Life Skill Benefits Of Poker
January 28, 2012 About Poker Play Poker
“Poker may be a branch of psychological warfare, an art form or indeed a way of life – but it is also merely a game, in which money is simply the means of keeping score.” Anthony Holden
Poker playing involves many benefits besides the fact that you can make money from playing this game. Poker playing can enhance some personal traits and help in the development of yet others. These are discipline, goal setting, awareness, self improvement, observation skills, personality development, working under pressure, memorisation skills, listening habits, patience, money management, self evaluation and handling adversity. These are some of the attributes that are acquired or enhanced while playing poker over a period of time.
Many of the skills in poker are related to life skills. For instance patience will help you handle difficult situations and discipline will help you attaining your daily goals with ease. The strong point in poker is to never lose your temper, either with those you are playing with or, more particularly, with the cards. There is no sympathy in poker. Always keep cool. If you lose your head you will lose all your chips. (William J. Florence)
If you are disciplined you would work out things in your daily life with the same mind set. “Setting a goal is not the main thing; it’s deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. The key is discipline.” Tom Landry
Similarly working under pressure means that you will handle things well under pressure, be it communication, your actions and so on. Despite being under pressure, you will speak well and communicate better in any situation. This skill set will eventually help you in your personal life and how you deal with difficult things.
Bobby Baldwin – “You cannot survive without that intangible quality we call heart. The mark of a top player is not how much he wins when he is winning but how he handles his losses. If you win for thirty days in a row, that makes no difference if on the thirty-first you have a bad night, go crazy, and throw it all away.”
Awareness is one more thing that poker players work on.
“The real thing to know is that folks will stand to lose more than they will to win. That’s the most important percentage there is. I mean, if they lose, they’re willin’ to lose everything. If they win, they’re usually satisfied to win enough to pay for dinner and a show. The best gamblers know that.” Pug Pearson
Poker has been described in many ways, as you can see in the words mentioned above. It is not about money only, but comes with a great packages to enhance your life skills.
