Poker and Life, More Skill Than a Gamble | Everyday Polymath
The game of life is a gamble, they say. I believe life is more like poker than shooting dice at the craps table. It takes an eclectic group of skills to navigate rather than just dumb luck. It is a craft that has all of the components for a polymath to excel.
You may recall I spent about three years dealing cards and spinning roulette wheels as a casino dealer. It was a unique experience, to say the least. It was fun most of the time, but you often see the best and worst in people, sometimes in the same night. I’ve never dealt poker, but I do have above-average knowledge of the game from hanging around the casino and talking to so many gamblers.
You probably are familiar with poker basics from movies and tv, or perhaps someone in your family plays. It is one of the most popular card games globally, and it’s easy to see why when you think about how much it relates to daily life. There is a lot of crossover between the two.
A ton of common poker analogies are commonly used in pop culture and everyday conversation. Have you ever heard a person that can’t hide their emotions say that they don’t have a good “poker face?” Or hear someone reference the classic Kenny Rogers tune, “The Gambler,” singing “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold’em….” when they think they should give up. Both of these poker references relate well to life, so it’s easy to see why they are so common. However, after watching a phenomenal class on poker, I began to think more deeply about how analogous life and poker appear to be.
A game of poker starts with you sitting down at the table and “buying in,” or exchanging your cash for poker chips. I think this transaction is very similar to investing in yourself with the chips representing time. Your self-improvement depends on how much time you are willing to invest in your formal education, self-study, and practice. Like in the game, you may run out of chips, but you can always “rebuy in” to get more chances to improve yourself and your situation. It could be in the same field, or perhaps you change tables to see if you can do better in a different specialty. Eventually, you gain enough experience from buying in various games to thrive wherever you may be playing. Unfortunately, there is a limit on our buy-ins. We only have so much time in a day, and on this earth, we need to risk it wisely to become successful.
The ebbs and flows of a poker game are a parallel that everyone can understand. You experience ups and downs in life with both outstanding accomplishments and adversity. The same can be said for the hands dealt to a player. Sometimes the cards are in your favor, and nothing can stop your momentum. Other times, you have to fold every hand because you can’t do anything with it. You are going to have good days and bad days. Sometimes there are a whole lot of bad hands in a row. If you can stay in the game by keeping positive and playing smart, eventually things will turn around, and the cards will start falling into place for you. In other words, don’t let small setbacks sabotage you as you pursue your long-term goals. Protect yourself and be patient as you wait for the opportunity to present itself for you to change your momentum.
On the other side of things, remember that nothing is a sure thing, no matter how good it may seem to you. You may think you are the best and are unstoppable, but you need to realize you are most vulnerable in this situation. For example, in Texas Hold ’em, the best possible two cards to be dealt at the beginning of the game is two Aces, also known as pocket Aces. Many amateurs and pros alike peek at their hand and immediately believe that they have the game won. However, there are four more rounds of betting remaining and five more cards to be shown to the table before the winner collects the pot. You see, despite being the best starting hand, pocket aces lose 20% of the time even when played correctly. Add in too much bravado and aggressiveness; you could lose even more. It is an excellent reminder that even though you have been dealt a good hand in life, your actions and circumstances can destroy your good fortune.
To take this idea one step further, sometimes you are dealt a less than ideal looking hand, maybe a 5 of clubs and a 7 of diamonds. It is not perfect, but you can work with it if you can get some cards. After the first round of betting, called the flop, the next three cards are 6 of diamonds, 8 of diamonds, Queen of clubs. Looking at it, you are starting to put together a hand even if you don’t have it yet. You are a card away from a straight or two from a flush. There are a lot of other possible lesser hands too.
The next card comes, called the turn, is a 10 of diamonds. You still need one card for a straight or a flush. You don’t have a hand, but you have many possible combinations depending on the next card. You continue to raise your bet to push to see the final card, the river. The dealer turns over a 9 of diamonds; you have a straight flush, one of the strongest poker hands! Like in life, you can’t choose the cards you are dealt. However, you can take advantage of the opportunities available for you to use, like the five community cards, to make your winning hand. Played with skill, the weak hand you started with will beat the pair of Aces every time.
In poker, table image or how other players see you is very important. It is how they can begin to identify your tells and read when you are bluffing or not. Just like in life, you don’t want to be taken advantage of, and you certainly don’t want to look like a fool. How do you avoid this? Pay close attention to the image you present to others, including your facial expression, gestures, and habits. They will make assumptions about you, whether they are accurate or not. It is good to keep their false image of you in mind to avoid getting taken advantage of or appearing as someone you don’t want to be. The seeds for bluffing are rooted in other people’s assumptions about you.
For example, a player thinks you only bet big when you have a strong hand. It might be true, but you can use this piece of information to your advantage by sometimes betting big when you don’t have a good hand. The other player will assume you have good cards and fold. You get to collect a pot you had no business winning. It is the art of the bluff. Of course, if you do this too much and abuse it, the other players will catch on and start calling you on it instead of folding.
Just like in life, if you get labeled a liar, it is a stigma that is hard to shake. Little white lies should only be used sparingly when you are most desperate and have a good story to tell. In poker, if a player looks at the available cards and doesn’t see the hand you are pretending to be playing, they will never fold. Just like if you suspect someone is bluffing and see the card they are pretending to have, in your hand, you will “call” their bluff. Caught in their lie, they will decide to show their cards to admit their attempt to fool you or quietly fold, never to speak of it again. It takes time in both cases to regain any trust but somehow admitting to being caught in the bluff seems more admirable.
Let’s say a bluff fools you, and the player shows you the cards to add additional psychological salt to the wound of losing the hand. It would be best if you did not let yourself get emotionally wrapped up in this lost hand. Some players will go “on tilt” or get thrown off their game by getting too emotionally reactive. They might get aggressive in their play or start emotionally venting at the table. A person can go on tilt many different ways, and just like in life; it causes you nothing but trouble. If you react to things only with your emotion and completely abandon your logical mind, the results will be tragic. It is always better to take a step back and look at things logically rather than getting caught up in your feelings about something. There is nothing wrong with learning from a situation, but you should never let it consume you so much that it destroys the rest of your life.
All good poker players will replay and analyze their questionable plays to see what they could do better. They don’t let one mistake throw them entirely off of their game. While at the table, the pros file it away for later and concentrate on the next hand. Mistakes happen because we are human. We are not infallible in life or at the poker table. It is how we respond to our mistakes that will define us in the long run. Are you a person who learns and improves by accepting your blunders? Or are you a person who gets consumed by guilt and self-loathing?
The lessons we learn in life are often most impactful when experienced on and away from the felt. Will you use your experience to improve yourself for the future? Or will you go full tilt and destroy it?
Originally published at https://everydaypolymath.com on December 20, 2020.
