In one of the top masterpieces of Soviet satire a brilliant con artist, to win a bit of money, convinces a local small-town chess club that he is a traveling maestro and organizes a tournament. He first gathers the fees from the awe-struck yokel-enthusiasts and then plays “twelve identical matches” without understanding much of what he is actually doing, this being the second chess game of his lifetime, but placing the figures more or less correctly, with the terrified locals reading too much into his banal moves. Very soon, however, he good-naturedly utterly loses all twelve simultaneous games, to the amazement of the town. Buy then, however, he has gained the time he needed and escapes with the money. He is not a good player, but he is a winning one.
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.
At the crux of the matter, a good player is defined, whether in poker or some other area of life, by his purpose. The chess conman was a good player because he effectively used his wiles to achieve his goal of making a fast buck. An important side story though is that he knew his skills well enough that he could not endure much scrutiny and had a plan for a hasty escape route.
A large group of poker players in this world are in denial as to their true poker prowess. Egos can be very large in this game of bullying and risk taking. They have never understood the delightful complexity of the game and spend no time in educating themselves as to its nuances and the skill required to play it successfully. The fun of the game is its very complexity, and that it takes a lifetime to really learn it well, and even then new insights remain to be discovered. The player that understands this will have a profitable career at the poker table.
There are also the players who have simply learned a set of rules they strictly follow without applying much thought or trying to improve radically. They conceal their inferiority carefully enough to convey the impression of competence and mostly win in terms of overall profits. If that is their sole purpose for playing, than they may be called good players.
If one would look at poker as an art form, the above types of players do not cut the mustard as real players (we dare not call them bad players). True they sit on the stage of the poker club, do their little act, but they are not stars. The good poker player understands that the real joy of the game lies in learning its complexities and is eager to learn and to develop skills by experience at the table as well as reading the abundance of literature devoted to the game. Poker is a game of skill, theater, perception and strategy. The good player will be his own best critic and learn to emphasize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses to fully enjoy the game.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Paradise Rakeback as well as PKR Rakeback.