Poker Is More Than Just A Game; Here's Why

Image by  John Hain  From  Pixabay

Do you remember the first game of poker you played? Whether it was with friends for counters at the kitchen table or a more organized setup, the chances are you realized fairly quickly that there was more to poker than chance. Unlike many gambling pastimes, poker has much more to teach us than just accepting whether we are lucky or unlucky. Poker is all about working out what to do with the cards we are dealt and making the most of what we are handed. Without wanting to make it sound like a metaphor for life, good poker players know that strategy and tactics count as much as what is in their hands.

The art of self-mastery

No one has probably expressed this more eloquently than Maria Konnikova in her best-selling book The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win. She claims that the poker world is full of misconceptions, particularly when people assume that playing poker automatically leads to gambling. She argues that it is as much about learning to make decisions. She cites John von Neuman, a 20th-century polymath, father of the computer, one of the inventors of the hydrogen bomb, and creator of game theory as a poker player. She claimed that poker allowed him to glean brilliant decisions into human decision-making and to use what he had learned playing poker to approximate strategic challenges in life.

Hands up, as the author of this article, I have to confess to being useless at poker, even by admitting that I am proving my point. A good poker player keeps their cards to their chest, making the other players at the table believe they are inconvincible. The art of Poker is being able to bluff big time and make everyone else doubt themselves. Trust me; I am proof that you can lose with the best hand, and, I am told, it is possible to win the worst – however, that is not something this writer has ever experienced.

Poker is so much more than luck

In most other casino games it is luck that determines whether you win or not. In chess, everyone starts out equal, and then the player with the best move wins. However, that is not the case with poker; you do not start with an even playing field, and the skill is in improving what you have. Konnikova argues that is why poker is a skilled endeavor and not a gambling game.

The laying of bets and winning of money is not about chance. It is about calculation, decision-making, and extreme skill. The betting is not for fun but is there to make a serious 'player' pay attention and question their thought process. Most of us, when playing games, like to follow our hunches. Konnikova says that if a poker player wants to stay in the game and remain solvent, they must rely on mathematics, not gut instinct. While a haphazard player might get lucky once or twice, eventually, variance will catch up, and a player who keeps calling when the odds are against them will lose. If you want some help with making those decisions, These poker cheat sheets will guide you through some of the strategies you need to succeed.

Life lessons

However, while it might be the numbers and cards that drive the poker, it would not be as popular as it is if it was simply dry number crunching. Poker can teach us more than just decision-making; many argue it is a tool to teach many life lessons. Playing poker can leave you feeling as though you have been riding a rollercoaster of emotions. Behind that ice-cold poker face (or not as the case may be), everyone experiences stress, anxiety, and extreme excitement. Poker is a mind game that pushes mental and physical endurance. Here are some more lessons that can be learned at the poker table

• Improved concentration: In these days of social media, we have reduced concentration spans and can quickly flit from one thing to another. While that can prove helpful when we need to multitask, it is not a skill required for poker, which demands concentration, and we could probably all do with being better at that.
  
  As was mentioned before, the cards are a mathematical problem. You need to pay attention to what you are dealt and can see but also to those you cannot see that are dealt to your opponents. You can learn a good deal from how they hold and react to their cards, which is easier in a physical location than when playing online. It is vital not to lose focus, or you could miss an important tiny change in body language or facial expression that lets you see what is hidden.
• Emotional maturity: While playing poker, you are going to experience the whole gamut of emotions. The art is to conceal them. You need to learn to read your opponents' facial expressions without letting them have the slightest hint of yours. Otherwise, you will give away clues as to what cards you hold. Poker will help you acquire the Skills to manage your emotions, or at least not reveal them.
• Get better observation skills: Poker does not only help improve your memory but it also teaches you to observe your opponents and the moves they make. You learn to read body language and facial expressions to get the edge and psyche them out with your poker face.
• Getting better all the time: Practice and study make perfect and help you learn and improve your game. Hopefully, it also teaches you that we all make mistakes; the key is to learn from them and not repeat them.

Poker is a mind game that requires physical stamina. Learning to play well will enhance your mental skills and teach you to control your emotions. That sounds like more than just a game, even if this individual has never been able to master those skills. As they say, it takes all types, so it is important we all play to our strengths and know our limits.