Why Are You Rooting Against?

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."

- Gore Vidal, author

"It's about time that kid had the horseshoe removed from his – – -." I can't tell you how many times I heard that during the World Series of Poker when the name Phil Ivey was mentioned. One of the sad truths about poker is that the more success a person has, the more people will take pleasure in seeing him fail.

It's a sad part of human nature that we root against others. When the prom queen shows up at her 10-year class reunion 100 pounds overweight, many will be tempted to laugh. It's disturbing – sickening, really – but true. The Germans have their own word for it: Schadenfreude, meaning enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.

Poker is a zero-sum game. With the rake, it's really a negative-sum game for the players. Each year, there is a finite amount of money that will be "in play" for the poker community, and if one player is winning a bunch of it, there is less to go around for everybody else. One of the few times you'll find poker players happy to see another player win is when a live one is on a hot streak, since everyone knows it's just a matter of time before he'll give it back.

If the worst player in your regular game somehow was heads up against Phil Ivey at the final table of the World Series of Poker, it would be pragmatic to root against Ivey – simply because the outcome impacts you. But if Ivey were up against another player – say, a 50-year-old pro who never plays in a game that you play in – and you found yourself rooting against Ivey, ask yourself why.

Is it because he's younger than you or because he has already won four bracelets? If so, ask yourself if you're happy with your own game. Envy is a symptom of being unhappy with yourself, and the only way to get rid of it is to take action to make your own game better.

Also understand that it's human nature to root for the underdog. The reason the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs are so beloved is that they've suffered so long. It's also the reason fans love to root for the "Cinderella" teams in the NCAA basketball tournament. Put Phil Ivey against a guy who has been earning minimum wage for the past 30 years and had to work overtime for a month to buy his way into a supersatellite to get into the tournament, and it's natural to root for the underdog. Just recognize the difference between rooting for someone – which is OK – and rooting against someone whose fortune has no bearing on yours. Sure, poker at large is zero-sum, but it doesn't mean that the outcome of any particular game or tournament impacts you.

The danger of taking the zero-sum premise of poker into life is that you may start to believe that in order for you to win, someone has to lose. Suppose that you rent an apartment in Las Vegas for the summer with free air-conditioning and free utilities. You leave all the lights on and run the air conditioner at 60 degrees – even when you go away for the weekend. Why bother to turn the lights or the air off? After all, it's included! Sure, your landlord has to pay for it, which means the costs will be passed on to other tenants – but not you. You're there for only three months and have locked in the price. In this case, it never comes back to haunt you. The environment, your neighbors, and future tenants, sure, but not you. But did you ever stop to think that someone has to pay for it?

If you find yourself rooting against other poker players who don't impact you and taking satisfaction in their misfortune, it's a sign that you are unhappy with your own poker game. If you find yourself rooting against other people who have no bearing on you, it's a sign that you are unhappy with your own life. But I'll also bet that if you find a way to channel negative energy into improving yourself, you won't have enough hours in the day to root against others. And you just might be on your way to winning four gold bracelets.

Greg Dinkin is the author of The Poker MBA: Winning in Business No Matter What Cards You're Dealt, which is available through Card Player (see the ad in this issue). Greg is also the co-founder of Venture Literary (www.ventureliterary.com), where he works with writers to find publishers for their books.