Being a successful poker player is being a disciplined poker player. Sticking to a strict bankroll management, studying the amount of hours you set for the week or resisting emotional urges at a final table. Staying disciplined is definitely the easiest way to winning more money at the poker tables. But what does it mean to be a disciplined poker player? Is it just for the happy few or can everyone learn it with the right mindset & will power?

What is (self) discipline for poker players?
Discipline or self discipline to be more precise is adhering to self created rules and boundaries. These rules are created to resist temptations and delay immediate gratification in service of greater goals in the future. In becoming disciplined we learn to contain our behaviour, bodies & minds.
Self discipline can be viewed as the first phase of the creation of a new habit. This has an important implication. It means that becoming disciplined is much, much harder than staying disciplined simply because in time it will become hard not to stick to it.
On average it takes about 60 days for a new habit to be created. So if you can stay disciplined for 2 months in a row you can stay disciplined all your life. Not a bad deal right?

Will power & discipline in poker
One of the key elements in this discipline quest is will power. Discipline makes the rules, will power sticks to the rules. I like to use the comparisson with taking daily cold showers. Daily exposure to cold has amazing health benefits. From stress reduction to brown fat burning & many more.
That’s all fun & games until you meet yourself butt naked in the shower and having to turn the tap from hot to cold. You are feeling warm and fuzzy, but you know you are about to face something unpleasant.
Creating these rules you want to adhere to is discipline, putting your hand on the cold tap and physically twisting is what we call will power.
Same goes for situations around the poker table. Writing down your study goal for the week is discipline, showing up for the study session even though your primal & emotional thoughts want you to do otherwise is will power.

Advantages of discipline in poker
Being disciplined as a poker has of course multiple advantages, some more obvious than others. It will not only help you both on and off the felt, but will also make you feel more competent and worthy as a human being if you can resist certain urges and stick to your plan. There is an exhausting list of advantages of becoming more disciplined as a poker player, we won’t go over all of them, but here are the most important ones.
Long-Term Focus
What becoming disciplined does is it allows you to put your focus not on your short term suffering today or right now, but it creates a focus for the long term. Let’s say you are not feeling like studying today but your agenda says you have to study today for 3 hours and you feel a lot of resistance. With discipline & will power it will not become a question of if we are going to study 3 hours today, we do it because we have created the habit of overcoming the resistance in ourselves. This is a phenomenon called delay of gratification.

Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is another challenge where being disciplined can come in very handy. Becoming more disciplined helps your bankroll management by keeping emotions in check and preventing impulsive decisions. With discipline, you’re more likely to stick to your limits, avoid chasing losses, and make calculated, long-term decisions rather than short-term, risky bets. This consistency protects your bankroll from unnecessary risks and increases your chances of steady growth.

Managing Tilt
Discipline helps manage tilt by giving you the self-control to recognize when emotions are taking over and step back before making rash decisions. It allows you to pause, refocus, and stick to your strategy, rather than letting frustration or anger lead to impulsive plays that can worsen losses. With discipline, you can stay calm, manage your emotional responses, and keep tilt from damaging your game and bankroll.

Better Decision-Making
Discipline leads to better decision-making by helping you stay focused on long-term goals rather than short-term emotions. It keeps you from making impulsive choices driven by excitement, fear, or frustration. With discipline, you can consistently evaluate situations more rationally, stick to your strategy, and make thoughtful decisions based on logic and probability, improving your overall performance at the table.
3 tips to becoming more disciplined as a poker player
Nice, we are almost there. The pink elephant in the room is though how can we become a more disciplined poker player?
I will give you 3 of the most important tips and insights that will not only make you more disciplined, but will also make you enjoy the journey!
1. Start small: one step at a f*ckn time
When poker players want change they want it fast. They take a 180 turn and start eating healthy, set an alarm, buy a yoga mat, do morning excercises, go for a run, a cold shower and study 10 hours a week.
Even though this sounds like a great plan it is actually a recipe for disaster. Sure you might be able to make it through the first few days on pure will power, but the moment the first setback kicks in, you miss a healthy meal or skip a workout, the house of cards drops down.
Check out our blog on creating a long term vision for your poker career. Because this type of behavioural change suits long term way way better!
The cure to this is taking small, nay tiny steps. Big enough to be able to observe a step forward, but small enough it won’t cost you any will power. This way you can, day by day, week in week out, improve your routines and behaviours without being overwhelmed by the impact it has on your life. We are almost trying to sneak in some new habits and behaviours without waking up the big ol’ grumpy bear that is your old self. This way, slowly and steadily you can replace your old self with your new self without him ever really noticing!

2. Seeing growth
One of the most important things in becoming more disciplined as a professional is observing the steps you make and the growth you are going through. Mindfully seeing you have become 1% more disciplined than yesterday can create a magic feeling.
Because this creates a feeling of self worth accomplishment and confidence. It is the beginning of an endless growth cycle upwards and invites to think what else is possible if I am able to change this piece of myself.
So what I want you to do is pick one area you want to improve your discipline in. This could be your BR management, your morning routines, warm up routines, strategy at the table etc. and think about what 1% more discipline means.
Is it bluffing one more combination, is it doing 1 minute of exercising, is it viewing 1 5 minute video for studying, or is it looking at one range table before you play? Do these things seem achievable?
That is because they are. They will lay the foundation for unlimited growth if you can commit to just one minute of your time today and another one tomorrow. Be aware of this change in your behaviour and you’ll be able to conquer the (poker) world!

3. Celebrate your steps
One of the biggest issues with low to midstakes players is that when they achieve one step, they are not aware of it or go over it too quickly and on to the next step.
This is a pattern with almost everyone. If you don’t actively observe this step and take a minute to look back and appreciate the growth you are making, it becomes harder and harder to stay motivated.
Let me explain this last bit. A lot of poker players who want to optimise their discipline feel like they should already be at a certain discipline level. They feel like the steps they make on their way to that optimised are not worth anything, because they are not where they want to be yet.
They want to take one giant leap to their desired level. Whatever happens along the way doesn’t really matter to them.
Imagine you are running a marathon in the scorching heat of the desert and having two options:
1. No water breaks, eyes on the prize, try and make it or die if you don't.

2. A water & break every 5km, catch your breath and whenever you are ready to go for the next 5km you do the next phase.

This is what it is like working towards a desired outcome without any moment of celebrations of little achievements. Some people will make it, most people will die out there in the desert having their eyes picked out by vultures.
On a more serious note, it will be very demoralising if you aim for a big goal and don’t celebrate small wins. Your confidence and self worth decreases and you are less likely to try again next time. But it is what we see in our coaching all the time!
So make sure you actively celebrate or be grateful for the progress you are making in becoming more disciplined as a poker player!
Pssst… Here is another mental skill that can help you improve your discipline
