The life of a poker player may well seem inspirational.
Pictures of the recent World Series of Poker winner Koray Aldemir sitting behind $8m in cash certainly sparks images of an aspirational lifestyle packed with success. What the picture doesn’t show are the other 6,000-odd players who went home with nothing. The game is far from easy, and the players have to be focused, dedicated, and ready for disappointment.
There’s so much more to their lives than turning up, playing a few hands of cards, and going home with a pocket full of cash. We see the sharp end of the business, the media-friendly pictures of success, but in reality, their world is so very different. To a degree, it is much like that of social media; you see what people want you to see, not what the world is actually like.
There’s so much more to their lives than turning up, playing a few hands of cards, and going home with a pocket full of cash. We see the sharp end of the business, the media-friendly pictures of success, but in reality, their world is so very different. To a degree, it is much like that of social media; you see what people want you to see, not what the world is actually like.
That’s why the life of a poker player is worth looking closely at; because there’s so much more to it. They go through plenty to become a success, as we all have to in life, and some of the best poker players in the world have valuable advice that doesn’t just work for their game but may apply to you in your life as well.
Dan Negreanu
“The majority of players are looking for reasons to fold. I am looking for reasons to play.”
Negreanu is one of the most famous names on the circuit today. He has topped $40m in career winnings and is rated as one of the greatest poker players of all time. He’s also very media-friendly, and instead of just pictures featuring money and wins, we’re given a real insight into who he is – a philanthropist, vegan, and political commentator. His quote will resonate with many as he’s always looking for reasons to play around the table. How often in life have you looked for a reason not to do something rather than to just do it?
Phil Ivey
“A lot of people these days are too ambitious; their sights are set too high at the start, and they end up diving in too deep.”
Lime Negreanu, Ivey is a huge success around the tables at Las Vegas, and with ten WSOP bracelets, he is rightly regarded as one of the all-time greats. He is nicknamed The Phenom after his sensational 2002 WSOP showing, but his quotes are cautious rather than encouraging you to reach for the stars. As you know, not everybody can be a winner, and Ivey suggests he sets realistic targets around the poker table. Only one person can be the best in the world at anything, but being the best you can be personally at whatever you aim for is much more achievable.
Phil Hellmuth
“You have to understand that you can’t go back, and to focus on the present. Whether or not you’re applying the lessons you’ve learned from mistakes you’ve made in the past.”
Phil Hellmuth is known as the Poker Brat, the Bad Boy of poker who attracts media attention for his behavior around the table. He’s good, though; very good. Hellmuth completes a trio of top players, and like Ivey and Negreanu, he has some wise advice for you. Poker is all about skill and luck, combing chance with instinct, but sometimes things go wrong. Just like in life, you get dealt a bad hand or read the room poorly. Hellmuth admits that happens but encourages people to live in the present. You can’t change the past, but the future is there for you to affect.
Great poker players embody the popular success quote, “Great things never come from comfort zones.”They know how and when to push themselves beyond their limits, and can still trudge through when their strategies fail. The insights poker players have can guide you through both your poker games and your day-to-day life.
