First few years after my last actual job, I was a life coach for young poker pros. Actually helped out a couple. Of course, I benefited greatly because poker is little more than a metaphor for life. A life as an athlete and a writer and whatever you might choose for yourself. It is all the same stuff, man. – JDW
“Reading has been the fuel of my motivation… When I can hook up old information with new information, the combination of the two creates perspectives that could never have been achieved otherwise. New information makes new and fresh ideas possible.” – Zig Ziglar.
“I have never read a poker book. In fact, I’ve never read a book, period.” – Brandon Cantu. [Mr. Cantu was a hotshot poker pro at the time, often seen on television.]
I believe we can learn from all the people we meet.
And the more great people I meet, the more I’ll learn about being great myself.
However, with the exception of my amazing spouse, greatness is a rare commodity in my neighborhood.
So, I turn to books.
Despite the recent deluge of instructional poker tomes in the marketplace, many players believe you can’t really learn to play well from books. Others suggest the information in the literature is outdated by the time you finish reading it. But most of those books are about the strategy, those books are about the cards.
I am convinced I can become a better poker player by reading non-poker books.
Books like Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard. Leonard is a pioneer in the study of human potential. He has devoted his life to discovering what traits can make us great.
Leonard has discerned five simple elements which can lead each of us to greatness.
1. Surrender to your passion. Once upon a time, someone espoused a philosophy of “do what you love, the money will follow.” Not always true perhaps. Not always wrong either.
The key doubtlessly is the commercial value of your passion. I love to drink; after decades of practice, I have yet to find somebody willing to pay me to consume alcoholic beverages. But I am not giving up..I continue the search.
The passion comes from your willingness to work to succeed. Your refusal to quit. Your determination to succeed. Your refusal to abandon your quest. That’s passion.
2. Practice, practice, practice. According to Mr. Leonard, practice will make you good at anything you do. Remember, please, the practice should be good practice, practicing the correct behavior. And you must never stop practicing.
And any time you play, you are practicing. So, play your A game all the time.
3. Get a guide. See point two above. If you are practicing wrong, you will get very good at being wrong. How many times have you heard a successful player talking about how he lost time after time when he was starting out?? He was practicing wrong. Find a teacher and surrender yourself to his or her experience. You can always do what you want to do, but you need to listen to others to advance.
4. Visualize the outcome. You can literally choose success or you can choose failure. You can tell me I am full of crap or I know what I am talking about. Fine. You choose…you visualize your outcome. Let me put it this way. When you are heads up for your tournament life, don’t stare at your monitor and say repeatedly, “no 7, no 7, no 7,” when a 7 is the only card which can send you to the rail. You need to talk about the outcome you want to see, not the outcome you don’t.
“The idea,” Leonard writes, “is to have this mesh between your consciousness – your visualization – and the so-called material world.”
5. Play the edge. You have an advantage. Work your advantage. Push your advantage. Abuse your advantage. Think about what the great players do. Assassinato, Annette_15, Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey…they all push their advantage.
We can all read Harrington on Hold’em. We can all join PokerXFactor or Cardrunners. We can all participate in poker forums.
But, if we all do all of that, how do all of us get ahead???
We must, each of us – if we intend to get ahead of the curve – do something different.
Searching for excellence – or mastery – separate from poker might be the ultimate route to becoming a winning poker player.
By becoming a better man or a better woman, you will become a better player.
There may be more than one road to greatness. But you only need to find a map which works for you.
Consider the map offered by Leonard, a non-poker player.
Do what you love. Work hard. Find a teacher. Imagine victory. Go for the throat with the upper hand.
“If your success is not on your own terms,
if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart,
it is not success at all. – Anna Quindlen
Just ask Surly Joe.