From Hobbyist to Competitor: How Intermediate Players Can Level Up

If you’ve been playing poker for a while and feel like you’re ready to take the next step, you’re not alone. Many players reach a point where they realize they want more out of the game—not just as a hobby, but as something they can truly excel at.
Maybe you’re frustrated with inconsistent results, or you feel like you’ve hit a plateau at the poker tables and aren’t sure how to move forward.
Whatever your reasons, I want you to know that leveling up your poker career is absolutely possible with the right approach.
How Do I Become Better at Poker? Sarah’s Story
Take Sarah. She started playing online poker casually with friends but soon found herself intrigued by the strategic depth of poker games. After trying her hand at local tournaments, she experienced a mix of wins and losses that made her realize she wanted to improve.
Sarah’s goal shifted from simply having fun to becoming a consistent and competitive player who has mastered the game.
By identifying her deeper motivation—her “why”—Sarah found clarity and focus. She began approaching poker with intention, from choosing poker tournaments that aligned with her goals to dedicating time to studying and working on her mental game and poker strategies.
Her journey wasn’t without setbacks, but her clear sense of purpose kept her moving forward.
Just like Sarah, you can take your game to the next level by focusing on the right habits, mindset, and strategies. In this article, I’ll guide you through actionable steps to assess your current skills, build confidence, and adopt the mindset of a true competitor at the poker table.
With a clear plan for your poker journey and the right approach, you too can be well on your way to becoming the player you aspire to be.

Self-Assessment: Where Do You Stand?
Before you can level up your game, you must understand where you’re starting from. Think of it like a map: you can’t plan your route until you know your current location.
Many players plateau because they either overestimate or underestimate their poker skills, but honest self-assessment is always the first step.
I want you to start by evaluating three critical areas of your game:
1. Strategic Competence
How well do you understand the fundamentals?
● Are your preflop ranges solid?
● Do you consistently plan your range of hands with table position, equity, and stack sizes in mind?
● Are you comfortable navigating common post-flop scenarios?
Be honest with yourself. Even small leaks in your strategy can add up. If you’re unsure about certain aspects, note them down as areas to investigate.
2. Mental Game
How do you handle the psychological challenges of poker?
● Do you recover quickly from a bad beat, bad luck, or cooler?
● How focused are you during long sessions?
● Are you emotionally resilient, or do losses impact your confidence?
Your mental game is just as important as your technical poker skills, and if you’re struggling in this area, take it as a sign that you need to dedicate more time to improving your mental game.
3. Time Management and Study Habits
Are you balancing your play and study time effectively?
● How much time are you spending studying versus playing?
● Do you have a structured approach to learning, or are you consuming content randomly?
● Are you reviewing your hands and learning from mistakes?
A common trap for intermediate players is focusing too much on playing without studying or studying without applying what they’ve learned. Striking the right balance is your goal.

Create a Structured Improvement Plan
Now that you’ve assessed your current skills, it’s time to put what you’ve learned into action. One of the biggest differences between hobbyists and competitors is how they approach improvement.
Hobbyists might watch random videos or read articles without a clear focus, but skilled poker players approach their development like a project that’s both structured and purposeful.
Step 1: Focus on One Area at a Time
Improving everything at once isn’t realistic, and it can lead to overwhelm. Instead, pick one key area from your self-assessment to work on first.
● For example, if you struggle with preflop ranges, dedicate the next two weeks to studying preflop strategy in detail.
● Use resources like training videos, poker books, and hand charts to deepen your understanding.
By narrowing your focus, you’ll see measurable progress much faster.
Step 2: Balance Study and Play
To ensure improvement, you need to strike a balance between learning and application.
● Study: Spend focused time reviewing hand histories, watching training videos on poker math, or using tools like solvers to analyze specific spots.
● Play: Apply what you’ve studied in live or online games by focusing on the concepts you’re actively working to improve.
A helpful ratio for intermediate players is to spend two hours of study for every one hour of play, but the main thing is to ensure that your studying and playing reinforce each other.
Step 3: Track Your Progress
It’s easy to feel like you’re not improving if you’re not keeping track of your efforts. Create a system to measure your growth:
● Keep a poker journal: Track what you studied, key hands you played, and areas for further improvement.
● Use tracking software: If you play on online poker sites, tools like PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager can help you spot patterns and leaks in your game.
Step 4: Set Process-Oriented Goals
You want to focus on the process rather than the results . Instead of saying, “I want to win $1,000 this month,” set goals like:
● “Review 10 key hands each week.”
● “Master preflop ranges for all positions within the next month.”
Process-oriented goals like these will keep you motivated and in control, even during downswings.
Step 5: Build in Accountability
Find ways to stay accountable to your improvement plan.
● Share your goals with a friend or study group.
● Check-in weekly with a coach to evaluate progress and adjust your plan if needed.
Creating a structured plan and committing to it will lead to steady improvement over time. Remember that small, consistent steps can lead to significant progress for a successful poker player.

