Seven Prerequisites

Phil Gordon lists what he considers the prerequisites to being a good no-limit player:

(1) Aggression. Do more betting and raising than checking and calling. You can be tight or loose -- either can be a winning aggressive strategy (though I think loose has the edge) -- but you can't be passive.

(2) Patience. Realize that poker isn't primarily about luck or gambling. It's about strategic investment. (There's a reason why virtually the same players make it to the World Series every year.) Be patient and wait for profitable situations to arise. Even loose aggressives know when to wind down and bide their time.

(3) Courage. Be willing to bet big (even push all-in) when you think you might have the best hand -- even if it's not the best possible hand (the nuts).

(4) Observation. Constantly watch your opponents: the hands they show down, their playing style, their tells.

(5) Resilience. Don't let bad beats bother you. Even the pros get their monster hands creamed by better monsters from time to time. It happens. Bad luck can always strike in the short term. (Poker would be pretty boring otherwise.) But good players win more than enough in the long run to compensate for bad beats.

(6) Intense Desire to Improve. Read poker books. Watch the pros play on television. Learn from other players. (Write a poker blog!)

The above qualities are also listed in Gordon's little green book (pp 1-2). But I would add a seventh:

(7) Adaptability. Change gears, vary your play, and be unpredictable. Do this especially when your opponents know you well, or start to become familiar with your playing style and methods.

Some of these will come more naturally to you than others, depending on your personality. I'm patient, observant, resilient, and studious by nature. But I'm not an aggressive soul, nor especially courageous. I am adaptable enough to do something like join the Peace Corps and be an alien for a couple of years, but I'm also set in my ways about many things in life.

So for me, cultivating aggression (the most basic and important of the seven) and courage have been the hardest in no-limit. And when I move up to higher stakes I'm sure it will get even more challenging.