Poker – Breakaway Consciousness

Poker & Life: Pulling The Mask Card, Wearing The Poker Face | #Culture | #Poker | #Life

“People seldom change, only their masks do. It is only our perception of them and the perception they have of themselves that actually change.”
– Shannon L. Alder

“You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are underneath it.”
– Alan Moore

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 17, 2019

In poker, like in life, people wear masks. In both, every single individual wears masks of different types. Due to that, when individuals do decide to pull the proverbial ‘Mask Card’ from the poker deck of life is an intriguing proposition to consider.

Some of these masks are worn as a defense mechanism; some are worn to hide pain; some wear masks to cover up myriad emotions; some wear them only with dealing with specific people; others wear masks to get through the bog that life can provide at times; others wear masks simply because they’ve worn it all their lives and got used to them and forgot they were masks all along.

Nigh ever individual can relate to many or most of the above. Irrespective of reasons, masks are something that help individuals fight through the tides of the day, battle the waves that are ceaseless as we drift among the seas of life.

My argument is not that masks do not have a place, not at all. How people live their life’s is their business. I am merely bringing up this topic because I feel it deserves discussion, or at least ponderance at length.

Due to recent circumstances the last few days dealing with worries and concerns I’ve found myself under some of the premises above. In fact, sometimes, it’s very easy to forget you have a mask on. That said, it often takes someone you know to realize something is amyss before you yourself realize it, or some random circumstance that reminds you, “Hey, you still have that mask on, don’t forget.”

Some people might argue, shouldn’t you be authentic the whole time? What is the use of masks? One moment, and we will address that in a bit.

First: Riddle me this batman: do you know of any single place in which people are 100% authentic, and if so, what takes place in that locale? Ponder that for a minute.

With the above in mind, my contention that follows is that people wear masks all the time, for the most part. Some might instantly argue, “Well how do YOU know what most people do?”

It’s not just me that knows, but many people in fact, those that are least exposed to it. What do I mean by this?

What’s the one place where individuals can see people of myriad backgrounds showing their true colors? Facebook. People will do and say things on Facebook that they would never carry out in ‘real life’ in a million years. Keyboard cowboys abound many screens, and trolls are out in force. There is no better place to see what people will do when they do not wear masks than on Facebook and social media.

There is no better place to see this war rage between individuals in myriad social strata than in Facebook, it’s always an endless flame war. Words said in endless waves of anger, tirades made from the most hateful thoughts that individuals can manifest, all of which lead to no understanding, no common ground under which to move forward. While many arguments aren’t that intense, a lot of arguments hold no regard for human dignity and respect. This is (1) a failure of communication, (2) culture principles, (3) common sense, (4) education, (5) and the manipulation of the divide and conquer left-right paradigm. Each of those incisive elements, concurrent with other ones, al provide the veritable foundation upon which the flame wars burn and lead to the very division that the powers that be revel in.

All social media platforms provide a veritable armor under which most people feel safe to share their true feelings; feelings that many times people wouldn’t share with complete strangers in real life but waste not a nanosecond in telling strangers online in far larger numbers. This is not everyone, not by a long shot, but a sizeable part of individuals on social media platforms do this.

This type of circumstance seems to showcase why masks in society have a place.

Imagine what would happen if people went around their days doing in real life what they do in social media? To say all hell would brake lose, would be putting it lightly.

Such circumstances show why maybe its okay for people to be a little reserved in their thoughts by wearing masks. Not because they shouldn’t air out their thoughts, but the way it’s done is nothing but adding gasoline to fires that will never be put out, not under the current circumstances.

Perhaps its just how society is evolving with the fusion of traditional communications with social media platforms, perhaps its something else. But the same way that masks help society from becoming overly antagonistic (in modern times at least), masks help individuals from having to deal with uncomfortable situations that they understandably don’t want to deal with [1][2].

