Poker and Life

I think Victor Frankl said it best:

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's play in any given set of circumstances"

"What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of poker in general, but rather the specific meaning of a specific play at a given moment."

"It did not really matter what we expected from the game, but rather what the game expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of our plays, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by the game - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Playing winning poker ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which the game constantly sets for each individual."

[Surfbullet]

[ QUOTE ]
These are my chips. There are many like them but these are mine. My chips are my best friends. They are my life. I must master them as I must master my life. Without me, my chips are useless. Without my chips, I am useless. I must play my chips true. I must play stronger than my opponents, who are trying to take my chips from me. I must take theirs before they takes mine. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my cards and myself are defenders of my chips, we are the masters of my opponent, we are the saviors of my bankroll. So be it, until there are no opponents, but peace. Amen.

[/ QUOTE ]

POTM.

Surf

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
These are my chips. There are many like them but these are mine. My chips are my best friends. They are my life. I must master them as I must master my life. Without me, my chips are useless. Without my chips, I am useless. I must play my chips true. I must play stronger than my opponents, who are trying to take my chips from me. I must take theirs before they takes mine. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my cards and myself are defenders of my chips, we are the masters of my opponent, we are the saviors of my bankroll. So be it, until there are no opponents, but peace. Amen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually I wasn't wild about this one, no offense Tim.

I don't care about these chips in particular, I will gladly sacrifice every single one of the chips in front of me for a bigger stack of the chips in front of other people.

I am not worthless without my chips for I have a bankroll and with my bankroll more chips are mine for the asking. My chips are not my life, for they are merely chits in a game. And they are not my even my poker life, for that is my bankroll. And even that is not my life, since my true poker life is the knowlege, wisdom, and skill I bring to the poker table, and which I will be able to bring to the poker table in the future even if I should suffer the setback of losing my bankroll.

I am not the defender of my chips, I will gladly sacrifice my chips in the pot by folding when I believe the situation calls for it. I will gladly sacrifice more of my chips by sending them into the middle when I fully expect it is more likely than not that I will lose those chips as well as the ones already in the middle because (for example) the pot is laying me 10-1 on a 4-1 shot.

I am not the defender of my chips--I strive to feel no remorse when I walk away from the table having played well but having lost some or even all of my chips.

I do not master my chips but I do respect them, for they are my weapons.


Anyway, it sounded good, even if I wasn't wild about it as a metaphor for my approach to the game.

--Zetack

[TimM]

Did you get the reference?

Link

I guess I could have used bankroll instead of chips.

[poker-penguin]

When I sit down at the table, the game is all that matters.

I will treat every decision with care and attention because every decision is the most important thing in the world at that moment.

Once I have made my decision I will accept that my decision does not matter and that the results are beyond my control.

I will treat every decision I make this way and I will get up from the table knowing that I have succeeded.

When I fail to make the best decision, or find the random results of my decisions affecting me, I will not allow this to stop me from striving to make the best choice on my next decision.


Little by little a person becomes a bad player, as a water pot is filled by drops of water...

Little by little a person becomes a good player, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.

"God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

I never before fully understood how this would apply to poker.