I will be honest; 12 months ago my poker experience totaled a few friendly cash games, the number I could keep track of easily using my fingers. 9 months ago I’d lost count of the games and my winnings, and 6 months ago I found myself thrust through the door and halfway down the main hall of the online poker house. The passive buzz of tournaments and unfamiliar game types echoes from the passing rooms. Razz, Stud, Omaha…my first thought: it seems like all card games have strange names. Poker is more than just a game for many players; some would say it is a way of life. After reading an article on how US Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s poker skills will help him in office, it lead me to thinking; are the skills we learn at the table, applicable and relevant to the lives we lead. How can our new found skill sets improve the quality of other areas of our life. What follows are a few brief thoughts on the matter.
I sit down at the table, weathering the probing glances and stares from the other players. Their eyes slowly seeking information to answer the question now flashing through their minds – am I any good. Poker is played in two simple ways; you either play the cards, or the player, or both. The attention to detail my opponents exude tells more about them than they are getting from me, I’m like stone, before the first cards are dealt I’ve already put the score at – Me 1 Them 0. Truth is everything we do and say, every action we undertake and display tells the world around us everything about us. Poker just fine tunes our perception to such tells. A nervous glance, a hand over the mouth, a hint of a smile, if you displayed such attention to detail to the women in your life, do you think your success rate with them would change? Leaves me wondering if Daniel Negreanu is a master of poker and women
Blinds are collected, cards are dealt, the betting begins; 4 folds, 1 call, then I call followed another fold and another call. Flip Flip Flip, the flop falls to mixed reactions. To play poker successfully, we tend to put up fronts, cool and calm images of ourselves while our head races nervously inside. Check. Mostly the confidence is fake, and when it is real, it’s still set behind the same disguising veil. I check as well. The lesson on offer – If you’re shitting your self, then the other guy probably is too. A bet, a fold, I raise. So bluff, confidence is just an act. Be it in Texas Holdem or life, if you go all in, balls to the wall, chances are the other person will fold. Well usually. He calls and the turn falls.
Free online poker is a perfect platform to practice and learn poker skills, but the problem with practice in the practice arenas is not the same as the real thing. We both check and see the river. It’s like becoming a martial arts expert without ever actually having a proper fight. Practice helps, but the stakes are not the same; it’s not the real experience. I check, he raises. So stop testing the waters forever, it’s already at perfect temperature. Start playing for real. Now. Put your money where your mouth is comes to mind, but seriously, tell me that doesn’t relate to your life…All in.