With the above in mind, we can gather that masks certainly have a place in society. When an individual chooses to wear is their business, but to say that masks have no place in society is akin to saying people have no right to privacy, or people on poker tables shouldn’t have a poker face.

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[1] I say, ‘In modern times at least’, because I think that if we were to take individuals from a century ago and transpose them on modern social media, the discussions that would take place would blow out of the water anything people do in modern times. The average discussion would be much more enlightening because they were a culture of character, and not a culture of personality. The distinction of this was learned by me from Susan Cain’s phenomenal book on introverts called Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop talking, though the idea stems from another author. Psychologist Cain expounds upon it saliently, however. This book is highly recommended.

[2] This was reference with me not wanting to vent with certain people in person about my current situation, though I did and do certainly vent to others.

[3] I deliberately used the Phantom Of The Opera type of mask in the post as a symbol for the individual having to wear a masks throughout most of life, just like in the story. Moreover, I love the mask because (1) I enjoy ever variation of the Phantom Of The Opera Story, whether it is the movie, the play, the video game, or in a book; (2) the opera and story make a great metaphor for life, and (3) the mask serves as a fantastic representation for Halloween, which is my second favorite Holiday between Thanksgiving and Summer time. I would also like to write an analysis on this story and turn it into a much larger metaphor, but we will see about that.

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Suggested Reading:

Have You Ever Walked On The Moon?
Never Underestimate The Power Of Imagination, The Power Of Dropping Seeds
Stranger On The Moon
Wings Are Made To Fly, Seeds Are Made To Grow
Breakaway Individuals Throughout History: The Individuals, The Trailblazers & You
Why A Sound Mindset Is Crucial: The Light Side Of Mindset Vs. The Dark Side Of Mindset
Mindset Mindset Mindset!
A Sound Mindset Amidst The Obstacles Of Life
Mindwaves & Mindfulness
Modern Misteps Meet Mindfulness
How TV Robs You Of Your Life
How You Deposit A Truckload Of Black Pearls Into An Emotional Bank Account
How Are Your (Emotional) Bank Accounts Doing?
Emotional Bank Accounts: Mutual Funds
Emotional Bank Accounts: Deposits & Withdraws
Emotional Bank Accounts: Gems Gems Gems, Babies Everywhere!
Emotional Bank Accounts: I Call Your 7 Cents & Raise You A Dollar
Poker & Life: Pulling The Friend’s Card
Imagination Unleashed
The Inherent Power Of Curiosity
A 7 Cent Investment Into An Emotional Bank Account To Convert A Hater?
What Do You Find Inspiring?
Poker FlashBack: Swimming With Sharks, Swimming With Whales
Imagination Rises Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat
What’s Your Story?
You The Individual Are Author Of Your Own Journey, Of Your Own Destiny
Harry Potter Fans Trash Talk? Say WHAT?!
Consciously Creating The Road Of Change, The World Of Tomorrow
What Are Your Personal Defaults?
A World Of Grays
The Opening Salvo, The First Minute
The Seeds Of Today, The World Of Tomorrow
Assumptions Are Mother Of All F@!$ Ups
Piercing Perspectives #1: Taking Things For Granted | Health & Mindset
Piercing Perspectives #2: You The Individual Are Extraordinary
Piercing Perspectives #3: The Divide & Conquer Left Right Paradigm
Piercing Perspectives #4: Poker As A Mirror For Life
The Individual, The Foundation Of Society

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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

Poker & Life: Playing The Ignorance Card For #Safety | #Life | #Obstacles

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 11, 2019

Following along the lines of using poker as an analogy for life and your imagination to play the “friend’s card,” below we are going to follow that with a suggestion on some of the ways individuals can play the “ignorance card”. You might be asking, why in the world would anyone want to seem ignorant? Follow along below and it will all make sense.

A few weeks ago I was walking to the parking lot somewhere getting books, when I noticed the lady in front of me speed up while walking. At that moment, I knew she was nervous of being followed so I decided to ‘tie my shoe’.

Why would I “tie my shoe?” Because nobody should ever be in an uncomfortable situation, especially given how it was obvious she was afraid of being followed while I was merely getting some books in the car. Moreover, ‘tying your shoe’ adds distance while adding subtly.

The point remains: sometimes there’s simple acts an individual can undertake that helps bring comfort to people, even if they never realize it like that woman did. She has no idea my tying my shoe wasn’t in fact that, not even close. She bolted like lightning.

Another circumstance under which an individual can play the ignorance card through the ‘tie your shoe’ method is when someone’s behind you, whether it’s the grocery store, the mall, parking lot, wherever. As I’m sure most of you would agree, one need not know that someone’s up to no good in that circumstance. The feeling of having someone behind you or close to you that you just don’t know – or even if you do – is not one of those feelings most people aren’t okay with. Heck, even having someone you know hovering over you sometimes feels uncomfortable. Totally understandable.

I only toss out the idea of tying your shoe so you can let a person walk on by because many times I’ve seen people speed up, which makes sense at times, but if a person really is a threat that might not do much [1][2]. In fact, an individual might end up cornering themselves and move away from safety. Staying around crowds and so on is one method that helps counteract that.

Whether it is ‘tying your shoe’, ‘checking out’ an item, stopping to ‘check your phone’, there is no limit to the ways that you can play ignorance and in fact be operating under total vigilance. The options are limitless because they all operate under your imagination. Don’t overlook anything.

One thing poker taught me is that sometimes the best way to stay ahead of someone is simply to seem like you’re ten steps behind.

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Author’s Notes:

[1] For the love of all common sense in the world do not ever take your eyes off the person if your instincts are going ballistic.

[2] If you’re really concerned with safety, don’t even bother with tying your shoe, simply change directions. Do it as often as you need to, for that’s the only way to be sure someone might have it in for you. I’m not trying to be funny here either, am totally serious. Worse comes to worse, you were wrong, no big deal. But if you’re right, those simple acts might make all the difference.

It didn’t strike me to share this until now, but I found it important given the serious ramifications these circumstances can have for myriad circumstances. It doesn’t matter who it is, what’s suggested are simple things that can be done that might make all the difference in the world. And that’s what its all about, making a difference.

For what its worth, I play this particular card all the time, there’s just no reason not to.

More importantly, I mention all this to show that imagination has a lot more ramifications then merely creativity. While creativity is usually what I couple imagination too, imagination can save someone’s life – it does so all the time. This is why I will continue sharing it over and over again because people just underestimate the use of imagination in life. These are merely a handful of the circumstances in which imagination can help. More will be discussed in the future. Hope this helps.
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Suggested Reading:

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About The Author:

Poker Flashback: Swimming With Sharks, Swimming With Whales | #Poker #Life #Mindset

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
– Randy Pausch

“Life, like poker has an element of risk. It shouldn’t be avoided, it should be faced.”
– Edward Norton

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 7, 2019

Poker is not only an intriguing game, but it can be breathtaking as well.

Just like life, poker offers a wide array of emotions that whip you through a roller coaster faster than you can keep up. The main emotion, in my contention, that most run of the mill poker players employ is that of fear. Having been the staple image of this player myself, I am now (in hindsight) able to share many of the things that I didn’t see at the time which prevented me from growing faster that I could have as a player. Overcoming fear in poker took time, but for that to take place, I had to jump into the deep end – into the realm of sharks.

Playing with players of superior skills is always a learning experience (or should be!), if players take the time to learn the gems of wisdom available. If not, it’s merely a waste of time in my opinion, unless you are a recreational player, and even then, they like to learn. In that deep end where sharks swim, where monsters creep, some of the most heart-rending and gut-wrenching circumstances can take place.

These circumstances will test your will power, your poise, your perseverance, your faith in yourself, your mindset, you gall, and every other emotion you can think of. The faster you become immune to all negative emotions, the faster you will grow as a player. In these respects, life is no different.

