The Poker Mind

Poker in so many ways gets to the depths of human nature. Determinism and fatalism is something that poker players think about all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've been driving home from a tournament and thought, "why did that king on the river have to be a king?" A king being the only card that lost the hand and tournament for me. It could have so easily been a three? Or a seven? Why did it have to be a king? We are asking the poker gods. We are asking the Prince of Fate or whatever else you want to call him or it or . . . what pronoun do you use for a spiritual figure? Anyway, why did that card have to be a king anyway?

The good poker player learns to put these incidents behind him. For me, it takes a few hours of "why oh why" and then I'm fine. It finally sinks in that I made the right play. In fact, I made a rather good play and the call was exactly what I wanted. I had pocket aces and my opponent flopped a pair of kings. I wanted him to call my all-in bet. I was trying to trap him. And if it happened all over again, I wouldn't do a thing differently. And if this hand kept happening over and over again, I would be way, way ahead. A big part of poker is probabilities. In the end, if I keep getting in with the hand that has the better odds of winning, I will be a winning player. Of course, I console myself, there are going to be some nasty losses along the way.

It reflects the two natures of man; the rational and the spiritual. We wonder why things happen the way they do. We pray. We often have trouble comprehending events. Yet we also know that 7:1 means that you are going to lose one out of every eight times. When that one happens, accept it. Move on. Some players are better than others at doing this. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, despite his religious nickname, is the epitome of the mathematical rationalist. I've seen him lose to a one outer full house on the river and he calmly got up and shook hands with his lucky opponent and left the room. Mike Matusow is the spiritualist. He rants and raves and cries when the unlucky world crashes down on him. "This only happens to me" and "I can never win" come wailing out of his mouth, when deep down he knows that its not true. The man has won millions over the years and is a world class talent.

This duality pulls at us all the time. Why can't we accept what we know is inevitable? It's hard. Many people cannot accept negative events -- ever. In poker too, we always remember those bad luck hands that came at the worse possible time. For me it was when Doyle Brunson hit a two-outter nine on the river in the 2005 Tournament of Champions. The event was memorialized by ESPN and for some reason, they continue to replay it on ESPN Classic every chance they get. (What did I ever do to you, Mr. ESPN?) I also was deep into the LA Classic in 2006 when my Ace/King hit an Ace - Seven - Four flop and my all-in bet was inexplicably called by pocket Queens. Ace on the turn. "Overkill" some numskull at the table said. Then . . . Bam! Queen on the river. I lose. So just as hurtful events in our life are never truly forgotten, but rather integrated into our being, the process is mirrored in poker (on a much lower scale of course).

That may explain why many professional poker players are . . . how can I say this politely . . . strange. They must face the inevitable body punches that everyday life hits us with, then they must face the pounding that poker dishes out. Ah, but those poker victories. They bring our positive emotional state to another level altogether. What is the analogy relative to the real world? Nirvana? Could be.

Fighting a Bad Streak

At times it feels the world just doesn't like you. Here take that - your car breaks down - and that - my course geek turns out to be a brick and I need to start again with a new guy - and an upper cut to the jaw - weather cancels my promo trip and money twirls down the drain. I hit a dry spell at the tables just as my expenses mount. As you can see, I've been having one of those bad runs. And like poker, you need to stick it out. Keep your loses to a minimum. My three month old son smiles at me as I pick him up this snowy morning. Stay focused on what is important.

I'll always remember an interview with a WWII vet, Frank, who went back to visit the battlefield in France where, in 1944, he was assigned to sit in a foxhole and wait for the Nazis to pass by. Then he and the other foxholers would sneak out at night and attack their rear. Well things went horribly bad and a gang of Nazis discovered the ploy and were going from foxhole to foxhole and unloading seven or eight shots into the heads of each American G.I. Imagine what Frank felt as he saw and heard each of his buddies plead for their lives as they raised their hands in surrender and then be cold -bloodedly killed. There was no escape. When they got to Frank's fox hole, he stood and raised his hands as his comrades did. The Nazi pointed his gun at him, then smiled. He did not fire. He just inexplicably threw the camouflage netting back over the hole. That night, Frank snuck into the woods and made his way back to the American camp.

Frank was now in his late 70s and he said since that time when he had accepted his inevitable death, nothing can ever get him down. Nothing is as bad as it seems. Everything passes. Money is only money. A career is only a career. If there is love and respect, relationships can be repaired.

Poker is good training for adopting Frank's enlightened outlook of the world. Some stretches you just can't win no matter what you do. The cards are against you and there is nothing you can do about it. You need to get through it the best you can- minimize your losses. Easier said than done as your bankroll dwindles and you wonder how you are going to make rent next month. Then it happens. In one magical hand, all the despondency of the past is washed away. It's like the past never happened. You're back on your feet again.

Utah reached those depths of despair. He hit bottom and lost faith in his quest. But he cleansed himself mentally and reawoke with a soldier's mentality. As Edna said, "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."

Omaha. Here I come. Nope.

I'm suppose to be on a plane right now. A plane to Omaha. Why am I sitting here in front of my computer and not on a plane to Omaha? The Hartford airport is gridlocked. I somehow got bumped ( I guess I don't rate with Delta) and there is craziness there with a big winter storm coming in later this morning.

