I'm currently living in a house with 12 other professionals, including a couple nosebleeds ballers. I asked them all to write the answer to the following question in a spiral notebook:Q: What's something you got better at in poker that helped you move up to where you are now? It can be strategy, mental approach, whatever, just something that you find significant. I also asked a few people on AIM. Here were all the responses: “The biggest thing was prioritizing my life. I used to think my #1 priority was money, so days I would win I'd be happy and days I'd lose I'd be bummed. now I've figured out what the real reasons I play are, so I only have to answer to myself, have the ability to travel the world, can go to the gym whenever i want, etc. Money is simply a byproduct of my skill...I still have those same freedoms whether I win or lose 20k in a day because my life is no different based on financial results.”  “Stop focusing on how to win pots and consider how you might play all the hands in your range, as well as how your opponent perceives you to play those hands.”  “Think about how to play against villain's range and think about how to react to the way villain perceives your range. Also, stay off god damn tilt!”   “Managing bankroll. Selling off pieces of action or just playing lower to avoid going broke and being stuck out of action. Being willing to play lower after a bad run”.   “Not being afraid to move up. Taking shots at games while you feel you are playing your best. Playing games where you see a spot and can potentially win a large amount while only risking a buy-in or two.” “When playing SSNL and MSNL, I played a very rigid, uncreative style. I would never vary my lines or think outside the box. My goal was to play every hand in a “2+2 standard” way. It worked great until I tried moving up to mid/high stakes. I always stayed well inside the safe zone and was afraid of trying new things out of fear of being spewy. What I realized was that I was way too far on the safe side of that line. I got better when I got less afraid to get closer to spewy.” “It has to be my ability to understand how I'm perceived at the table, i.e. knowing my image and how to use it in my favor, and adjusting to game flow dynamics." "It's all about finding out which situations matter, and then what matters in those situations, and learning how to fish for yourself and reason through the best course of action based on the understanding you have. I started devoting my studying not just to spending time on my game, but spending time where it really mattered and asking questions in a way that allowed me to answer more questions for myself. Also, I got some balls and just fucking moved up." “Thinking about relative hand strengths. Adjusting betsizing according to the elasticity of opponent's calling range. Finding spots where I or my opponents are unbalanced, and adjusting accordingly. Knowing when to quit, reducing autopiloting, staying in the moment, staying focused.” “I began to focus much more on how to get my opponent to fold, rather than how to get him to call. More important than finding value is knowing how to bluff your opponent off his range.” “Endgame, endgame, endgame. Also, realizing that if I ever get bored during a game, it means that I'm doing it wrong”. “Factoring gameflow into my decisions, specifically how ranges change and how it affects people in terms of tilting. I also pay a ton of attention to timing tells, manipulating your own, and getting a lot of information about someone's thought process for later hands based on them thinking too long on a trivial call or getting induced way too much when you snap click it back.” “Getting a handle on my emotions. No one is 100% in control of their emotions all the time, but it's so important to be able to recognize when you're not in control and need to take a break. I have saved myself so much money from quitting when I sense I'm not in the mood to play my best or if I'm starting to tilt in small ways”. “It'd be to say that there's no one nor any small collection of little tips and insights that can make you a good player. You really just have to work on being able to figure out the most profitable play in any given spot. And I highly recommend math.”  Any guesses as to which one is mine? Questions about what people might mean? mers