Poker And The Person
April 5, 2008
If you are playing with someone for the first time, you will be able to tell a lot about the person simply by watching him or her play poker. There are three basic personas to work with when watching someone play poker. The first persona is the safe player. This player is the risk averse person. This person loves stability in life. He or she wants to avoid any kind of risk as much as possible. If you give him or her a portfolio of stocks, this person will select the least risky and the one with the least return. Safe poker players are likely to lose at poker. They will not be able to see the opportunities coming their way.
The second persona that you can work with when playing with a poker player is the wild and risky player. This player is the type of player that goes all in with a two and three off suit. This type of player is wild. He or she will be calling all sorts of things out of the norm. This type of person will be playing poker like a mad dog. This poker player does not care about winning or losing, all this person cares about is being wild and doing things out of the norm. Although this person may hit the jackpot once in a while, he or she is still likely to have cumulative losses in his or her entire poker career.
The third persona that you will work with at poker is the balanced person. There is nothing more perfect than a balanced life. There is nothing more perfect that being able to balance risk and return. If you some across the type of player that is balanced, you should be prepared to fight a long and good fight. You will be calculating your odds. You will be calculating his or her odds. At the end of the day, the well balanced poker player will win in the long run. He or she is able to balance the opportunities available. He or she is able to avoid unnecessary risk. This person always has a heads up mentality. He or she is always looking out for the best way to win and is always looking from side to side in case someone will attack him or her from out of nowhere.
Playing poker reflects the personality of a person in one way or another. If you are the type of person that loves to play poker and meet people then playing poker would be a good ice breaker. Although you may be competitive at first, at least at the end of the day, you will be able to gauge each other’s style of play and each other’s personality. In the end, it is a winning situation for all. Enjoy poker and enjoy spending time with great people. That is what life is all about. I think that if you are able to have a well balanced life, which certainly includes poker, then you will be a happy human being here on earth.