Poker Strategy Dare To Be Great At The Poker Table URL has been copied successfully! Theodore Roosevelt said something that completely changed my life, here it is: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Roosevelt’s message finds its perfect arena in the world of poker, where risks and rewards are closely intertwined and criticism is rampant. Here are three ways to dare greatly at the poker table.Embrace The BluffIf you’ve never felt the rush of shoving your entire stack into the middle with complete air, you haven’t lived (or played) hard enough. Beyond the possibility of losing a buy-in, or sacrificing your tournament life, there is a certain element of fear that comes with getting your hand caught in the cookie jar. This is especially true at the live poker table where making a big bluff at the wrong time might be met with the judgmental eyes of your tablemates or a sarcastic “nice try” from your opponent. These are the types of moments our brains will remind us of the next time we consider bluffing in a meaningful pot – trying to protect our ego from another round of pain. But it is precisely then that we must embrace the bluff, dare greatly, and be willing to accept the internal discomfort that may come with it.Play Your GameFrom Napoleon to Steve Jobs to Elon Musk to Tom Dwan, the histories of some of the most successful men in their fields are filled with tales of bucking trends and paving their own way. In fact, there has rarely been anyone who has succeeded greatly by being exactly like everybody else. So the next time you find yourself doubting after making an unconventional play at the poker table, remember that while there’s no excuse to not be aware of current trends (aka what do “solvers” say?), at the end of the day, poker is played by humans – humans who make errors and are not immune to emotions and thus not everything is as black and white as solver aficionados will have you believe. So, although it’s imperative that we remain educated, ultimately we must dare to be ourselves at the poker table.Speaking of which… Trust Your IntuitionWith literally millions of data points flooding our psyche every minute of every day, we can only actively process a finite amount. But current research estimates that while our senses take in about 11 million bits of data per second, the conscious mind can only process around 400 of those. This means there will be moments where our “intuition” (aka subconscious data analysis) will be screaming something at us that we may not fully understand. In those moments it will be up to us first to turn inward and ensure that voice is not actually the voice of tilt or fear-of-loss masquerading as intuition, and then to put trust in ourselves. Perhaps our intuition has picked up a timing tell that has slipped past our awareness, or a facial expression we didn’t even realize we had processed, or an opponent’s river action that, once adequately analyzed, will show itself to be inconsistent with the story they had been telling earlier in the hand. Whatever the data point is, sometimes we need to dare greatly and put trust in ourselves, even (and perhaps especially) in moments where we can’t quite figure out why.So, trust yourself. Trust your ability to learn. And grow. And improve.Dare, even if only briefly, to be great.And when you inevitably get criticized, as you most certainly will, remind yourself of vulnerability researcher Brene Brown’s take on Roosevelt’s famous quote:If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback. There are a million cheap seats in the world today filled with people who will never be brave with their own lives, but will spend every ounce of energy they have hurling advice and judgment at those of us trying to dare greatly. If you’re criticizing while not also putting yourself on the line, I’m not interested in your feedback.