Poker and Life and the Psychological Similarities

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Poker and Life and the Psychological Similarities

“Life is a complicated thing to live!” I don’t think a single person on earth would disagree with that statement. No matter whom you are, what you do, or how much money you have there are always ups and downs. Combine poker into your life in an in-depth level and it becomes even more complicated; that’s what I have found anyway. But I am not here today to write about a poker life, rather; poker and life a simple comparison.

There are a lot of people out there that will benefit from this piece of writing which may not be for the light hearted. I hope you are one of those that benefit and I hope this gives you a good outlook and stronger persona on both of these topics “life” and “poker”.

I really went into deep thought the other day, about these two subjects and how one is comparable to the other; also the variables and the similarities. It all started with a conversation with a friend about “dealing with past” and all the crap that happens in peoples day to day lives; big or small. We went into deep converse about how some people can handle the psychological traumas inflicted on them and how some basically get sent to an asylum. Being two crazed poker playing lasses; the conversation changed to poker and life comparison. I will decipher this conversation minus any swear words which may have been part of it. Again; I hope this emphasises Poker and Life, and helps you in even the smallest kind of way with your poker game or your personal issues!

When it comes to life I have learnt that life is like a mass of poker hands, life IS poker as much as poker is my life.

There are bad beats in life that get us so down we are literally on the rail. There are sweet small victories where we think we have gotten on top and ahead when in reality; we are just climbing still. There are things we just can’t read into, things we have to fold and walk away from. The most important thing though when we see life as a game of poker is we have to move on from each and every hand.

We have to leave every hand behind us (to a certain degree). We have to leave the good ones and the bad ones as just a little memory tucked away for later use. There are lessons that we must keep with us; and closely in order to help us further on in life, but we use those lessons when needed; we don’t let them overcome us and sway our logical thinking and thought patterns.

Basically using life’s prior ups and downs as future indicators to help us along life’s path is like analysing if a player has a royal flush against our quad aces based on a previous hand. The thing is, we use those lessons when the time is right and when we need to otherwise we shouldn’t think of them (in reference to bad beats in life; in general – but also to victories; one must never be egotistic).

"Is this person about to burn me?" "What happened in that last hand?" these things fit together like snow white and rose red but they don’t always have to be 100% together, you see; every last hand is different but with some similarities.
In life and poker it is unlikely you would be dealt a bad beat exactly the same way as once before by a completely different man, person or situation. It is however expected that you will choose the same type of men/ persons and situations unintentionally in your life alike you would choose the same starting cards to call (Relationship statement based on common but in-depth scientific and psychological relationship comparison studies).

As for thinking of all the shit that gets dealt to you in life - that’s sends a person loopy, that’s like Doyle Brunson remembering every bad beat - 60 years of the never ending bad beats going over and in his head, he would have been institutionalised doing that. Doyle would be in a straight jacket! Who wouldn't?

Summary; if you can use the memories (lessons) from bad beats and victories in your poker at your own disposal and choice with 90% of them out of your every day thoughts, you can do the same in life; and likewise – If you can deal with the traumas, accomplishments and setbacks in life with them 90% out of your every day thoughts you will be a much stronger poker player and a very happy person regardless of what’s dealt up (90% is just a figure for us as an example – not an exact).

Poker and life go hand in hand, in my opinion anyway. Deal with both logically, systematically and sensibly. Venting a bad beat is the same as discussing a trauma with a counsellor. Some incidents are much harder to overcome; they take time, and they make us stronger and more equipped for the future. Those who don’t deal with things in a proper manor in both life and poker are looking at a downward spiral without a doubt.