Is Poker Your Way of Life?

Although this is a topic that's been beaten to death in a way, it is still one worth revisiting every once in a while. The debate is the one that goes hand in hand with the eternal question, is poker a sport? All professional and semi-professional athletes have to actually live a life that is in line with their sporting efforts, so if poker is a sport, then it certainly belongs more to a way of life category.

Unfortunately, the style of life connected to poker is hardly similar to that of other sportsman and women, regardless of whether we speak about "real" sports or mind sports like chess. Reasons for these are multiple, but mostly reside with the fact that poker players are left to tend to themselves. Unlike other young, aspiring pros, poker players (usually) don't have trainers in their lives to help them on and off the felt.

This often leads to rather unhealthy, unstructured lifestyle, so if poker is a way of life, it is, for the most part, not the best one to follow. Furthermore, poker has never been officially recognized as a sport, so the structure of the tournaments, starting and finishing times and similar, have never really been tailored in such a manner to fit the regular sleep schedules and long hours at the tables are certainly not doing wonders for your health either.

If you answer yes to most of these, then poker IS pretty much your life:

1. Every decision you have to make resembles a hand you had
2. You make real life decisions based on perceived EV
3. You look for 'tells' when talking to people about ordinary things
4. There is no luck, but there is variance connected to almost everything
5. You never give up, just sometimes "fold your hand"
6. To take a break from poker, you fire up some small stakes PLO games
7. When something bad happens, it's just a bad beat; it's all part of the game
8. Your superb reading abilities haven't helped you much with girls
9. You use the phrase "one time" way too much away from the tables
10. Your visualization of a "coin-flip" doesn't include a coin

It actually takes an inordinate amount of effort for a poker player to maintain a balance between his professional and private life. When you add all these factors together, it becomes clear that poker is, in fact, a way of life. Of course, if you are just a recreational player, this doesn't apply; but the same is true for a recreational football player - it's perfectly fine to have a beer or ten with your mates after a game.

To actually succeed, or even just survive as a poker player, you need to wrap your entire life around the game. The mental stamina needed to deal with everything that's inherent to poker, from long hours spent studying away from the tables, to inevitable variance that can sometimes be nothing short of brutal, is hard to acquire. And in the process of acquisition, you are bound to change somewhat.

It is not rare that poker is being likened to a war, and in some of its aspects, these two are truly similar; in some ways poker players are like warriors, in a sense that discipline and patience are needed while waiting for the right moment, but when that moment comes, it is important to recognize it and act swiftly, aggressively and show no restraints.

The above may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but it is certainly true that you will find yourself in a spot quite often where you may be taken aback, not wanting to bust someone for any possible reason, or wanting to underbet because you like a person and don't want to take their money. To be successful, you need to get rid of these feelings and always do what's best for you at any given moment.

And that's why poker is much more than just a game. Becoming a good player takes a lot and it is not just about learning the game - it is about mentally adopting certain things and making them your own. That sometimes means even changing your life philosophy, but success rarely comes without effort

Photo: Titanbet Poker