New Year Resolutions, Poker & Life

Another new year is here and most of us are now fairly settling into 2022. A lot us would have made our New Year resolutions and a few of us would have already realized that it’s slipping away post the first manic Monday of 2022!

For those of us who are starting and restarting the same resolutions each year, don’t worry, we are here to showcase a new perspective of looking at the odds of how a year pans out from the lens of Poker. Keeping New Year resolutions can take some practice, but just like Poker, consistent application of the right strategy with continuous learning can take your game to a higher level!

365 days a year, 365 Poker hands

Not all starting hands dealt are good. Some hands will give us Pocket Aces, some will be Ace paired with 10 or above, some will be suited connectors, some will be unsuited connectors and some pure junk. The odds of being dealt Pocket Aces are just once every 220 hands. Now that never stopped a professional Poker player from crushing it at the tables consistently!

Similarly not all days will be dealt equally during the year. Some days will be awesome. Some days will be good, some average and some will make us cringe. The key is to understand this is normal and once we do that, a bad day doesn’t hit us that bad. It helps us keep the larger picture in mind and stick to our plan which we believed was right.

Its not just about the Starting hand

As a Poker player there isn’t a worse feeling that seeing your Pocket Aces crack. Its normal and its ok. As long as the play is right, the end result can still not be what we hoped for and its ok. Just because we had a nice start to the day, it is not a guarantee that it will end well. If we follow the right decision making, in the long term most good days will end well. But the key is to understand that even if it doesn’t despite making the right decisions, it’s not the end of the world and definitely not a reason to throw away a good plan and a resolution!

Variance & Bad Beats - part of life

In Poker, we always factor variance and bad beats as part of the game and if we look closely the same applies even to life. If the strategy and decision making is right, then the river will not always be bad for you! But in case it is, it is not a reason to be disheartened as in the long term it will be good. Even covert agencies across the world talk in probabilities and percentages to estimate the success and failures of their missions. The bottom line is our chances of success increase tremendously by following the right strategy and sound decision making and keeping that instead of pure outcome as the focus will be a better mantra to follow in the New Year.

Discipline & Continuous Learning

No strategy is 100% accurate and we are all students. It is said that Poker is a sport that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. The day a Poker plays arrogantly declares that he or she knows it all, the decline has already started. Just because we think we have a nice plan for 2022, it does not mean that it is the best plan possible. It’s about constantly learning and tweaking the plan and bettering the game.

So here we are! Looking at 2022 with a fresh perspective through the lens of Poker, a mind sport we absolutely love. We are here to spread the love for Poker and will continue to keep bringing you these snippets of how Poker and our lives are closely connected already!