Is boredom tolerance a master trait in poker?

Is the key to poker simply being able to tolerate waiting between hands and other boring stuff like study?

I watched a great video last week where Bencb tries to beat 10 NL. It wasn't the poker action itself but something he said beforehand about how he planned to beat the stake. 

He basically boiled it down to being able to tolerate boredom:

As it is with life, the boring things are bringing you success. Patience, it's boring. Aiming for the long run in investing or poker, it's boring, but it brings you the most money. Working out, meditating - boring, but it's going to provide you with a very strong mind and body. The boring things are the key to success. 

Block that distraction machine in your pocket

It sounds really obvious when somebody else says it, but it really made me realise that boredom tolerance is a master trait in poker and life. I've just got finished watching the Olympics which is my favourite sporting event. In most cases we don't see the athletes for four years at a time, then they show up and dazzle in the biggest sporting spectacle of all time.

What happens during the four years inbetween Olympics? Probably a lot of boring training, atheltics meets, travelling and injury recovery. There is probably even more sacrifice of the fun stuff the rest of us could not live without, like beer, cake and parties. 

Tolerating boredom is probably a super power in life, especially in the digital age where we all have a smartphone stopping us from being bored for even a second. Boredom is very important for creativity and productivity, we need to experience it now and then. It is actually very hard to motivate ourselves to do anything difficult when we have easy access to the greatest distraction machine ever invented in our pockets.  

Boring poker is winning poker

Poker in particular is a game where patience and dealing with boredom is key. The big example being hand selection. If you are playing poker well, you are folding a lot of the time, it's a sign of a fish when they are playing too many hands. Some people get around this by playing lots of tables, but really struggle when they play live. In fact, most online players' biggest complaints about live poker is how boring it is.

Study in poker is boring, but probably the most important thing to have to be able to tolerate. I've written before that I think enjoying study is another one of those master traits that all good poker players share. It used to be at least enthusiastically discussing hands with their peers all the time but these days realistically it must include being able to sit and stare at solvers for long periods of time. 

So how does one get better at tolerating boredom? I'm not sure, but I suspect blocking some of your most distracting apps and websites is a big start, just so that you can at least experience boredom again. Finding a way to enjoy studying also is a must, either by turning it into a game or at least finding a form of study you enjoy. Trying to get your dopamine hit from a well played hand or a fun study session, instead of from hitting your draw you had no business playing, seems to be the goal here.

And if this article bored you to tears....you're welcome. 

How do you tolerate boredom during poker and study? Let us know in the comments: