A Baker's Dozen Aphorisms

While flipping through my Franklin Planner, I happened upon one of those aphorisms that grace the top of each page and noticed that it seemed as applicable to success in poker as it is to most other endeavors in life. I kept flipping, and within a short time I found 13 pearls of wisdom that are worth sharing with anyone aspiring to become the very best poker player he can be.

Many of these quotes read like variations on a theme, and that's good. It shows that success doesn't always demand a broad base of skills, but rather the continuous and dedicated application of a few basic concepts and principles.

"A first failure may prepare the way for later success." – Arnold Lobel

Poker players can learn from their mistakes. In fact, they ought to. If you're like most players, when you play a hand incorrectly, you generally know it. But the majority of poker players simply forget about it, instead of reviewing their play until they see the error of their ways and, as a result, are ready to do things differently next time.

"The vital, successful people I have met all had one common characteristic. They had a plan." – Marilyn Von Derbur

Without a plan you are a leaf in the wind, and if you don't have an agenda, you'll surely wind up as part of someone else's. That's not the way to succeed in poker or in life. If you want to raise your game, you'll need a plan, whether that's lessons from a teaching pro, books, videos, joining a poker discussion group, or all of the above. Improving doesn't come about by accident. It happens a lot better, and a whole lot quicker, if you're purposeful about it.

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself." – Henry Ward Beecher

It's better to fail high than succeed low. If you set your expectations way up there, you'll probably accomplish more than your opponents, merely because you expect more – and therefore strive for more – than they do.

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." – Abraham Lincoln

This is Lincoln's rendering of the contemporary statement, "Ninety percent of success is just showing up." If you want to succeed at almost any endeavor, you'll generally have to work hard and continuously to hone your craft. It was clear to Lincoln 150 years ago, and ought to be obvious to anyone who is sincerely dedicated to improving his or her game.

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to happen." – Frank Lloyd Wright

Hard work, single-mindedness, vision, consistency, and devotion to task: Wasn't that what Frank Lloyd Wright was all about? He may have built buildings – timeless monuments to his skill and vision – but you can do the same thing in poker if you are willing to give it your all.

"The richness is made day by day, with great effort." – Francesco Alberoni

Alberoni obviously expended great effort, for in his career he's been an M.D., psychoanalyst, statistician, professor of sociology, and best-selling author. The richness he's found in his life can be revealed in yours, but you'll have to put forth the effort to do so. Like Alberoni, you'll have to show up each day with your nose to the grindstone and shoulder to the wheel.

"If there is anything that a man could do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance." – Abraham Lincoln

And if you can play poker well, you ought to do so, regardless of the criticism you get from others who wish you'd take up a more traditional career or avocation. We get only one shot at life and have a responsibility to ourselves to live it to the fullest, to do what we must in order to actualize ourselves, and to be the very best at what we choose to do.

"Plunge boldly into the thick of life." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Go for it! Goethe is saying the same thing as Honest Abe, just a little more succinctly. If you can make it playing poker, give it a go. But before you do, make sure you're assessing yourself correctly and accurately. Just wanting to make a living playing poker isn't enough – not by a long shot. You need to have the right stuff. And if you think you do and say you do, but you don't, you're gonna fail – big-time.

"He turns not back who is bound to a star." – Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo is speaking to the guy who knows he's got the right stuff. If you know you have it, don't stop until you give it the full measure of your ability and the full force of your will.

"Neither talent without instruction, nor instruction without talent can produce the perfect craftsman." – Vitruvius

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio's De architectura libri decem (10 books on architecture) carefully described Roman design, engineering, and construction techniques, and his insights were so spot-on that his advice was followed for centuries. Vetruvius knew that success required both talent and instruction, and that the lack of either was a prescription for failure.

Neither talent without instruction, nor instruction without talent will produce the perfect poker player, either. There are guys – you see them all the time at the poker table – who have been playing for years and making the same mistakes time after time. Maybe they've never taken the time to read a poker book, or perhaps they have but just don't have the ability. It doesn't matter; the end result is still failure. But if you have the ability to improve your play, wouldn't it be a shame if you simply didn't take the time or expend the effort to nurture the talent residing within you?

"There is nothing to it. You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself." – Johann Sebastian Bach

When you combine an astonishingly high level of ability and talent with study and dedication, poker can become second nature to you. And when that happens, it can become just that easy. Reach, stretch, learn, and grow – then watch. Someday the cards will play themselves.

"My mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the pope.' Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso." – Pablo Picasso

There's no false modesty here. Picasso recognized his genius and wasn't shy about expressing it to anyone who happened by. But he also was a tireless worker. He painted up until the day he died, and his style was always subtly shifting and changing as he grew and developed as a person, as an artist, and as a singular genius with the unique ability to recognize where he stood in relation to the world of art. With the same dedication, single-mindedness, and vision, Stuey Ungar might well have become poker's Picasso. Instead, he succumbed to some pretty serious personality flaws. But if you work hard enough, maybe you can.

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." – Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington was born a slave, yet overcame his humble beginnings to found Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881, and was an important and controversial leader at a time when increasing racism in the United States made it necessary for African-Americans to adjust themselves to a new era of legalized oppression. When you realize what Booker T. Washington overcame, whatever obstacles lie between you and poker excellence can't be all that significant, can they?

Raise your game with Lou Krieger, author of Poker for Dummies, at http://www.royalvegaspoker.com. His newest book, Internet Poker: How to Play and Beat Online Poker Games, is available through Card Player and at www.ConJelCo.com, and all of his books can be found at major bookstores and online at www.Cardplayer.com and www.Amazon.com.