Let Kobe Bryant Guide You Out of the Micros

If you’ve heard any stories about Kobe Bryant, they’re likely ones about his insane work ethic. Part passion and part obsession, Bryant’s willingness to suffer in the name of self-improvement has transcended the world of basketball and continues to inspire people all around the globe long after his tragic passing.

Recently, while listening to former NBA player JJ Redick sing Kobe’s praises during a conversation with LeBron James on their new podcast Mind the Game, I started wondering – what are some ways we can apply Bryant’s wisdom to our own pursuit of poker greatness? With that in mind, here are three quotes from the Black Mamba to inspire your poker journey.

1. We psych ourselves up too much. Like if you try to talk yourself into, ‘Oh, this is a big moment, this is a big shot,’ you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. You shot that shot hundreds and thousands of times. Just shoot another one.

If there’s one group of people that deeply understand the value of volume and sample-size, it’s poker players. Often taking hundreds and even thousands of “shots” in the span of a single session, it would be literally impossible to play each one perfectly – whatever that would even mean in the context of a game with infinite variables. For this reason, it’s critical that we poker players avoid the impulse to put undue pressure on ourselves by treating any one hand – or any one game – as mattering more than any other. Regardless of the context of the game or the size of the pot, it’s imperative that we – like Kobe – recognize that each hand, each session, is nothing more than another opportunity to self-improve.

2. I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.

Every poker player has days when they’re not at the top of their game (or if you’re anything like me, many days). Maybe you’re tired from the long session the night before, or find yourself overbluffing while chasing endorphins after a bad day. In those moments it’s natural for the doubt to creep in and make you question your abilities and potential. The key, according to Bryant, is to acknowledge those feelings of doubt and, rather than letting them derail your efforts, embrace them as a predictable part of the road to mastery.  Your A-game might not always be accessible, but the only thing that will stop you from achieving it more often than not, is capitulating to the inevitable pain of growth along the way.

3. I want to see if I can. I don’t know if I can. I want to find out. I want to see. I’m going to do what I always do: I’m going to break it down to its smallest form, smallest detail, and go after it. Day by day, one day at a time.

Obviously, improving at poker isn’t about leaping from the micros to high stakes overnight. There is, unfortunately, no magic fix that will transform you from Jamie Gold to Phil Ivey. It’s about incremental progress, breaking down your game into its smallest components – hand selection, bet sizing, bluffing frequencies – and working through each aspect diligently and methodically. As Kobe highlights, the desire to “see if you can” is what will ultimately drive your progress. It’s not about proving you can crush the game today; it’s about competing against yourself in an effort to become a little better than you were the day before.

So, next time you sit down at the poker table, feeling like you’re slogging through the micro stakes, remind yourself of the Mamba Mentality: day by day, one day at a time.

RIP Kobe Bean.