In part 1, I rambled on a little bit about my brother who not only has a fairly stubborn personality and a blinkered outlook on life but who doesn't really listen to advice. As a result, I reckon it's fair to say that he's been kind of left behind in the world. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you have to be dynamic and willing to make changes in order to move forward - and that's no less true in poker. It is NOT a weakness to change your attitude if that attitude is dragging you down.
My brother used to be a very good poker player but claims that you can't really learn the game through reading poker books. Now for someone who has a library of poker books, literally, longer than your arm I have to take issue with him. Sure, you need to adapt your own style and play your own game but my big thing point is, you need to know how others play in order to come up with strategies to beat them. By keeping up-to-date, having your finger on the pulse and moving with the zietgeist of the poker world - oh, and reading about the latest moves that most people are following - you do get a kind of feel for where the game of poker is and where it's heading. It's really about keeping up with what the "good" players are learning so you can, at least, attempt to pick away at what might be going on in their head at the table.
Failing that, as a poker player, you can do a lot worse than pick up a good ol' poker book when you've a spare moment or while you're out and about. I'm not sure about Dusty Schmidt's title for his latest book though because I think you DO have to listen to players like Phil Helmuth, precisely, as I wrote above, to work out what the population of poker players are soaking up as far as information goes. It's a bit like what Hegel wrote in his Phenomonlogy Of Spirit about the Hegelian dialect where he went on about something along the lines of taking a thesis, forming an antithesis to then come up with a synthesis. You just kind of build on common knowledge, have a little dialogue about it in yer head and then come up with your own conclusions.
As a failed online poker player you could argue: who the hell am I to talk? Well, you know what they say? Those who can, do; those who can't, teach! So there it is. Personally, and I guess I can speak as a winning (albeit very amateur) live poker player, the main and most important quality to have is not only knowing how to use the weaponry and ammunition that you have in your arsenal but HOW TO ADAPT AND HOW TO CHANGE on the battlefield when confronted with the different types of enemy. And this certainly involves knowing when to break those rules that you've been reading about.
Blimey, what a load of twaddle I come out with after a run-good session!
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