Holding even an ounce of fear is like holding a snowball that at any point can begin rolling down a hill and turn into a damn avalanche before you know it. Just like an avalanche can start from the smallest of snowballs, absolute recklessness and devastation can plague the player if they are not wary and of an incredibly sharp and precise mindset. Overcoming this fear changed my life and allowed me to go from a small-stakes player at the time, to a mid-stakes player. For a cursory glance of how that took place, a few interconnected stories follow that helped me overcome some of my most pressing issues concerning fear et al.

‘Back in the day’, would be an appropriate opening, making money in poker was much easier than it is now. The skill level required was far less, and the profits that could be made per hand, per hour, were kind of out-of-control. That said, high-skill level players have always been around, it’s just that the fields of players were much larger, there was way more fish than in the last few years, and quite a few more whales. In that sense, the game has evolved with time. With the rise of the internet, personal coaches, online coaching skill, poker programs that help analyze your game, and other factors, have all contributed to making poker a more analytical game than hitherto considered.

In the last few years, if you didn’t evolve as a player, you weren’t just going to lose given the considerable increase of skillful players, and the player pool as a whole, you were going to get downright eviscerated. To that end, ‘sink or swim’ would be an incredibly precise adage. And in the deep end, monsters lie; monsters that will crush you without a second thought; players that will rip your heart out and feed it to your children. It’s all part of the game, though, and you really can’t take it personal. That would be an egregious mistake.

When you are on the table, though there might be friends, everyone that plays in that ring of fire is to be treated as the antithesis of your being. One of these players, one of these whales, was named YL08.

But unlike most whales, YL wasn’t just a whale that wouldn’t fight back, he was Moby Dick, the great white whale, capable of destroying you by the very nature of their being. I say ‘their’ because we did not know whether this player was a man or woman. It doesn’t matter though, they were a poker player, and in poker, men and women can be just equally skilled; the only reason women do not get more notoriety is because, like many other games, poker is a male dominated game due simply to sheer numbers. There are incredible women that play the game though, such as Annie Duke, Liv Boeree, Annette Obrestad, who was in fact rising through the ranks at a incredible rate back in those days, Vanessa Selbst, Jennifer Harmon, and many more.

That said, YL wasn’t just a player. Players come and go, like the wind. YL was an experience. This person came out of nowhere and embedded himself into the midstakes of poker, on the website Full Tilt, and became widely known, even though that person fit the definition of a ‘whale’. Their imagination was off the scale. Nothing was off the table. At any time, anywhere, for any reason, YL would do anything. And in a game where players love predictability, he was the antithesis of that. YL had an imagination that was so off the scale, the closest person one could probably compare him to was Durrrr, who was a high stakes player of the same type of mindset.

Tom Dwan (Durrrr), as well as Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonious, the owner of Cirque Du Soleil (yes, the owner), all played the highest stakes at the time, which was between a $50,000 and $100,000 buy in. That game was out of control. There were many half-a-million pots, and a few million-dollar pots during those times.

For us peons playing for chump change in comparison, a smaller version of what was taking place. We down on the bottom of the totem pole were playing for $200-Buy Ins in this particular game. Talk about orders of magnitude! Even so, just because the buy-ins were $200, didn’t mean a lot of money wasn’t on the line. Those were the biggest midstakes games I ever played, which is why I had to evolve incredibly quickly or I was going to become a statistic, merely another person that took a shot and fell by the wayside.

In fact, the games YL was involved in, were so intense, with so much money moving, that it wasn’t uncommon for there to be hundreds of people in line just to take a shot. For comparison, the average $200NL might have had a handful of people in line, maybe. Now for the kicker: when YL sat down, he sat down for a long, long, long time, sometimes a day and a half if my memory serves me right. But YL sitting down didn’t mean anything unless he had a bankroll, and that he had in spades.

