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Nic Szeremeta
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19 Mar 2010
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A useful tip for those seeking to play better
poker was suggested by the ancient
philosophers as recently as 2,500
years ago.
Back in 500 BC the Chinese thinker Confucius
came up with the maxim “know thyself”.
Coincidentally and quite independently on the other
side of the planet - Greece to be precise - the
philosopher Socrates came up with the same
bit of wisdom.
It is unlikely that they had poker in mind at the
time – their advice being aimed at those wishing to
lead better lives.
But as a great believer in the fact that old world
thinking can be applied to modern situations I can
see that the instruction “know thyself” might work
for many inhabitants of today’s poker world.
This is based on 45 years of experience meeting
and playing against thousands of poker players. The
truth of the matter is that many are deluded about
their own abilities.
(And that includes me too. On occasions I have
deceived myself about how “good” I have played.
You know the scenario – lose and look for excuses).
Anyway help is at hand.
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In a previous life I used to be in the newspaper
publishing business and in the course of that noble
pursuit I once attended a very useful eight week Dale
Carnegie course – the Carnegie of Make Friends and
Influence People fame.
One of the exercises which we had to undertake
was to do what is called a SWOT analysis of both
our businesses and ourselves.
And very revealing it was.
It occurred to me that this might be a useful
exercise for poker players so this is how it works.
SWOT is an acronym which stands for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
The basic idea is that an individual’s
(or a business’s) strengths create opportunities
and that weaknesses expose one to potential
threats.
The materials required to do a SWOT analysis
are not exactly cutting edge technology – a piece of
paper and a pen will suffice.
But there is one other important ingredient
required – honesty. If one is going to get to “know
oneself” there is little point in telling oneself lies.
Think deeply about your poker performance,
how you feel when you are playing, how much
you play for, how comfortable you feel,
what your approach to a game or a
tournament is and so on.
Then make a list of what you consider to be
your strengths.
Review your performance again and then make
another list headed “weaknesses”. This might include
such things as playing for stakes which are too high,
losing concentration and/or losing patience, not
knowing the mathematics as well as you should,
being easy to bluff and anything else with which you
may not feel comfortable.
Now against the list of strengths write down the
potential opportunities which these may provide. For
example if you list “tough table image” this gives you
the opportunity to win with a bluff more often that a
player with a loose image.
Then do exactly the same with your weaknesses
list. Analyse all the threats which are inherent
with these.
If you do the exercise thoroughly and honestly at
the end of it you will be presented with an interesting
and informative picture of who you are as a poker
player. This can be used to make conscious changes
for the better.
You will know yourself – and that is a whole lot
better than being delusional.
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