As I mentioned at the end of the first article in the Poker: Winners and Losers series: “The winner does the things that the loser won’t do.” Now that is a pretty simple formula and frankly it is pretty universal. If you look at a world class Realtor, she does the things that the others won’t do. She makes the cold calls every day, not just when things are slow. She asks for the listing another time or three. She send thank you card to those who DON”T use her service. They remember her and if their first choice doesn’t work out the will remember her when she calls back to check on them. The winner does the things that the loser won’t do.
Get used to that principle, because it is happens every where. A good friend of mine has a PhD. from M.I.T. and that degree is in E.E. no less. Of course she was always a good student, but each year from 6th grade on she did the things that others weren’t doing. She went back and memorized the multiplication tables up through 50 times 50. Yes you got that right. Then she began working on the logarithmic tables and the Periodic table of the elements. Every year she did things that the others would not do. By her last few years of high school she was in the Honors A.P. classes and regularly scoring above the 100 mark on her work. Was she talented? You bet she was, but she outworked every other talented kid every year. Guess what every year she got farther ahead. She can write her own ticket now and work wherever in the world she wants to. I wasn’t born with that kind of drive. I had to learn it.
What do the losers do? Well in Poker pretty much they lose. They lose money and talk about luck. If their luck would change they could really make a go of it. When was the last time they actually read a poker book? Never. They might have bought a few but they never really read one, let alone studied it and took notes.
What else to losers do? The whine and complain a lot. It is too hard or their luck has always been bad. Or they can’t focus tonight because it is too noisy… and “pass me another brew” is their most common phrase.
But, let’s face it this is Poker and losers have a good purpose. The come to the game, hell they often host it or bring the refreshments, and they leave their money behind. It’s a harsh fact. You can go out to play tennis or golf and win by enjoying the fresh air or getting good exercise, but that is not Poker.
Poker may be a microcosm of the real world, but lets face it is a zero sum game. There is just so much money and that amount cannot be increased. Sure somebody can go to the ATM but eventually all mortals run out of money. Zero sum. You can’t create anything in a Poker game.
