Kev Kennedy's Blog

Play what you're dealt

In the past few years poker has become massively popular. A couple of Christmasses ago the shops were awash with poker sets, and there are still several late night shows devoted to it on various digital channels. Online poker now features competition against human players, although the cynic in me suggests it's easier to keep a poker face when your 'face' is a computer screen.

The appeal of poker is that it's part luck and part skill. Everything depends on the cards you're dealt. But equally, everything depends on what you do with those cards. If you're a skillful bluffer, you may need to fool your opponents into thinking you've got a strong hand. But if you have a strong hand, you need to fool your opponents into thinking that you're bluffing with a weak hand. And so on.

But whatever you do, you have to do it with the cards you're dealt. A bit like life, really. Rather than complain about the cards you don't have, you have to take the opportunities you can. It may require a bit of bluffing, a bit of strategy, a bit of poker-faced coolness. Or you might decide this time round you're going to fold before you get over-committed.

And, remember, it helps to be lucky. But 'luck' often is just another word for recognising the opportunity. 

Created on Mon 12th January 2009 12:21