Poker Articles

Poker players come from all corners of the world.  For most players, though, being a poker player is only one part of their identity.  For instance, a police officer is not just a police officer.  He or she may also be a parent, a teacher, or a member of various communities such as PocketFives.  No one thing defines who we are.  All of our identities are made up of various attributes, hobbies, and professions.  For the purpose of this forum, some of these traits may help us in our poker lives, some may not change a thing, and others may hurt us.

One trend I have noticed in the poker world is that many great poker players have an identity that includes playing card games other than poker.  This would fall under the category of helping us in our poker lives, as many of these players have had accelerated success and experienced little to no learning curve. We all know about the young poker stars that once sat around playing Magic The Gathering.  Don't chalk this up to coincidence.

More recently, the poker world has seen a significant influx of extremely bright bridge players.  Bridge is sort of like a highly complex game of spades.  It involves being calculated and deceptive, patient and aggressive.  Similar to poker, bridge has countless nuances, and one could undoubtedly spend a lifetime without perfecting half of them. 

Before Steve Weinstein was thorladen (pictured top), he was a highly respected world-class bridge player (and still is).  He has traveled around the globe playing bridge, and he's thought of as a mentor to some of the very best in the world.  I had a chance to talk to Steve, and it was enlightening to say the least.  I asked him about bridge, and how it has upped his capacity as a poker player.  He told me this:  "It is very clear to me that playing other games before poker is a huge advantage when you decide to take up poker on a serious level.  Whether it be MTG (Magic The Gathering), backgammon, or starcraft in the case of myself and my bridge group, these games in my opinion complement each other and get the brain thinking in a direction that is expansive, which is necessary to reach the highest levels in any competitive activity."  Did you get that?

The conversation continued, and I asked him why he has decided to help a handful of bridge players become great at poker.  This was his response:  "The reason I mentor bridge players in particular is that it is my game of choice other than poker.  I find the top young bridge players to be brilliant at games, highly competitive, and totally honest, which is important.  That combination makes me want to be very involved.  When I was a young bridge player, myself and my peers were recruited for Wall Street for the same reasons that I now recruit for poker, and hopefully I will find the same level of success, be it on a smaller scale than the Wall Street firms found by hiring me and my peers." 

One player that Steve has mentored and continues to mentor is quickly making a name for himself, and I bet many of you know him already.  For a long time, this player didn't give poker a second thought, but that has changed, and now you can find him soaking up every bit of poker knowledge available.  Bridge has helped him in so many ways that it's as if he can see all the angles with ease.  I can only imagine what it would be like for a world class bridge player to have thorladen at their side helping them to advance.  Next time, I will reveal the identity of this player and show you how a different game of cards, along with some thor-mentoring has helped him become successful in poker.