'm only getting a 3 to 1 return on my money, I say, "It's not worth it."

Here's the things that people often miss who love pot odds.

1. It's STATISTICALLY speaking. STATISTICALLY speaking, you have a 1 in 3 chance of catching a flush if you are 4 to a flush after the flop. But you may NEVER catch another flush in your life! In other words, the statistics behind the percentages don't guarantee you that you'll catch 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 times. People mistakenly treat it as a fact. I seem to go in streaks where every draw comes in and NO DRAWS come in. What if I'm playing these statistical games and suddenly I go 6 months of the numbers lying to me?

2. ALL poker is NOT the same! I believe the idea behind pot odds is ONLY applicable to CASH GAMES. It says, over the long run, this will prove profitable. But in tournament play, you can go out on any given hand. To me, you cannot put your tournament life on the line based solely on pot odds. If you miss in a cash game, you can rebuy. In a tournament, you're done! I play cash games completely differently than tournaments.

The essentials of of good poker player are ...

Craftiness, cunning, nerves of steel, solid play (usually tight-aggressive), but with an ability to mix up your game. Good players can read their opponents, situations, consider many factors, etc. They say that novice players play only their cards. Mid-level palyers play not only their cards, but try to figure out what the other guy has. The best players play their cards, try to figure out what the other guy has, AND try to figure out what the other guy thinks you have, which considers your own craftiness, cunning, what you've led him to believe, how the board reads, etc.

It's a tough game with high risks and potentially high rewards. One of the least important factors in making money is playing pot odds.

View on Poker - Tony G flops a Royal Flush!