Hold 'EM BABY!

Poker’s life lessons: The best 5 things I’ve learned in the game.

1) Luck+Skill. Contrary to some peoples’ beliefs, it’s not all about the cards. Nor is it all skill. It’s a combination of both that leads to the win. You may have shitty hands the whole night, but you bluff well and suddenly you’re chip leader lol. Or you may be on the cautious side or have poor poker skills, but get dealt the winning hand every other time and win big that way. Contrarily, you can also have the best hands, but without knowing how to play them, you could find yourself buying in for the 3rd time. Or someone calls your bluff and you’re out of the game. It’s all in the balance. The same is true in life. Most of the time, we have little to no control over the hands we get dealt, but it is 100% in our power how we deal with them once they’re laid upon us.

2) There are always other hands. You got that King/9 suited that you really want to play out but the pre-flop raise is ¾ of your stack… someone calls, there’s probably some pocket pairs in play and though you want to see that flop… it’s not worth it, there are always other hands. Haha. More importantly, though, this is true in life. Sometimes the risk isn’t worth it. There are always other opportunities, there are always other parties, always other highs, always other memories to make. There’s other friendships to form, other significant others to love. If you think with that hand you will probably lose, even when you want to see it through, sometimes you gotta let it go. I don’t even know if this whole thing makes sense the way I’m trying to explain it, but the point is… sometimes you have to let go of what you have now to wait for something better… be it in your career, your relationships, or just life in general.

3) Don’t let them limp. You know that feeling when you felt you had it in the bag and bet low to build up pot odds haha, and your pocket Kings get beat by like a J8 off suit because they caught their straight on the turn? Sucks. Shouldn’t have let them limp. When you think you have what it takes to get that dream job, that perfect house, that ideal father of your children lol… don’t be passive about it! Get aggressive, get dirty, get mean if you have to. Make everyone else know that you’re in it to win, so those less insecure, questioning people won’t have the time to squeeze in their 2 cents. Haha.

4) At some point, you have to make a move. Even if all night you’re getting the worst luck possible, at some point, you have to make a move, you have to bet high, even when your cards could be better. If you don’t, if you’re folding most of the game, your blinds and your few calls will kill you out of the game. If you’re too afraid to take a risk, if you’re not confident enough to assert yourself, at some point in the game you’re going to realize that you’ve lost (and you spent your last $5 on wawa so you can’t even buy back in lol). At some point, you just gotta put yourself out there and remind everyone else that you’re still playing, you’re still in the running, you’re not defeated yet. If you fail, so the fuck what? Borrow some chips from the chip leader and try your odds again ;-). Or wait till u get your mojo back.

5) It’s not nice to lie, but it’s ok to bluff. It’s ok to act more confident than you should be. Lol but if you bluff, bluff confident as hell, else someone will call you out and then you lose respect. Haha. Yeah, that one’s pretty self explanatory.