Questions for the New Year

A new year is almost upon us. All of the millennium hype is history and we go into 2002 with a profound new awareness of what is going on in the world outside our borders. This is a traditional time to reflect back and review our lives over the last 12 months, to give ourselves a pat on the back for the things we did right (sometimes no one else will), and to find solutions to things that went wrong. It's a traditional time to change, to motivate oneself to be a better person, to perform better, to lead a better quality of life, and to think about how the future can be different from the past.

Perhaps poker seems trivial in this brave new world, but if you're reading this column, poker is part of your life. For me, poker has been a positive experience, but I'm fully aware that isn't true for everyone, as I have watched the game ruin lives. To ensure that poker is a positive part of your future, you need to ask yourself some questions.

How good is your poker game? Did you win last year? If not, why not? Take a moment and think through what you did during the past 12 months that made you lose, because if you are a loser for a period of time as long as a year, it's very likely that the answer doesn't lie in the dealers, the color of the deck, or luck. It lies within you: your poker knowledge, its application, and your overall lack of ability at the poker table. You are doing something wrong! You need to review your poker abilities and analyze where you went wrong, and then make the necessary changes to reverse your results for the coming year.

Do you know where you went wrong? Have you even thought about it? Were the games you played in too tough? I've often said that it's not how good a poker player you are, but how much better you are than your opponents at the table! Were you in over your head by playing with more experienced and more knowledgeable opponents? Are you too full of yourself and do you believe you are a better player than you really are, letting your ego drive you into games you can't beat?

Do you really know what you are doing or are you just justifying your results to yourself? Are you disciplined at the table? Do you go on tilt? Do you play when your mental and physical resources have dramatically deteriorated? Is your poker knowledge top quality? Are superstitions getting the best of you over logic? Are you paying attention to the game or are you watching football and flirting with the cocktail waitresses? Is your heart in it? Is poker the right game for your physical and emotional makeup? Do you really have what it takes?

Many people have a tough time admitting to themselves that they need to improve. They blame losing on external reasons. They make excuses to justify their losses. They whine to each other, telling bad-beat stories over and over. They blame the dealers. They blame other players' bad play. (What? Their opponents would be easier to beat if they played well?) They blame anyone and anything they can other than themselves. The power of denial within poker players is a huge part of what makes the game so financially lucrative for the winners. Are you someone who gives up edge to your opponents because of your unwillingness to admit that you need to improve your game? Are you blaming external forces?

Do you think you know all there is to know? If you do – you are wrong! Are you going to spend this year making the same excuses that you made last year? If you do, you will get the same results. What will changing those results do for your life?

Playing poker well takes commitment. It is not a simple or easy game, and there essentially is an infinite quantity of knowledge to be acquired to play the game well. Have you taken the steps to acquire that knowledge? Much material is currently available in books and magazines. Have you read them? Do you really understand them, deeply? Have you memorized what is in them, and can you apply the knowledge you've acquired?

Are you emotionally stable enough to be competitive? Losing with character is something we all should have learned in childhood. It results in better manners and says something about the class of a person. From a results perspective, it is instrumental in your acquiring the fortitude to remain competitive when things are not going your way. Also, bad table manners is bad poker business. I learned a long time ago that a key to the game is making the environment enjoyable for myself and my opponents.

Are you performing your best? Are you capable of playing beyond the level that your results demonstrate? If you are not playing your best, you are giving up something to players who are! I've met many a losing poker player who has told me that his "B" game is better than his opponents' "A" games. I never understood how they could believe that, let alone expect me to.

Do you want to turn it around and become a winner this year? Are you willing to pay the price to convert your game into a winning one? Is the decision to do so a committed one, or is it one that you are going to give up on the first time things do not go your way?

How do you make the changes that are required to grow as a poker player? There are many factors that go into excellent performance at the table. Take care of your mind and body. Maintain a level of focus in your personal life that corresponds to keeping yourself emotionally stable. Study the game when you are at and away from the table. Read the magazines and books, and think through hands after they are played – both your own and your opponents'. Think how you (or they) could have played hands more effectively. Develop a personal pride in doing your best; get your ego involved, but don't let it get overblown. Make the changes that are necessary to correct your deficiencies, whatever they may be. Be honest with yourself. Many people find excuses for not making changes in life, seeing them as being too costly in personal terms or in effort required. Try looking at things from a different perspective. What will it cost you if you do not make the changes? Develop the habits and lifestyle of a winner; both your poker game and your life will be better for it.

The events of Sept. 11 changed the world, and they changed poker as well. They should have changed you, giving you a new focus on the fragility of life and the importance of doing things well, living as right as you can, and living the best quality of life that you can. As is the case with so many other things, the power for change is within you, and only within you. Let's see if you can reach down inside yourself and use that power.

Editor's note: Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas – please see his ad below.