By the time the game was in full swing, with many hours logged, It wasn’t uncommon for there to be $5,000 to $10,000 on the table between everyone, with the lion’s share usually between 2-3 big stacks, YL at times being one of them. That was in fact very common. At times, the amount of money was closer to $10,000-$20,000 on the table, depending on how many people player with large bankrolls played besides YL.

The story doesn’t start with me, ironically, it begins with my roommate, which was also playing poker for a living at the time. He was the superior player at the time, being a notch or two ahead of me. The only thing I had on him was my ability to spot whales from a mile away. We both balanced each other out in that sense. I learned an incredible amount about poker from him and I wouldn’t be writing this if it wasn’t for him having helped me out and so on. Now for the story.

My roommate was the first one to sit with YL, and to make a long story short, he won somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000 that night. The second time he played I don’t recall how it went though. I believe he won another $1,000 or so, maybe more. Most of his sessions were wins though. He just had the luck of the draw and sat down with YL the first two times. Each of us would be checking constantly searching for YL’s screen name, given that YL was the walking definition of a lottery machine, and when he paid out, he paid out big. Life changing big. The next couple of times I found YL first, I took a crack at YL, and I really wasn’t ready for what happened.

Like Dorothy, I felt like I was swept up by a tornado from the instance I sat down at those tables. Not only did I have to contend with facing YL, which was like facing Darth Vader on steroids, but also with whoever else sat down, usually being a shark. Those games had lots of sharks. The amount of aggression I faced was unprecedented, and for a timid player who was playing way too tight trying to make the right play when in fact I was making the wrong play, it left a lot to be desired. That first game I lost $500. The game after that, I adapted slightly, but still, it was a loss.

The losses weren’t the relevant part here, it was my play – my mindset. My mindset was that of something akin to a newborn shark that hadn’t swam with other sharks, and although shark in mind, wasn’t shark at heart, not until you become a predator yourself. And for that, you need to begin becoming a shark. That, or just become a statistic. And there was no way on earth that I was going to do that. Come hell or high water, I was going to stick it through no matter what came. That’s when everything changed.

My roommate took the time to point out many of the flaws I showed in those first two games, which I thought were big at the time, but were in fact INCREDIBLE MASSIVE. They were so glaring in hindsight, that I wish I would have changed my mindset quicker. It wasn’t that I wasn’t bankrolled at the time, I was. I had already been playing for a couple of years and was doing well. The issue was that it was like entering another dimension. It’s like waking up, expecting to see the sun outside, and before you know it, you’re seeing dragons. Dragons everywhere. And they’re lighting everting on fire. You want to wake up, but you can’t, you’re stuck. The only way to get through, the only way to survive, is to begin slaying dragons, and fast, or get burned to a crisp while running like a coward.

Realizing this, my evolution came around in drastic fashion. In life, like in poker, nothing changes you like being pinned against the wall with no other options but to change. That type of mindset shift changes everything. It’s downright priceless. It turns you from feeling like a snowman in a blast furnace, to feeling like you are piloting your own veritable death star. At that point, everything changes, life changes. Even if poker is done, you as a person change.

Life offers very similar circumstances, but of varying flavors. Each of those flavors is a circumstance which will test us, sometimes repeatedly, until we change, shift, or adapt. And each of those options contains a lesson, or quite a few.

Irrespective of that, some lessons are best learned slowly; and some lessons, like putting your hand on a stove, must be learned on the spot. And nothing burns more incredibly than getting your ego pulverized, like mine did during those early games. Thankfully, I was able to evolve as a player, as a person, and began winning at a win rate that was unprecedented in many ways. Though admittedly, I was incredibly selective as well, as I always was, except I didn’t mind swimming with sharks.

And like Captain Ahab, I, like others, found my great white whale.

But unlike Captain Ahab, I wasn’t going to let the great white whale, Moby Dick, destroy me. Because my mindset wouldn’t allow me, not anymore. And YL went on to destroy many players, absolutely wiping out countless bankrolls during his reign. It was the stuff of legends.

But the best part about it?

