Want to succeed in life? Then sharpen up your online poker skills.
- Written by Neil Patel on February 19th, 2008
- 25 Comments »
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Have you played in a poker tournament? Or better yet, have you ever watched a poker tournament? In every poker game there is a winner and there is a loser, but what separates the two isn’t just luck, it’s strategy. And to take it one step further, the same techniques you use in a poker tournament can be used to succeed in life. Here’s what I learned from playing poker:
- Put on your poker face – you never want others to know what you are thinking. Just like in poker, the expressions on your face can give away your thoughts. In the real world if you seem desperate you are less likely to succeed, but if you seem confident you are more likely to succeed.
- Look for tell signs – people unknowingly do things that give away what they’re thinking. Although you don’t want others to know what you are thinking, you want to study your opponents so you can figure out what they are thinking. By doing this you will have a better understanding of how to react to their actions so that you can benefit from them.
- Place smart bets – in poker, if you have a shitty hand you probably want to fold. And if you have a royal flush you should go all in. The same goes in life because if the cards you are dealt suck, then you probably want to quit and call it a day.
- Use your head – it may be difficult to count cards, but it isn’t difficult to learn from your mistakes. Don’t forget about the mistakes you made in the past or else you may make them again.
Although the tips mentioned above will help you succeed in life, there is nothing like firsthand experience. So to help you with the your poker skills I Can Has Cheezburger and I are doing a contest to help you succeed in life. One person will win a two-night trip to Las Vegas with $500 in spending cash and free airfare for 2 individuals to and from Las Vegas in the continental US.
If you want to learn more about the contest, feel free to visit I Can Has Cheezburger. And if you have any other poker strategy tips, feel free to leave a comment.
Update: Kimberly N. Biniak from Cleveland, Ohio is the lucky winner of the ICHC online poker contest.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 9:50 pm and is filed under General. You can follow the blog through the RSS feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
I can see where you are going with this post, but I have to disagree — to a certain extent — with the third point. When you have a royal flush, you may not necessarily want to go all-in right away. The goal there is to get as many of your opponent’s chips into play as possible and part of that strategy could be playing “weak”, inducing them to bet and stay involved in the game. If you go all-in, you’re giving away your hand (point #1). The same can be said about succeeding in life. You might not always want to be obvious with your strength, because modesty might pay off in spades.
While I agree that one might not want to immediately go all-in just because one has a strong hand, Neil’s point above seems more bogged down in poor semantics than in poor strategy. When one has such a strong hand as a royal flush, one’s eventual goal should be to get all the chips in the pot. It seems like you and Neil are making the same point from different angles, rather than completely disagreeing on the subject.
I couldn’t have said it better. There are many different things that you need to consider along the way, but the overall goal is to go all in.
You make a valid point. You do want your opponent to bet more money so you can gain more winnings. If you go all in from the beginning, chances are you will not win much.
This is a great contest. I’ve created a few - let me know what you think.
They are great! Only problem is, the winner is not decided by me, but instead by the public.
Some great points Neil, but I’m not sure about applying these poker techniques are useful ALL of the time - just most of the time.
And thanks for pointing me to the contest. I just got back from a vacation in Vegas, and definitely wouldn’t mind going again.
Neil you have great writing skills, its nothing new which you told above in your post but the way you explains the thing is amazing.
Thanks! In many cases the advice people give is old, but the way it is told can make it new again.
knowing when to quit is extremely important in life and in cards. you can not win every hand.
In heads up I guess theoretically you will have a 50% chance of winning a hand when the chips are stacked the same. You have the opportunity to improve your skill set and increase those odds.
I think that is the biggest mistake people make. If you don’t quit when you should have, you’ll end up with a sour taste in your mouth. And worst part about that is, you will be more hesitant in the future to take risks.
I created a fantastic “lolcat” image using a mix of images and adding my own caption. Shame I can’t upload it here.
Fundamental Theorem of Poker
Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose. Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose. — David Sklansky
Theoretical profit regardless of outcome.
Your point related to going all is, is working backwards from the result you desire. Which is a valid concept, yet when considering the “Fundamental Theorem of Poker”, if going all in causes them to instantly fold, they “win” because that is the same action they would have taken in the event that they saw your hand.
I totally agree with you. I should have clarified in the blog post, but what I meant is eventually you want to go all in. The trick as you already know is to get them to put as much money in the pot when you have a perfect hand.
Thanks for sharing the fundamental theorem of poker. I’ll try it out the next time I go to Vegas.
Always go all in with pocket rockets. No point trying to slo-play ‘em, someone could develop a better hand. In order to get the royal, you’re going to have to gamble a little, unless you hit it on the flop, but pocket rockets are a great bet. You want to get folks in or out. You don’t want to give anyone a chance to develop a straight or a flush or a set. How this applies to life, I haven’t a clue. I don’t do “life”.
d.
It applies to life in the same way it applies to poker. Selfishly we usually don’t want others to succeed when it could have been us. For this reason we take small gambles here and there.
Hey Niel, Saw you at SMX West but really didnt get to talk to you. One strategy that I use a lot of the time is to let the other guy bet into me. Making him feel like I have a crappy hand when infact im in a position of strength. This will cause him to lose the pot but more importantly make him feel like his read was totally off and cause him to re-evaluate his skill as a player.
Next conference we should get together and play some cards, maybe we can do an seo’s Poker Tournament.
Darrell
I’ll have to try out the “let the other guy bet into you” strategy when I go to Vegas this month.
Next time you see me, make sure you hit me up. I would love to play in a poker tournament with you.
Any idea who won the contest? The contest is over but no winner has been announced.
Sorry for the delays in announcing the winner. I just updated the post to announce that Kimberly N. Biniak won the contest.
I have been hearing lot about from john cow and shoe money now a days. so you are an indian attraction now. by the way cool blog and awesome content.
reg
rushitshah.com
http://www.rushitshah.com
It is very few that internet marketer like you will talk about poker in their post. This is very neat post and cool picture. Hope to learn more about marketing from you. Cheers.