It's really too bad. The Omaha Public Library had me scheduled for a while and gave me a big spot on their web site (see event posting). I was also suppose to be at Harrah's and a bookstore. But when it snows it snows. I hope they understand my predicament. Maybe we can reschedule. So it looks like I'll be working from home today, building my online poker courses, scheduling future events, making a few calls and emails etc. etc. . And of course, the snowed in day will allow me to have some good time with my 2 year old daughter and my 3 month old son. Maybe it's god's way of telling me to slow down and enjoy the simple and truly important things in life. Utah and Willie would approve.

Las Vegas Trip

Last week I was in the sin city, the second biggest gambling town on the planet (Macau is #1). I was there to do some book signings, play in some events at the Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio and generally do whatever (within reason) to get some visibility for the 'ol book.

The tournament and cash poker action was very interesting. Dorothy, I knew I wasn't in Connecticut anymore. They play a different kind of poker out here. I mean I should be used to it, I've played in Las Vegas near a dozen times, but it seemed different this time around. Like Fred Stallworth, there were a lot of characters out there who didn't seem to care a lick about money. Anyway, I'll get into the poker side of things in a later entry. Here I wanted to talk about my very first book signing.

The book has only been out for a few months, so I asked other authors and so-called industry professionals about how you get people to read your tome. The old timers all said that you needed to do a book tour and set up book signings in various cities. So I naively asked, "Doesn't the publisher help with that?" The response was usually a hearty laugh. For all you aspiring authors out there, let me give you some inside dope; the publishers do nothing! Oh sure, they'll get it listed in various places and maybe help with distribution. But unless you're John Grisham or Stephen King, they essentially say; "You're on your own bub. Go get 'em."

So, I make a few bucks in my regular 5/10 no limit game and go find myself a publicist. She's a busy little bee contacting the casinos and bookstores and libraries in that desert town. Finally she lands gigs at the Tropicana, the oldest casino on the strip (but whose complaining) and the Gamblers General Store.

Now Vegas is not a place where people are going to file into a room and sit down calmly and listen to a quaint little lecture by yours truly and ask quaint little questions about my book while they sip tea with their pinky extended. No, in Vegas everyone wants to PARTY! So my bookish little publicist was shocked (utterly) when no one wanted to sit down at her little event. They came. They looked around. Not seeing any naked dancing girls, they left. There was one exception. This man in his mid 60s stopped by, sat next to me and said, "What's this here poker all about?" I, having nothing better to do, so I take out a deck of cards and showed him the basics. The man had on a big tan cowboy hat, a mustache and a long braided ponytail. He was a Navajo Indian. He talked slow and gave me a stare which I read as either, "I know all this already -- move on, move on;" or "What the hay are you talkin' about pale face?" This guy could be a good poker player.

I find out the guy is from some small town in northeast Arizona called Dead Cat or some such thing. He had never left his ranch in the last 30 years. He decided to drive the 14 hours to Las Vegas because, for the first time, two Navajos had made it to the rodeo championship which was in town that weekend. That explained all the cowboy hats, the occasional YEE HA and the bowlegged walkers in town. Anyway, I had a lot of fun listening to the old guy (I should talk) and teachin' him poker.

My jitery publicist would occasionally stop by and pull me away to meet some disinterested diners. You see, they put us in the Garden Cafe which is way in the back of the hotel and they set up our "event" all the way in the back of the restaurant. So foot traffic was a problem. Also, considering the poor economy which the casinos are feeling big time, my poor publicist had decided I should show up at people's table as they ate their breakfast in order to drum up business. Not a good idea. Morning is not a good time for Las Vegans. "Hi, this is Neal Gersony. He is an author and a professional poker player," she said to the overweight guest as he shoveled pitchforks of scrambled eggs into his mouth. He'd freeze and slowly turn his joweled face my way as yellow goo dripped from his chin. "So whaddya want me to do about it?" he was obviously thinking. After a half dozen more futile attempts. "Oh we just here fo' the Jackson family reunion. You best be gettin' along now. Ya hear." I snuck away back to my Indian friend.

Did you know that the Navajos are the largest native American tribe in the US? I ordered some breakfast for my new buddy and chatted the morning away. I signed and sold a few books, not many, but a few.

First Blog Entry

Here is the first, the number one , numero uno entry for my spankin' new blog. I intend to fill these pages with info about my professions (poker and writer and entrepreneur). Hopefully I'll do it in such a way that will make your bleak days bright and your bright days dark. I'd say I'm a humorist, but doing so would be like saying I smell really great when everyone knows you can't smell yourself.

All seriousness aside folks, my book, Poker Slam, may come up once in a great while. (More info at www.PokerSlamU.com) But really I'm more looking forward to talking about my next book which is in the thinking stage -- i.e. I'm thinking about it and haven't wrote a damn thing down yet. Input is always very very welcome. Why waste time thinking up something new when people send me their ideas for free? So keep those cards and letters coming in. I'm at ngersony(at)gmail.com.

I guess the tradition for blogs is to vary your topics of discussion. So sometimes I'll be analyzing my high stakes no limit poker hands that either cracked me or cracked them. Other times I'll be talking about interesting things that happened to me on the road. I recently got back from a one week stint in Las Vegas. I picked up some good stuff in that town (or bad stuff depending on your point of view). A recap of that trip will be forthcoming soon. I won't be talking much about my book, but I do regular radio interviews, so I'll keep you up-to-date on upcoming ones so you can be sure to listen in. Of course I'll be giving you the unfiltered inside scoop on what I'm experiencing as a first time author -- novelist. Hope you find this blog entertaining that is all that is meant to be.

I look forward to sharing, not baring, all with you all.