2 Simple Business Lessons I’ve Learned From Playing Texas Hold ‘em

I’ve always loved card games, and still remember my Dad teaching me to play Rummy, “Think, Te-ge. What would be the best way to play that hand.”

But, outside of showing me how quickly he could take my allowance from me, and a couple times of playing with dominos as chips, we never gambled.

So it wasn’t until a couple years ago when my favorite MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) added poker to it’s list of “parlor games,” that I finally learned how to play.

It didn’t take long to discover that most of my friends really didn’t know how to play either. Oh, they might have a better idea of what constituted a winning hand, but over the long term, they could easily lose as much as I could. So, I started studying the tables; when I found someone who was winning, I’d watch how they played.

Before long, I could recognize the handful of excellent players as soon as I saw their name. And one day I sent a message to the best one, telling him how much I enjoyed how he played and that I was trying to teach myself by watching him.

Would you believe most people had been afraid to approach him and he had hardly any friends online?

His online name was Lorenor (or Lore for short) and Ken and I became great friends with him. Over the next year (until his job started limiting his playing time), the three of us studied poker together, sharing what we learned and constantly encouraging each other to improve.

Of course, we didn’t just learn from Lore. Once Ken and I had decided that we wanted to learn poker, we sought out the best real players too, practically memorizing books by players such as Doyle Brunson and Phil Gordon.

Two lessons in particular I carried away from those days:

1) Learn from the best. Following and listening to the best in any field is like giving yourself an instant promotion. When you’re picking up their knowledge, you’re shaving time off of the things you have to learn for yourself.

Mistakes in poker, like in business, will happen, and are often costly, but learning from the best will help you to recognize the cause of the mistake, learn from it, and continue on, instead of deterring you from your goal.

2) Don’t be afraid to reach out and say thank you. Everyone, famous, infamous, or somewhere in between, likes to know they’re appreciated. And writing a quick note to say “Thanks, I’ve learned a lot from you” might even open the door to a new friendship in real life as well as in an online game.