“Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.” — Bertrand Russell
“The researches of many commentators have already thrown much darkness … and it is probable that, if they continue, we shall soon know nothing at all about it.” — Mark Twain
“No man’s knowledge … can go beyond his experience.” — John Locke (1632-1704)
Poker is a game easily learned and never forgotten. It’s like riding a bike. Once learned you ride for life. You can literally teach anyone to play the game within three hours. But it would not be unheard of — or surprising — if he would also literally take 30 years to master the game in its entirety.
Simple but difficult, a contradiction in terms? Not really. Apparently simple but actually difficult is a better characterization. Poker at its best is a difficult but doable discipline. And like many other disciplines, the duality of art and science is fully operant.
The happy marriage of art and science is the ideal consolidated poker couple — Team America, if you will.
The integrated science-art complex and its functional and effective deployment at the gaming table is the central dominant theme, the SINE quo non of winning-poker. Disengage any one component and chaos and divorce quickly follow. Put another way: useless each without the other.
There is not one, not two, nor three virtues that make a player good or great. Poker minds are all agreed that there are many more. At least 20 such attributes have been identified and range from A to Z. For example:
(A)bility to manage money well.
(Z)ap the hand when you know you’re beat.
The Poker Tripod
Many pokersmiths are of the emphatic belief (to some, really, an article of faith), that the barest minimum components of winning poker are three:
- Zero deviation from percentage plays.
- Clean and sober, and a tight, but aggressive, approach to the game.
- Smart money management at and away from the gaming table.
These are the three legs of a high stool where you, Mr. Winning-Poker Candidate, sit. Fracture any one leg, and you, your game, and the horse you rode into town on, are all in the ICU. Players who have made a definite commitment to the stability of the tripod do well.
In the evolution and development of a bona fide cardsmith or pokermeister, endless, interminable, and arduous hours are spent on critical study and observation, which may involve research with sophisticated computer programs and mathematical probability charts, introspection, and yes, some prayer. Prayer? Everyday, driving to “the office,” his last thoughts are, “Gee whiz, I hope I don’t bomb out today; I hope I’ll make it big.” That, my friend, is a prayer.
Many cardsmiths or pokermeisters — even the fabulous ones — have attained only a modest education. A high school diploma, plus or minus is all. But they are all possessed with the basic raw materials for poker success: a good mind, common sense, and a willingness to sacrifice and learn. We are now talking of a good student.
Now consider these nuances: Have you ever heard of a school or university where classes last ten straight hours? Day in and day out? For weeks and months? To “regulars” a ten-hour poker session is commonplace. To the cardsmith or pokermeister, the game is the classroom; he is in attendance; he is attentive, responsive, interactive, and does not daydream as many collegians in class do.
In his daily “classes” the would-be cardmeister or pokermeister learns about Human Psychology, Mathematics, Sociology, Philosophy, Theater (playacting), Economics (budgetary and money management), Communications Skills, Social Etiquette, Public Relations, and so on. Pretty much the curriculum offered in “formalized” education. The end of his daily classes is always concluded by an important quiz: Did he win or did he lose? How he won or how he lost is going to be the subject of his homework tonight; for he is not inclined to repeat the same mistake and fail another quiz tomorrow. You see, failure (or losing) is a dirty word in his poker dictionary.
Now he does this ten-hour thing a day for ten to 15 years and then after, tell me, that the would-be cardsmith or pokermeister, in the expenditure of all that time and energies in the mastery of his craft, did not, earn for himself the equivalency of a Masters or PhD in The Technology and Art of Poker.
Rephrased: Name me a degree, any degree, the highest degree in academia, from the most prestigious university or Temple of Learning on this planet, that can only be earned after 15 years of scholastic pursuit, and I will eat this entire page, unsalted.
Pokermeisters burn a lot of midnight oil. To them it is truly a serious endeavor.
To paraphrase Hemingway (on writing): Poker, as a way of making a living, is a lonely life. As the player begins to win, growing in public stature, capturing the admiring eyes of his peers, he sheds off the loneliness.
Like a football coach who has done his on-and-off-the-field homework in preparation for a crucial game, the coach has synthesized a formulated opinion. Contingent on down and distance, enemy intent, enemy offensive and defensive tendencies, enemy assets, vis a vis his own, he will run specific plays that in his weighted judgment will work, or work best. At game time he will no longer debate or second-guess himself. His only concern is execution, now or never.
In like fashion, a pokermeister will enter a game with specific, well-thought-out and artistically-choreographed plays for any situation. At game time, he too, does not debate or second-guess himself. He is only concerned with execution. For he damn well knows — everything being equal — he will bring home the bacon, the eggs, the milk, and the bread too. His supper table will be abundantly fared — the pay-out for the hard preparative work. But his day does not end on a full stomach and him resting on his laurels. No sir.
After supper he will “hit-the-books” again, then again and again, thinking plays, modifying plays, reinforcing old profitable plays, constructing new plays, honing the cutting edge of his game to the sharpness of a poker razor. He will deploy this deadly weapon tomorrow in the continuing struggle which is “the long grind of poker.” Also, he is too aware, that poker is a dynamic discipline: the target never stationary, not easy to hit, calibration and adjustment must be made to stay on top of the game.
He schemes and labors on. Meanwhile, the midnight candle bumeth on. Like I said, it’s a damn lonely life.
Coming in our next issue:
Lesson I in the making of a great player. Your homework assignment is to determine how hard you are willing to study to become a winner in poker and in life!