The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius once wrote that observing life for forty years was as good as a thousand. If you did live to a thousand, he asked, would you really see anything new? And while Aurelius lived some 2000 years before the advent of pocket computers and Ubers where we can see 14 new things before breakfast, his words point to a truth as important today as it was then: pattern recognition is the great gift of time.
Fortunately for us poker players, pattern recognition is a skill we’ve forged through the fires of what were once our bankrolls that have since been dispersed into the poker economy. Without recognizing and deciphering repeating situations, opportunities, and opponent tendencies, poker would be nothing more than an elaborate coin-toss competition. And just like Marcus Aurelius no doubt picked up patterns related to emperorship, and war, and having a wildly murderous son (forever immortalized in the movie Gladiator), we poker players observe patterns related to chance, perseverance, and human behavior.
In reflecting on the patterns I’ve personally collected through my experiences within the world of poker, here are three that I hope will be helpful to you on your own poker journey and keep you from making some of the same mistakes I have.
Pattern #1: All Runs Come To An End
Whether you’re in the midst of the worst downswing of your life or experiencing a “sunrun” – a time of extreme abundance when it feels like nothing can go wrong – it’s important to remind yourself of the age-old wisdom: this too shall pass. Very few things in life are as bad as they seem and, I assure you, none of them include cards. Conversely, very few of us are as good as our hottest stretches lead us to believe we are – Fedor Holz excluded.
This concept isn’t about pessimism, it’s about balance and pragmatism. Not allowing our minds to bemoan our fortune and darken our perspective in a game where massive variance is to be expected, staying humble enough to play at the limits our bankroll and skill-level dictates, not allowing a good run to inflate our ego away from the humility of the grind, these are all patterns of action that the poker gods will demand of you time and time again throughout your poker journey.
Pattern #2: Trust What You See
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. -Marcus Aurelius
Spend enough time out in the world and you are going to come across some very unsavoury characters. Spend enough time in a poker room, and you will meet most of them. That’s not a knock on the poker community itself, but any form of competition that involves large sums of money and no other barriers to entry will unavoidably attract a wide array of people looking to exploit and take advantage. This reality forces everyone to walk a delicate balance between kindness and empathy and protecting oneself from deceit and manipulation. That’s why the adage “when people show you who they are, believe them” is such a great one. The ability to differentiate the patterns of a bluffer from those of an outright liar or cheat can be tough to master, but become infinitely easier when we put faith in people’s actions rather than their words (and even their intentions). Fool me twice, shame on me…
Pattern #3: Success Often Happens In Solitude, But Enjoying It Rarely Does
It’s a pattern as old as time: human beings thrive on connection. Poker, for all its inherent individualism (or perhaps because of it) requires a support system that will help stabilize us during both the highs and lows and offer up the contrast of love and connection to that of competition and isolation.
The more successes you experience, the more setbacks you face, the more you recognize the pattern that everything becomes easier, better, and ultimately sweeter if you surround yourself with people who genuinely care for your well-being. So make sure to make the pattern of connection a priority to ensure you’re covered no matter which way the poker wind blows.
As Cicero once wrote: With the exception of wisdom, I’m inclined to believe that the immortal gods have given nothing better to humanity than friendship.
Will Watson is a writer, poker player and enthusiastic student of the human mind.
Contact me at: willwatsonpoker@gmail.com
