Boot Camp - What Parenting Can Teach You About Poker
Parenting has taught me a lot about life. I'm a better person for having kids. I've talked many times
about how to be a father or mother to young children and keep poker in your life. I've called this my Boot Camp series. Now as the series slows down, maybe even comes to a stop, I'd like to turn the tables a bit and share with you some things I've learned about playing poker from being a parent.
These tips will not only help you become a better parent, they will make you be a better poker player as well.
• Patience is the key - You have to be patient as a parent. If you're not, you're not a good parent, period. The same rule applies to poker. Sometimes you'll go an hour or two while playing on Bodog, Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker without seeing a good hand. You must keep folding. Some days it takes you several days to have a good winning session. It will come. Forcing the action is the second-worst thing you can do as a poker player, and losing your cool is the worst.
• One day, good or bad, doesn't make your life - You have to remain on an even keel. You'll have bad days as a parent. I've had plenty as a father of baby twins this past year. But I didn't let a bad day get me down for three or four days after that. In poker you'll have losing sessions. They're unavoidable. Even if you play perfect poker, someone will suck out on you. You can't let those bad days determine how you play, or how you feel, the rest of the week.
• Listen to yourself - You have to recognize when you're frustrated, depressed or exhausted as a parent because that will determine how you handle your kids. Your temper will most likely be shorter. You may have to let them cry in their cribs for a little bit. You'll need to take frequent, tiny breaks even if you're by yourself. Poker is the same way. If you play frustrated, you'll most likely lose money in situations where you could have folded on a good day. And you have to recognize when you're frustrated so you can log off and try again another day.
• Time for yourself - You need time away from your kids, and you need time away from poker. Breaks are good. When you return to your kids, you'll be ready to see them again. You probably even missed them when you were gone. It's the same when you play poker. You'll be fresh and ready to play again, and that makes it easier to fold when you need to or push a hand hard without any fear when you need to do that as well.
• The more you understand, the easier it is to avoid tilt - The more you're around your kids, the better you'll start to understand that kids aren't whiny, fussy or downright impossible because they're jerks. They are tired, hungry or hot. Something is bothering them, and they don't know how to express it. Once you understand this, you'll find ways to address the problem rather than yelling at your kids for not behaving for you and acting difficult.
The more you understand poker, the easier it is to shake off bad beats. A-A, for instance, holds up only 60 percent of the time even when just two people are in the hand. That's even if one is holding junk. The average winning hand in Hold 'Em is two-pair, so pairs don't hold up as often as you think, even if you have A-K on a K-high board. A pair of 2’s is mathematically better than A-K.
Even when you're a huge favorite, like 3-1, you'll still lose every fourth time. These are things you need to learn because telling yourself these things will help you understand that your bad beats aren't as bad as you think.
• Poker should be fun - Being a parent, ultimately, is fun. It's well worth it. So is poker.
It's just easy to forget that at times.
Pokerworks.com
Deutsches Poker
Poker Français
Póquer en español
Poker in Italiano
Magyar Póker
Hrvatski Poker
Dutch Poker
Brasileiro Poker