Ed Miller, in Card Player magazine column, March 11, 2009, (vol. 22, #5), p. 84-85.
Here's my way of looking at it. Poker is not a social game--not if you care to play it well, that is. Learning to play poker well is a solitary exercise. It's an exercise in introspective spirituality. There's no good way to measure whether you're a good player or not. It has to come from within.
I look at it like learning a martial art. I am studying something that will make me a better person. I am always learning. I have never mastered it, nor can I ever master it. I am more skilled than some people, and less skilled than others. Some things I learn quickly, and others I learn slowly. It's a lifelong task.
Every day, I learn something new. My skill improves, and my decisions are sharper and faster. And every day, I have prepared to learn even more the next day. Every day, I climb a new step, and yet I will never reach the summit. I can only be satisfied with how far I've come and be eager for the journey ahead.
The money won or lost is irrelevant. I mean, truly irrelevant. I know that some people say, "Money is the way poker players keep score," but that's nonsense. You keep your own score. Are you happy with how much you're learned? Are you ready to learn more? What do you believe you've mastered, and what challenges are still before you?
...
Poker is a psychological trial. It will test you every day. It will test your ability to handle failure, and it will test your ability to accept success with humility and temperance. You cannot hope to succeed in these trials unless you are strong and confident from within. How do you feel about how you play? What do you think you have to learn? And, are you ready to play today and learn that thing?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Poker gems, #226
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Sadly, I am a cynic. But I don't buy it. "'Money is the way poker players keep score,' but that's nonsense." Ending with a call to step up and play today.
Miller is just saying "hey, sucker, come donate money to real poker players. Step up and put your [dead] money on the table. If you don't, you're a coward, not a real man."
Maybe if the material had been published somewhere other than CardPlayer...
My response would have been posted sooner, but I was laughing too hard at this pseudo-spiritual drivel. Look, I understand that we all want our work to be meaningful in some sense. Ed Miller is not the first professional poker player to try to make poker something more than what it is: a game where the sole goal is to take money from other players. Dressing it up in philosophical musings might make some players feel better about how they make their money, but it's still psychobabble. Does anyone truly think Doyle Brunson has been on a lifelong spiritual journey like some Buddhist monk, and the fortunes he won and lost in that journey are "irrelevant" to him, and the only thing that matters is if Doyle is "satisfied" with his play and "eager" for the next game? Excuse me, I'm starting to laugh again ...
As an aside, Ed Miller can't honestly believe this tripe: "There's no good way to measure whether you're a good player or not." and "The money won or lost is irrelevant. I mean, truly irrelevant." Money is, in fact, highly relevant, insofar as money is the sole measure of success. No player can assess his progress without using money as the measuring stick. In baseball, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .250 hitter won't be seen in one game or one week of games, but it will be seen in a season's results. Similarly, a poker player can't decide if he is a good or winning player based on one session or a handful of sessions, but he can make that determination by reviewing a year of results.
Easily said from someone who probably makes the majority of his money from selling books and NOT playing poker.
Ooops! Somehow I chopped off the conclusion to my comment above.
In the end, the successful poker player is the one who makes the most good plays over the most sessions. How do we know who that successful player is? Easy. We don't care who feels the best about how they played. We only look at who has the money.
Post a Comment