Since I received positive feedback on Life Lessons From Blackjack last week Cheap Luke Kennard Jersey , I thought I'd share some lessons I learned from poker as well.

Background

Again, feel free to skip the background story if you just want to read the lessons part. I only include this for the curious.

I first learned to play poker when I was 18, just playing nickel-dime-quarter games with friends from school. I was a fairly weak player back then, mostly using a loose-aggressive style and bluffing way too much. But I enjoyed the game and would usually play at least once a week. Of course, this was only in home games where I mostly played those deviant forms of poker not found in casinos. My favorite game was called 3-5-7. I only played for fun at this time and for many years thereafter, I never took the game seriously.

When I was 21 and living in L.A. Cheap Rick Mahorn Jersey , some friends and I made a few trips to Commerce Casino. I played mostly 7-stud at the time and a little bit of hold?em. I didn't keep records back then, but overall I probably broke even. I played at Commerce perhaps 5 times total. It was an hour's drive from my home, so it wasn't convenient enough to bother with, since I was only playing for fun anyway.

From the age of 24 to 33, I hardly played poker at all, maybe once a year on average. It just wasn't a big part of my life.

In January 2004 Cheap Grant Long Jersey , my family and I moved to Vegas. The availability of poker games in Vegas (and the recent surge in popularity) means that you can always find a game. The Las Vegas Strip is only a 20-minute drive from my home, and Downtown Vegas is 15 minutes away. Plus the closest casino to my house (Santa Fe Station) recently added a poker room, so now a game is only 10 minutes away.

When I first moved here, I thought it would be fun to play poker more often, since I always enjoyed a good game. I had no intention of making it into a career, but nor did I have any interest in losing money at it. I figured that if I could learn how to count cards at blackjack Cheap Jerry Stackhouse Jersey , surely I could become decent enough at poker to consistently beat the low-limit games. That way I could have fun and win a little money at the same time.

Turns out I was right.

Based on recommendations from others, I picked up a few books on the subject. My favorite was Winning Low-Limit Hold?em by Lee Jones. I followed Jones? recommendations fairly closely, and they worked well.

I only play the cheapest limits, like $1-3 and $2-6 spread games or the $2-4 structured games. I play in smoke-free poker rooms, which fortunately are becoming more common. Personally I like the campyfriendly (and smoke-free) atmosphere of the Excalibur poker room, so that's where I usually play. It's a very winnable Cheap Bill Laimbeer Jersey , low-pressure game if you're halfway decent, especially on a Friday or Saturday night when the place is filled with tourists who are mostly there for fun and free drinks. I know most of the dealers there by name, and all are very friendly.

I'm not out to make a career out of this, and I certainly don't consider myself a shark. I just love the fun and the challenge of the game. I've always enjoyed competition.

On average I play a couple times a month, usually on weekends. I record every session I play in a spreadsheet, so I can see how I did ? I want to know if I'm winning or losing. Last year I came out positive Cheap Grant Hill Jersey , with a per session win rate of about 70% and a positive hourly rate of $2.27 (net of tips). Obviously I'm not going to get rich playing such low limits, but to me this is only an entertaining hobby, not a serious entrepreneurial venture. I only play in person, not online, because I like chatting with other players and meeting interesting people from around the world.

Poker is by far a much tougher game to master than blackjack because your decisions depend on the actions of other players, not merely on pre-determined rules of play and probabilities. Playing poker also takes a lot more patience than blackjack in my opinion. Between poker and blackjack Cheap Christian Laettner Jersey , I enjoy poker a lot more because of the human factor.

Poker Observations

Whereas in blackjack most of my observations came from watching other players play their hands, in poker I've learned the most by observing myself, partly due to the nature of the game (I can't see every decision other people make as I can in blackjack).

Here are some observations I've make from playing poker over the years:

1. You can learn a lot about other people by studying yourself.

Simply by observing myself and watching my own tells, like seeing my hands shake when I looked down and saw pocket aces on the button, I learned to look for those same tells in other players. In low-limit games, virtually anytime you see a player's hands shaking as they try to place their bet Cheap Joe Smith Jersey , it means they have a monster hand. I've thrown away many solid hands after reading this tell, and so far every single time it was the right decision. By observing my own behavior, I could watch for it in other people.

How does this apply to life itself? If you know how you behave when experiencing certain emotional states, you can watch for that behavior in others to gain information (which can be extremely helpful in certain situations).

For example, if I'm watching someone give a speech, I can observe how I behave when I'm really bored or really interested. Then when I'm the one giving the speech Cheap Mateen Cleaves Jersey , I can watch for those reactions in the audience. If I see people leaning forward, smiling, and nodding, I know I have a captive audience because that's what I do when I'm captivated.

If you're a salesperson, how do you behave when you watch someone else give a goodbad presentation? If you're a manager, how do you behave when someone tries to delegate something to you and you don't intend to do it? If you're married Cheap Isiah Thomas Jersey , how do you behave when you aren't really listening to your spouse?

Observe how your own behaviors reflect v Worth. Wholesale MLB Hoodies Cheap College Hoodies Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap MLB Jerseys Cheap New NBA Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Cheap NCAA College Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys From China