Once upon a time, a Soviet satirist of renown wrote a book satirizing a con man who set out to make some quick rubles. He was able to convince a small town chess club that he was a traveling chess professional wanting to organize a tournament. This went over big in the township and our man charged entry fees to those gathered about in eager anticipation to let the games begin. He structured the tournament with “twelve identical matches” and began the play knowing very little to absolutely nothing about the game of chess, this being only his second attempt at it. He managed to move the pieces around in a somewhat normal and convincing manner, greatly impressing the gathering who were awestruck by such a “professional” in their midst, reading glory into every play. Alas, the maestro lost all twelve games, but maintained his good humor. By the end, enough time had elapsed for him to run off with the fees he collected at the onset of the games. So, while he didn’t know squat about chess, he came out a winner.

The Twelve Chairs is the title of the satiric novel. It has been translated into English to become both a book and film adaptation on DVD readily available at Amazon.com. A Mel Brooks comedy was the subject of the film and unless you are fanatical about Mel Brooks, stay clear of this one. Mark Zaharov, a brilliant director, not as well known as his compatriot Tarkovsky, adapted it into a Russian mini-series in 1976.

The point is that the definition of a good player, in poker or otherwise, depends on what that player’s purpose is. As far the fictional con artist was concerned, he was an effective player since his strategy precisely achieved his goals – quick money. It is a subtler point, however, that he was a good player also because he knew he couldn’t play solid chess for more than the first five or so moves and because he prepared an escape route.

There are numerous poker players out there who do not recognize their lack of ability. Poker players are blessed with an overactive ego, possibly due to the riskiness of the game giving the players a certain bravura. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the good player, they didn’t get the concept that poker is a complicated, demanding game which requires education and hands-on experience to succeed at all. For those who are clear on the concept, the game can be most profitable.

Then there are those who play by rote, repeating a learned set of rules and strategies with no cognitive activity to gum up the works. No point in improving because they win more than half of the time and are therefore good players – they have met their goal.

For those players to whom poker is an art, the above types are not true poker players, not really bad, just not real. They are in the clubs but are not the stars. The good player is looking for growth and more and more insight to improve his already good game. He or she understands that the game is a complicated mix of skill, theater, and perception. They know their weaknesses and work hard on improving their good points while lessening their bad ones.

The author is a full time online poker player and makes the majority of his income from his online play and rakeback at PKR Poker. To sign up for a Rakeback account of your own visit Rakeback Solution.

Tags: Card Games, gambling, games, Holdem, Poker, recreation, Sport

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