Attitude

Quite often when I'm watching professional poker players on TV I see mental flaws that make me wonder how they made it as a professional. The obvious example is Mike Matusow and it makes me think he must have an incredible amount of talent to overcome what would be a significant handicap at the table. But even when I watch a 'young gun' like Jason Mercier,I see some big flaws in his attitude at the table.

In the NBC heads up against Scotty Nguyen, Scotty was making some awful calls and getting there by the river. And yet I saw Mercier steaming and making a sarcastic comment about Nguyen making 'a good call'. Then in the Pokerstars Big Game, after losing a big pot to the amateur he swore and berated his own play rather than congratulate the amateur so she feels comfortable and might loosen up?

On the positive side of the ledger, watching Ivey get brutalized by Scotty in the NBC heads up and still (honestly) laugh about the result was incredible.

I'm on a poker hiatus at the moment but will kick off some brick and mortar very soon.