By
grapsfan |
Published
Jul 13 2007, 02:11 AM
A lot has been written about bankroll management, and how to protect your money in a gambling environment. I have made my share of contributions on the topic, to the point of questioning why I’m back at it again. But I recently read a very familiar quote which provided new insight as to why so many people play over their heads and end up broke.
To paraphrase a number of variations into one succinct phrase: “To be a successful poker player, you must have no regard for money.”
On its surface, in the short term, this is a true statement. If you thought about the value of what you were playing for, it’d be far too difficult to bluff your entire stack. Gambling works better with chips instead of cash for this very reason. $2500 is a plasma HDTV or a long weekend in Hawaii. But as a rack of $25 chips, the money is just 100 round pieces of green clay composite. How easy it is to forget the value of money when it doesn’t look like money.
A lot of people embrace the “no regard for money” philosophy because, first and foremost, it’s fun to gamble. Instruments of gambling have been found in ancient societies across the globe, independently developed without knowledge of similar dice, cards, or lots. The gambler has been romanticized throughout history, written about by Doestoevski and Twain, and celebrated in American cinema and television. We admire those who make a living via their wits, guile and skill, attributes that are ingrained in successful gamblers. The glittering lights of Las Vegas, Macau, Monte Carlo, Atlantic City, and casinos in cities around the world are testament to human beings’ love of games of chance.
The issue with this approach to money is that, in gambling circles, “successful” people are often broke. The lack of respect for money while at the tables often carries into the rest of one’s life. Money so easily won by a lucky card can just as easily be treated frivolously in bar tabs, lap dances and expensive toys. Worse, if you don’t care about your money, you can waste it at -EV propositions like horse races, sports wagers or Casino War. A laissez-faire attitude is a lot of fun when you’re 22 years old, single and have the world by the tail. There is nothing fun about being 50, broke, and trapped in a lifestyle and career that you no longer enjoy. Watch the faces of many of the participants in middle-limit games around the poker world, and you’ll see the definition of boredom and despair.
The dichotomy of this proposition lies in the term “successful”. I would argue that someone cannot be a success in life without directing positive outcome from one activity into other endeavors. This isn’t necessarily about putting money in savings, or buying a house, or setting up a stock market account with a financial planner. Simply put, at the end of the day, you should have a choice in life as to what you want to do. Taking money out of play, never to be touched again, is easily the best way to accomplish this means to a different end.
So I present the Herzog Corollary: “To be a successful poker player, you must keep the money.”
A couple weekends ago, I had an outstanding time in Vegas on a Saturday night, meeting a bunch of fellow P5ers and closing down a couple of bars at Caesar’s Palace. I got to meet old and new friends alike, including Dyzalot, iLLNuGWichee, papadelpoker, head2782, AceRunner, gboro780, MrTimCaum, WacoKidd, Clay Gongora, Wein, K1d Gr1nd, unfknbelievable and a bunch of others I’m sure I’m forgetting (it was a very long night, my apologies…send me a PM if I didn’t list you, just so I remember). A topic that kept coming up was that profitable players were good at handling life away from the tables. As an example, for all of Waco’s success at the tables, both online and live, the accomplishment I admire the most is that he bought a house.
Rather than living by a destructive philosophy, let’s use another Doyle Brunson quote from now on (from the opening chapter of Super/System, italic emphasis is mine):
“It’s also to your own advantage to think of chips as units, and not as money. You may consider your money status before the game and after the game, but while the game is in progress, it is only a game, and the chips are just units. You’re trying to win as many units as you can.”
Everybody loves and remembers the “chips are just units” part. But what makes men like Brunson, Bobby Baldwin and Billy Baxter successful is they embrace the italicized part as well.
If you truly don’t care about money, and are equally comfortable with being a millionaire or bust, that’s fine. For the rest of us, take what you can out of play. Bring strategy and discipline to both sides of poker success. It’s not a win if you don’t keep the money.