3 Life Lessons I Learned from Poker

1. Stereotyping can hurting your success. 

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In this day and age we have the great use of 'Stats' and 'HUD'; although it gives a general idea and consensus of our opponents, it can be detrimental for us to over-analyze them sometimes.

Take for example: a player happens to be playing "12/10" at Full-Ring, your impression can be that he's a very tight player and also must be very tight post-flop.

In reality, the face-value of our information "12/10" merely means he plays 12% of his hands and raises 10% of them. Whether or not we associate this type of player as 'never-folding' or 'never hero-calling' should be hugely dependent on his post-flop tendencies, and not pre-flop. 

In Life, we live by social 'standards' and stereotypes. I don't mean the racial, ethnic, stereotypes that may already exist I mean the 'Perspective, Views, Outlook,' on life. Stereotypes can hinder your success whether it be in 'Health, Career, Friendships by causing you to avoid certain paths and 'strategies' in dealing with situations in an unorthodox fashion. At the end of the day it's often the 'Exception', the ones who break the general stereotypes that make it out there as exceptional.

2. You don't have to always win, just more than you lose

In poker; a profitable player only has to win more than he/she loses. Sometimes we get caught up in the affect of variance and a downswing that it affects our mental capability to make good choices.

Our conscious mindset/skill and strategy at the given moment should be independent of the 'uncontrollable' variance.

"It's not your fault". We have all heard it before, but do we recall how we felt when that was being said? More often than not there are aspects of life which we are unable to control, however that should not let that impede on our ability to make good decisions and choices throughout. 

Learning to understand what we 'can' and 'can't' control in life is the first step to understanding variance.
Knowing what the 'best decision is' is hardly important if you are unable to execute it at the crucial moments in life.


3. Short-Shortsightedness creates inconsistency

Understanding your long-term goals, as well what short-term obstacles you may meet is important.

The first biggest downswing always hurts the most, because players are consciously 'aware' of the fact of variance. 

Everyone 'knows' sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, however you must continue to make the best plays.  How often do we come up with a game-plan and strategy for mental recovery after such an event? 

The matter of the fact is, for the majority of players, losing a large amount can hurt from either an 'Ego, Doubt, or Monetary' perspective. If the long-term goal is set, you must understand that you will face obstacles and by practicing and making a game-plan of 'How to deal with a Down-swing' for yourself it will shorten if not eliminate the period of time when you're not 'Playing your A-Game'

For weight-loss/ bodybuilding, it's easy to give up after several days or even weeks without seeing significant progress. It's often the daily choices, [calories, exercises, food] we can see the change in and not the belly fat starting to shrink or the arms starting to grow. Especially in the post-secondary education; choosing a 'education path' and aiming to achieve that goal means understanding that there can be unexpected difficulties in material and studying; but that should not impede the passion and motivation for the goal at the end.