How Poker Prepared Me for Amazon

I grew up in an extremely competitive family with a love for card games, and poker became a fast favorite. Most of my summers were spent around the kitchen table playing a game with my older brother and some friends. I would read books like Daniel Negreanu’s* Hold’ Em Wisdom to elevate my game and be able to compete. While visiting family in Seattle this June, we chatted over a game of poker, and I realized that this game has had a deep impact on my life at Amazon. Poker takes grit, which is a quality that is indispensable at Amazon. With that in mind, here are five ways that poker has prepared me for life at Amazon:

1.      Dealing with Ambiguity: The number one thing poker has taught me is how to make decisions under pressure with limited information. In Hold’ Em you don’t have all the information you wish you had. You know your own hand, the flop, and your opponents betting patterns. But you are missing key information and yet you still have to make the best decision possible each round. You have money on the line which makes you think like an owner, another vital skill at Amazon. Thinking like an owner forces you to make those tough calls and deal with the outcome. We make calculated, quick decisions in poker; similarly to how we do things at Amazon.

2.      Experiencing Failure: All poker players will lose sometimes. You’ll experience bad beats and tough losses. But what defines a great player is how they bounce back after these losses. The famous phrase “a chip and a chair” rings true. I’ve seen people win that were down to just a few chips. This failure is what produces grit, an essential trait of any Amazonian. We are allowed to fail at Amazon, but it’s what makes us grow. It’s what sets us apart from our competitors.

3.      Controlling emotion: Most of us have heard the phrase ‘poker face’ which is trying to conceal the good or bad hand that you have. This tactic is important; but you also need to control your emotions after you lose or win. Great players know how to avoid tilt after a huge loss, and resist the temptation to play loose after a big win. Similarly at Amazon you can never get too confident. You’re encouraged to disconfirm your beliefs, assume you could be wrong, and challenge data.

4.      Taking Risks: Poker is also about minimizing losing hands, and maximizing good hands. If you take a big risk on a hand, it might pay off. At Amazon, we make bold bets and double down (or go all in) where it makes sense. That’s how you win in poker, and that’s how you win at Amazon. We also recognize that sometimes, you just get lucky.

5.      Endurance: You have to have grit and backbone at Amazon. You need to be able to bounce back and keep going. Anyone who plays poker knows that it is a game of endurance. It is a long game. Some games take hours, even days to finish. You will get tired because of all of the ups and downs but you have to look at every hand like a fresh start. You will have ups and downs at Amazon. You will have days where you win and lose. But like a fresh hand of poker you always have a fresh start the next day at Amazon; where every day is Day 1.

I love the game of poker for all it has taught me and is still teaching me. But despite all this, I love it simply because it’s fun and it brings people together. At Amazon my team are like my family and I’m thankful to have been dealt a great hand. Whether you love poker or not, I hope there is something unique in your past that has prepared you for the present.

(Campus recruitment event in Cambridge this Spring)

*Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour championship titles