Life Lessons From Poker

"Whether he likes it or not, a man's character is stripped at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life. " ~Anthony Holden Poker is a simple game. It is based around 3 actions; checking, raising or folding. Despite its simplicity it takes a lifetime to master. Poker has taught me many things about myself, others and life. Sometimes You Have To Fold. Everyone who has played poker knows the familiar feeling of being 90% sure that their hand is beat but not being able to let go. You may have already invested a lot of money into the hand with what might have been the best hand pre flop; pocket kings. But then an ace comes on the flop pairing your opponent's ace. Now only a miracle will save you. Sometimes we just have to let go of something that isn't working. There are going to be times where relationships and careers realistically aren't going to go anywhere. We must let go of these to free ourselves to move onto better things. Remember that you can't win them all. It's always a mistake to put your chips in when you're second best. You Will Lose Every single poker player has lost money at one time or another. It is how those losses are handled that separates the winners from the losers Sometimes we face a setback in life. It is how we react to this setback that decides our future. A poker player who has just lost a lot of money will often go on tilt and start to make bad decisions in order to try and win it all back. Other poker players on the table love to see this. When a person has lost their head they've already lost their money. Patience Is Key Often when we don't see any short term gains we give up on our endeavours but to have patience is key both in poker and life. In poker impatience costs inexperienced players a lot of money. These players want to make as much money as soon as possible but if the situation isn't right then this won't happen. In life, sometimes we are blinded by short term gains and gratification when the real gains and gratification can only occur in the long term. We have been brought up with the attitude "what's in it for me now" instead of taking the time to make calculated well informed decisions that lead to a higher probability of success. Be The Aggressor My last lessons were talking about how patience is key and how sometimes we have to let go, so when I say be the aggressor, you may think it sounds contradictory. However, winners in poker and life tend to have an aggressive mindset. Winners don't just react to the situation, they change it. Winners like to make sure that the opposition is the one who has to make the tough decisions. In life people who push through the fear and take risks get what they want far more often than people who just wait passively for good things to happen. How can you have a relationship with that man/women if you've never asked them out? How can you get that promotion if you've never asked for it? The truth is that you can't and won't unless you are the aggressor. Bad Beats Happen Sometimes no matter how correctly we do things, there are days where everything seems to go wrong. When your pocket aces are cracked by a player catching a 2 on the river to give them a set you feel annoyed. "I didn't deserve that, I was 95% favourite on the turn, what bad luck," you may cry. But bad luck is part of life. Without the bad luck there can't be any good luck. Bad luck and good luck will both occur but you have to learn to take them both in stride. It is how we react after, that determines the kind of person we are and our future successes or failures.

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