Some interesting ways poker has changed me

[fireman664]

Has anyone else noticed the way they approach life has changed due to poker? I am a city Firefighter, and last night was standing on the roof of a fully involved double residence. I had myself at a good 8 or 9to1 that the roof would hold.....and it collapsed. My partner and I went on a nifty little ride. Every one was fine, but I still felt like I got rivered. Is it normal to think of everything in terms of poker like this? Is it healthy lol

[theBruiser500]

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I had myself at a good 8 or 9to1 that the roof would hold

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I like your play, you just got a bad beat.

[Styles]

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Has anyone else noticed the way they approach life has changed due to poker? I am a city Firefighter, and last night was standing on the roof of a fully involved double residence. I had myself at a good 8 or 9to1 that the roof would hold.....and it collapsed. My partner and I went on a nifty little ride. Every one was fine, but I still felt like I got rivered. Is it normal to think of everything in terms of poker like this? Is it healthy lol

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easy fold pre-flop /images/graemlins/grin.gif

glad you're ok

[theBruiser500]

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easy fold pre-flop

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I disagree, as he said he was getting pretty good odds. Besides, in addition to the 9 to 1 odds, he had outs. He fell but didn't get hurt.

[Styles]

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easy fold pre-flop

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I disagree, as he said he was getting pretty good odds. Besides, in addition to the 9 to 1 odds, he had outs. He fell but didn't get hurt.

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I think you have to look at it as a freezeout, thus his effective odds are shot /images/graemlins/wink.gif

he was 9:1 the roof would hold, he didn't say what the "pot" was offering him and if he lost he could die.

"you lose, you're out" TPFAP /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[spamuell]

That's probably one of the most painful flops I've heard about.

I think that once the roof fell, your only choice is to raise it up. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ZeeJustin]

I think one of the reasons I'm a good poker player is because I've always thought like that. I'm just a numbers kind of guy.

[CrackerZack]

Its turned me weird too.

Valentine's dinner, well that cost half a pot. Weekend in vegas? cost - A good session. Trip to hawaii? cost - a good weekend. I'm sick.

Edit: I forgot to mention, stay safe out there. Its noble and dangerous work the world appreciates. Stay safe.

[jasonHoldEm]

I believe an understanding of poker makes you a better person. I find myself more willing to take calculated risks with proper odds. Poker skills can be applied to many real world situations (business ventures, stock market, roof integrity, etc) and make "us" more suited for success because we know what to look for.

One other thing, I find game shows much more interesting now. The daily doubles in Jeopardy are a good example, there's a lot more strategy there than most of the players probably realize. I'd be much more inclinded to use the daily double opportunites to push all-in (or at least bet enough to take a commanding lead) rather than "play it safe" (which is what most players end up doing). It's a great opportunity (provided it's comes in a catagory you're comfortable with, but since the player made the selection this can be implied usually) and most players don't approach it that way.

That being said, I'd probably want better than 8-9:1 if it was my ass up on the roof, so thanks for being willing to take shorter odds and risk your "stack" to save lives and property.

jHE

[fireman664]

Im with ya....Diamonds for christmas for the wife....a good week (OK, Month lol)....Its funny to think of every purchase now in relation to a good pot.

[fireman664]

Every firefighter with any time on has a story of roof riding...Im just not sure they think of their's in poker sense....which is why I think I have issues LOL....Thanks for all the good responses.

[GuidoSarducci]

First off, thank you for the work you do.

Yeah, I have found myself thinking in terms of odds too! I work as an airline dispatcher and alot of our work is trying to "second guess" the weather and ATC... I find myself laying odds all the time in my mind for some reason...

"Well, the alternate I've selected has 3:1 odds of going worse then the forecast, but I'm okay because I have alot of outs!"

Heh!

[James282]

Lol Zack. I hadn't thought about money that way - even since I've become a significant winner I've still been pretty frugal. Then I was playing with David Ross the other night and I was bi.tching about how my computer was a POS...and he said something to the effect of, "So invest that last pot on a new one," and I was like....uh, yeah, that does make sense /images/graemlins/smile.gif But I do so like big pretty numbers in my bank account/mutual funds.
-James

[CarlNiclas]

John Feeney talks a bit about things like this in one of this essays in his book "Inside the Poker Mind". If I recall correctly it is about the combined risks of doing things over and over (rock climbing) when there is a small risk of accident each time and the merits of buying a safe car in comparison to a "cool" car.

[mrwhippy]

Felt I had to reply to this post.I work as a psychiatric nurse in a crisis team which both assesses the mental health problem/treatment needs of acutely ill (in crisis) people and then treats them/admits them, whichever is most appropriate.Recently we received a referral from a G.P (don't know if you have G.P's in U.S...basically local family doctor) for a depressed and suicidal gentleman.This gentleman also happened to be a very keen poker player as are most of the guys in my team.He began the assessment by asking if we'd ever played poker and once he'd established that we do the rest of the assessment/treatent process was done via the use primarily of poker metaphor....ie;at assessment he described feeling like he kept missing his outs,or that people kept catching lucky boats against him and when he started to get better it was more that he felt he was finally starting to pair his aces etc
just goes to show you....POKER IS LIFE /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[under242]

Told my son he had about even odds of me getting out dads belt if I caught him touching passing cars again...pathetic

[ElSapo]

"After sternly calculating these possibilities (admitting that life was short, art long, opportunity instantaneous and experiment uncertain), he told himself that it was unworthy of a gentlement to be deaunted by such petty calculations, like a bourgeois computing the odds he had in staking at dice his greedily hoarded fortune.

To be sure, he then said, a calculation must be made, but it must be sublime, if the stakes were sublime. What was he gambling in this wager? His life."

--Umberto Eco
"The Island of the Day Before"

[MaxPower]

I'm glad you are OK. You should be thinking about Expected Value rather than odds.

I do find myself thinking about these things a lot.

[Styles]

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I'm glad you are OK. You should be thinking about Expected Value rather than odds.


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Yeah, that's what I meant. Well Said.

[Gamblor]

[j.k.]

I dont find myself doing it conciously, but thinking about a situation or decision at a later time I realize my thought process is along those lines. I think this is probably the case with most anything someone does a lot in life. Back when I used to play pool I would find myself seeing angles everywhere. It kinda creeped me out.

Although most have already said it, youre a good man for what you do, and a braver man than I. My hat is off to you sir.
j.k.