Poker is one of the very few casino games that’s like trading. Unlike other games where the casino keeps the odds in their favor, in poker there are many ways to get an edge over other players at the poker table.
The way you play the odds can give you an edge, folding on bad hands quickly and playing the best hands only give you an advantage. Managing risk per hand can keep you in the game while others blow out. Sticking with the odds instead of letting emotions take over is another big advantage over other players.
I have a buddy that plays well in poker tournaments and it is odd how we can talk about the same elements of strategy that matches both endeavors. Both poker and most financial markets are zero sum games where money flows from those who do not know how the game works to those who do.
- “Living in the past is a Jethro Tull album, not a smart poker strategy.” -Richard Roeper
- “The beautiful thing about poker is that everybody thinks they can play.” -Chris MoneyMaker
- “If there weren’t luck involved, I would win every time.” — Phil Hellmuth
- “If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.” — Matt Damon in Rounders
- “The cardinal sin in poker, worse than playing did cards, worse even than figuring your odds correctly, is becoming emotionally involved.” -Katy Lederer
- “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.” -Bobby Baldwin
- “When we play, we must realize, before anything else, that we are out to make money.” -David Sklansky
- “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
- “The real things 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 willing 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 reveals to the frank observer something else of import—it will teach him about his own nature. Many bad players do not improve because the cannot bear self-knowledge.” -David Mamet
- “Limit poker is a science, but no-limit is an art. In limit, you are shooting at a target. In no-limit, the target comes alive and shoots back at you.” -Crandell Addington
- “In the absence of any mathematical explanation, one thing is for certain; if you engage in games of chance long enough, the experience is bound to affect the way you see God. Successfully draw to an inside straight three hands in a row, and you’ve got to be blessed. But if you’re the person drawn out on, the one whose trip aces just got snapped for the third time, you will go home feeling cursed” -Andy Bellin
- “The strong point in poker is never to 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
- “It never hurts for potential opponents to think you’re more than a little stupid and can hardly count all the money in your hip pocket, much less hold on to it..” -Amarillo Slim
- “Poker is a lot like sex. Everyone thinks they are the best, but most don’t have a clue what they are doing.”— Dutch Boyd
- “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.” — Paul Newman in The Color of Money
- “Last year people won more than one billion dollars playing poker. And casinos made twenty-seven billion just by being around those people.“ -Samantha Bee
- “Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn’t play poker.”-Amarillo Slim
- “Poker is a game of people – it’s not the hand I hold; it’s the people I play with.” -Amarillo Slim
- “It is better to make people think you are a bad poker player, then to play and remove all doubt. Don’t play to impress – play to win.” –Michael Gersitz