Life According To Poker

Posted on 22. Aug, 2009 by in Expand Your Mind

Like many great games, within the game of poker are many great metaphors for living life fully and successfully.  Someone once said that you can learn everything you want to know about someone by playing 18 holes of golf with them.  Well, the very same can be said for sitting across the felt with someone.  Are they reactive, timid, arrogant, abusive, methodical, strategic, confused, passive, aggressive…what?

You can learn an equal if not greater amount about yourself while playing if you just pay attention.  Unfortunately, as in life, many people don’t take the time to reflect on what happened and learn from it.  This can be your greatest mistake.  Our patterns in life, and at the table, run deep.  In order to create the results we desire, we must understand our tendencies and be aware enough to choose what is best for the moment…even if it pushes up against what is comfortable for us.

Here are some insights that will support you both in life and on the table…

  1. It’s never just about the cards – the external, obvious parts of ‘the game’ are only a small portion of what it takes to create winning hands and lasting fulfillment.  In both accounts, how you respond to the situation is far more important than the situation.  Can you play 2 7 offsuit the same way you play Aces?  Clearly it’s rarely a good move…but CAN you do it.  Can you allow yourself to feel the same and respond the way you are choosing to…as opposed to the way the cards are dictating you to?
  2. Confidence triumphs over hesitation – there are good plays and bad plays in life and poker, but a bad play made with courage, confidence and conviction will often result in a better outcome than a good play made with hesitancy, timidness and fear.  If you are going to do it.  DO IT. Play full out.  Get all of your chips in the middle.  It’s been said that you can’t lose what you don’t bet…but you can’t win much either.  Bet on yourself.  If you don’t think you are a good thing to bet on…get better, build your skills, become more.
  3. Pay attention to everything – poker and life are full of feedback, always providing you with information you can use.  The poker table is ripe with interesting and useful tidbits about all of the players.  Look around.  Take in the information.  Learn.  Many poker players I know think they know everything.  That is an unfortunate position to take.  Even Tiger Woods has a coach.  He would play without one.  Just as in life, if you are focused too much on just yourself and what you have going on, you’ll miss most of the good stuff.
  4. Being on tilt rarely, if ever, pays off – dramatic, reactionary, out of control, heated, steaming, not in your right mind, no self control…not a winning combination by any means.  Bad beats are inevitable.  Suck outs happen.  They happen to all of us.  The more you play, the more of this you will experience.  How quickly you recover from a tragic experience can be one of the biggest factors in long term success.  In fact, how you even perceive the situation in the first place makes the most difference.  Do you view it as just part of the game/life?  Or do you react dramatically because something awful happened to you?  Can you stay balanced in an world that is constantly spinning?
  5. Have fun – can you lay it all on the line and still maintain your playful attitude?  If life is truly a game…we just need to figure out what we are playing for, learn some rules and play.  Just play.  Play to win while enjoying the game.

So pull out a chair, get your chips and sit down.  Put some money in the middle.  Take some risks.  Study your environment.  Get to know the players. Understand your goal and go for it.  At some point, to fully enjoy life, you’re going to have to go All In.  Do it with some style.

  • Stephen K.

    Loved what you wrote about ‘Confidence triumphs over hesitation’. This section has inspired me to move on an area of my life.