Have you ever noticed that skills and disciplines you learn playing poker are often helpful in everyday life? Some people, usually those who don’t play the game, think poker is simply gambling. It’s much more than that.
Poker players tend to have superb math ability which is useful in their everyday life. They can also read people better than most, helping them out of tough spots as they go about their day. There are dozens of parallels between poker and actual life. Here are our five favorites.
Bankroll Management is Important in Life and Poker
Anyone who frequents these pages knows I’m a stickler for bankroll management. I cannot stress enough how important playing poker within your bankroll is. The same is true for life outside of poker too.
I had severe money problems in my younger years, problems that took several years to put behind me. Why did these problems occur? Because I lived too much of my life outside my bankroll’s limits.
Everything seems rosy at first. Sure, you occasionally sail a little too close the wind, but everything seems fine. Then something happens that sees your bankroll disappear. This can and does happen in your normal life in addition to poker. Make sure you follow bankroll management in both forms.
Too Much Bluffing in Poker and Life Will Get Your Into Trouble
Bluffing in poker is essentially the same as lying in your normal life. We all lie. You’re probably lying if you say you don’t. Lies obviously have different degrees of seriousness. You may bluff, sorry, lie to protect a friend. A white lie if you wish. There are those lies where you’re not actually ill but can’t be bothered going into the office. You’ll also know of massive lies or bluffs for much more serious scenarios.
Just like lying to people to often, frequent bluffers in poker get found out. People grow weary of your stories and simply stop believing them. You also have to have a good memory to be a good liar, sorry, bluffer. You need to know every facet of your story in order to make it believable. Too many lies or bluffs and you forget what that truth is.
Small Adjustments Are Often the Best to Make in Poker and Normal Life
It’s pure luck as to whether you manage to find a strategy that works perfectly the first time you try it. Your odds of winning the lottery are probably shorter to be honest. In poker, as in non-poker life, you need to fine-tune your strategies and approaches to make them work for you.
Making wholesale changes can be for the best sometimes. Indeed, they are sometimes completely necessary. But, for the most part, you’re better off making small adjustments to a strategy that has signs of working.
Greatness Requires a Lot of Hardwork
The best poker players don’t just jump into the biggest cash games and win frequently. The luck element of poker means some will have winning sessions even if they only have basic skills. Those players who continually win have put in countless hours at the tables. And often even more hours away from the table studying.
How many people do you know in high power or key roles that didn’t go to university? Brain surgeons, astrophysicists and the like didn’t just land their jobs. They put in the hard graft and continue to learn every day of their life. You need to do the same to stay profitable in poker.
Sometimes It’s a Bit of a B**ch!
Sometimes, no matter what you do, life and poker can be a bit of a bitch! Excuse our language here, but it’s true. Ever have one of those days where you can seemingly do nothing correct? You stub your toe on the way downstairs where you trip over the dog, burn your toast, forget your tie, and are still late for work.
You’ll also have days where you put your foot it in whenever you open your mouth. Poker is the same as life in this respect in that it often does what the hell it wants.
Poker players can play perfectly and still lose. How crazy is that? It’s just how it is. It’s just poker. Imagine going to work for 40-hours this week only to be told that, through no fault of your own, you were being paid. That is what poker can and does do to you on occasion. Yet we still love it because it often fills our life with joy!
Share
Matthew Pitt
If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.