The Poker Player’s Manifesto

If you play poker, then you are a member of the poker community. Within poker, there are many sub-communities, ranging from grandma’s weekly home game to Vegas professionals. Membership in the poker community is centric to the felt, but spans lifetimes rather than poker sessions. The community is small, and being a member in good standing has its perks. Trust is given freely, unless trust is broken, and then it is nearly impossible to regain.

Since most relationships within the poker community begin at the poker table, the poker table is where we will start talking about how to be an awesome member of the poker community. Your actions at the poker table will reflect on your reputation, and if nobody likes playing poker with you, then they won’t want to hang out with you either. Treat everybody at the table with respect. If you can’t respect somebody at the table for some reason or another, still respect the others at the table by not creating conflict with that other person. If you can’t do that, then go sit in another game, and if there isn’t another game, either go home or figure out a way to get along while the cards are in the air. The poker table isn’t the place to start fights. The only exception is to stand up for the game if somebody is breaking the rule of disrespecting the game. I am quick to comment and call somebody out for offenses like abusing the dealer, disrespecting others at the table, or asking to see the losing hand. Meanwhile, even when disagreeing with somebody, it is done respectfully rather than aggressively, because aggressively talking to people will rarely benefit your cause or lead to a peaceful discussion.

How you react to the variance of poker will also impact your reputation. We all know the players who blow up from bad beats and we admire the few who seem to never get rattled by variance. It’s less fun to play poker with somebody who is going to complain about losing pots. Every single one of us in the poker community has given and received many bad beats. The sooner you stop caring about them, the sooner you will be happier at the table. The same goes for celebrating. Nobody likes to lose a pot, and nobody wants to see you celebrate winning a pot from them. Smile and drag the pot, standing up and high-fiving the dealer is probably a bit excessive.

Do everything you can to make the game of poker fun. Smile, laugh, talk, learn people’s names, talk about things. Do whatever you can to steer the conversation away from poker because the game is better when people are talking about fly fishing instead of poker strategy. Make friends. Eventually, you will probably do things away from the poker table, and you are living in community.

Many of my best friends come from the poker community. I love you people. There is a greater collection of people I trust in the poker community than I have ever experienced from any non-poker playing community. I’ve only got a few family members that I would trust with $10,000, but I can think of a long list of poker players that could walk up, say, “Devo, I need ten dimes, I’ll get you back within the month,” and I’ll hand them the money without further discussion.

The reputation you earn for yourself will precede you. I’ll never forget the first moment I realized this. Somewhere in the winter of 2005-06, I was at Bellagio with some friends from Minnesota. I ended up sweating a heads-up match in the top section between my new friend Brian and some other dude. I had just met Brian that weekend, but I had made friends that year with some of his friends, so he knew about me and I knew about him. He was getting crushed but he had money in his safe. I give him the $5,000 in my pocket, he gives me his room key, the code to his safe, and instructions to “get everything on the left.” I go to the room, inside is two sleeping dudes whom I am still unsure of their identities, I open the safe, see at least $50,000, grab the pile on the left, and chuckle to myself as I lock the safe with the same code Brian gave me. The whole walk down I thought about how cool it was for him to trust me like that, but years later I realize that he trusted me because he had no reason not to trust me, not to mention information from mutual friends that I was trustworthy.

Trust within the poker community is essential to maintaining a solid reputation. If you do something untrustworthy, it is nearly impossible to earn that trust back and for good reason. So, tell the truth. Pay your debts. Do what you say you are going to do. Honor your commitments. If you cannot pay your debts, then communicate with your debtor. Don’t say, “I’ll pay you on Saturday,” without paying that person on Saturday.

Nearly a decade after going into that safe and not heading for Mexico, my reputation continues to precede me. It has been an honor to be a member in good standing of the poker community. I have been given the opportunity to play many games and tournaments that I wouldn’t have otherwise had because of people trusting my poker game and my likelihood to pay up after enough to be willing to back me. I’ve collected and handed out millions of dollars with nothing more than a handshake for a contract. It was easier to get a loan on my house, which I paid cash for, with text messages to friends than it was going to a bank. I have made friends that I will call friend for the rest of my life. Be good to people and they will be good to you, be trustworthy and you will be trusted. The poker community is a great group of people to be around. ♠

Bryan Devonshire has been a professional poker player for nearly a decade and has more than $2 million in tournament earnings. Follow him on Twitter @devopoker.