Mastering Emotional Control
Variance is one of the toughest parts of poker, and emotional control is what separates hobbyists from a professional player. As you move up in stakes, the swings become more intense, and staying composed becomes even more important.
Mark learned this the hard way. When he moved up in stakes, his initial success quickly gave way to a brutal downswing.
A few bad beats left him questioning his skills and chasing losses, which only made things worse. It wasn’t until Mark focused on managing his emotions that he found his footing again.
Managing your emotions starts with awareness. Experienced players know to pay attention to the physical signs of stress—tight shoulders, rapid breathing, or an urge to act impulsively. These signals are your cue to pause and reset.
One technique that can help is 6-2-7 breathing. Inhale for six seconds, hold for two, and exhale for seven. This simple breathing exercise can help calm your nerves and help you focus on your decisions.
Another strategy is reframing variance. Instead of seeing bad beats as failures, remind yourself that they’re part of the game. What matters most is making good decisions consistently, not the outcomes of individual hands.
Build a Competitor’s Mindset
Recreational players tend to focus on results, while competitors take a long-term view. Imagine two players who both lose a big pot. A bad player might stew over the bad beat, replaying the hand in their mind and wondering why they always run bad.
A successful player analyzes the hand objectively, asking, “Did I make the right decision given the information I had?” If the answer is yes, they move on. If not, they take a note to study the spot later so they can adjust their play.
How to Develop a Competitor’s Mindset
Step 1: Set Process-Oriented Goals:
Focusing on the process instead of the results is a hallmark of advanced players. For example:
● Instead of aiming to win $500 this week, set a goal to review 20 key hands or spend 5 hours studying preflop strategy.
● Measure your success by how well you stick to your plan, not by the money you make in the short term.
Step 2: Embrace Discomfort
Growth in poker often comes from stepping outside your comfort zone. That might mean:
● Studying concepts you’ve struggled with, even if it’s frustrating.
● Playing in slightly tougher games to increase your skills.
● Putting yourself in situations where you might make mistakes, knowing that’s how you’ll improve.
Step 3: Reframe Mistakes as Opportunities
Mistakes are inevitable, especially when you’re pushing yourself. Practice seeing them as opportunities to learn.
● After a session, review your biggest mistakes and ask: “What can I do differently next time?”
● Celebrate the fact that you’ve identified an area to improve—it means you’re growing as a player.
Step 4: Build Confidence Through Preparation
Confidence is built through consistent effort and preparation.
● Practice techniques like visualization to imagine yourself making good, confident plays.
● Study key areas of your game so you feel prepared for tough spots.
● Reflect on your progress regularly to remind yourself how far you’ve come.
As you can see, once you build a competitor’s mindset, you’ll stop chasing short-term wins and start focusing on sustainable growth.
You’ll be able to handle setbacks with grace, celebrate progress, and play with the confidence of someone who knows they’re on the path to success.

Seek Feedback and Mentorship
No one levels up alone. While poker is ultimately a solo pursuit, surrounding yourself with the right support system can accelerate your growth.
Seeking feedback and mentorship from elite poker players allows you to spot blind spots, refine your strategy, improve your poker tactics, and learn from others who have already traveled the path you’re on.
The Value of Feedback
One of the biggest challenges for all players is identifying leaks in their game. You can only see what you know to look for—but a fresh set of eyes and a different style of poker can reveal what you might be missing.
● Peer Reviews: Find a study partner or group to review hands together. Often, another player’s perspective can highlight patterns you didn’t notice.
● Tracking Software: Use tools like PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager to review your stats and pinpoint areas for improvement. Share these with a trusted peer or coach for deeper insights.
Find a Mentor
A mentor can be a game-changer for your poker journey. Whether it’s a professional coach, a more experienced player, or someone who specializes in mindset, the right mentor can help you:
● Accelerate your learning curve by pointing out areas to prioritize.
● Hold you accountable for achieving your goals.
● Share strategies and techniques that you may not have thought of.
How to Find the Right Mentor
Not all mentors are created equal, so it’s important to choose someone who aligns with your goals.
● Look for experience: Seek out someone who has a proven track record at the stakes or format you’re aiming to master.
● Assess compatibility: A good mentor will communicate in a way that resonates with you and provide actionable feedback.
● Leverage online resources: Many top players and coaches offer training programs, group coaching sessions, or even 1:1 coaching.
In addition to mentorship, surround yourself with like-minded players who are also striving to improve. Poker may be an individual game, but no one improves in isolation.
By actively seeking feedback and mentorship, you gain insights that would take years to uncover on your own. Surrounding yourself with the right people creates a support system that can accelerate your growth while keeping you motivated and accountable.

A Roadmap to Success in Poker
As you can see, transitioning from a hobbyist to a competitive poker player requires more than just time at the poker tables. It demands intention, discipline, and a commitment to growth.
Along the way there will be challenges like navigating variance, identifying and fixing leaks in your game, and maintaining focus under pressure. But with the right approach, these challenges become stepping stones to success.
Going from hobbyist to competitor isn’t about perfection; it’s about consistent improvement and learning new poker knowledge from every session, whether you win or lose.
You can start today by reflecting on your “why,” setting one small goal and working towards it with purpose. Over time, these small, intentional changes will make all the difference.