When you change as an individual, when you change deep down inside in ways you never thought possible, your perspective changes, your mindset evolves, your life changes, forever.

And there’s just no price you can put on the freedom, and the range that such a shift in mentality, such a shift in mindset gives you. I consider myself fortunate and grateful for even having the opportunity. Half a century ago, such opportunities did not exist. Now, opportunities in poker and in life, litter the landscape like candy on Halloween, all there for the taking.

Just as one door closes, another door opens. The beauty in life is that life always provides opportunities, and in those opportunities, you the individual can change, or you can remain stagnant; you can push yourself to the limits of your imagination and beyond, or you can remain comfortable; you can sink, or you can swim.

And when you open your own doors, whatever doors those may be, and begin slaying dragons left and right, begin chopping up sharks into fillet, not only will your mindset change, but your whole being. In fact, you will no longer have to worry about sharks. You will not have to worry about anything.

Instead, the sharks will have to worry about you.

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Author’s Note:

Believe it or not, this is the short elevator version of this overarching story, if you can believe that. It could probably easily be 10 times longer and still barely scratch the surface. There are just too many elements to make note of, too many games that were played, and circumstances that were fluid to account for all of them in their totality. My aim in this write up was about striking a balance with all elements considered. I realize this story is a bit verbose, but I wanted it to cover as much as possible, without going too overboard, though I feel in a sense that perhaps I did. Context is everything, and I wanted to make sure the context was there to add depth to how certain circumstances can maybe seem insurmountable, and yet, never be so, as long as you don’t give up and your mindset holds on, no matter how hard it may be.

I’m not going to pretend that all circumstances in life are the same, they are not, not even close. But there’s usually possibilities to be explored, though sometimes it takes incredible outside-of-the-box type of thinking. Or better, a there-is-no-box type of mindset.

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Suggested Reading:

How You Deposit A Truckload Of Black Pearls Into An Emotional Bank Account
How Are Your (Emotional) Bank Accounts Doing?
Emotional Bank Accounts: Gems Gems Gems, Babies Everywhere!
Imagination Unleashed
A 7 Cent Investment Into An Emotional Bank Account To Convert A Hater?
What Do You Find Inspiring?
Imagination Rises Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat
What’s Your Story?
You The Individual Are Author Of Your Own Journey, Of Your Own Destiny
Harry Potter Fans Trash Talk? Say WHAT?!
Consciously Creating The Road Of Change, The World Of Tomorrow
Wings Are Made To Fly, Seeds Are Made To Grow
What Are Your Personal Defaults?
Have You Ever Walked On The Moon?
The Opening Salvo, The First Minute
The Seeds Of Today, The World Of Tomorrow
Piercing Perspectives #1: Taking Things For Granted | Health & Mindset
Piercing Perspectives #2: You The Individual Are Extraordinary
Piercing Perspectives #3: The Divide & Conquer Left Right Paradigm
Piercing Perspectives #4: Poker As A Mirror For Life
The Individual, The Foundation Of Society

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About The Author:

Piercing Perspectives #4: Poker As A Mirror For #Life | #Motivation | #Inspiration | #Mindset

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 4, 2019

Poker, besides it being a game, provides an interesting take on many ideas, particularly life.

In reality, poker, like life, isn’t really about money if you ponder it deeply. Sure, money is what you seek as a means to an end, as an individual; but money is the byproduct of something much more important in both: a sound mindset. Poker and life are about making the correct decisions, every single time, day in and day out, hour after hour, no matter how it makes you feel. In that sense, Poker is a perfect mirror to life.

Moreover, poker, like life, has highs and lows. In poker, you get waves of cards where it seems you couldn’t make a wrong choice if you tried; in life, you get waves of circumstances that you ride and it makes you seem like a genius; in poker, you get absolutely life-changing pitfalls that leave you wishing you never tried the game; in life, you get overwhelming circumstances that leave you feeling that life couldn’t get any worse, but no matter what you face, in life, just like in poker, it can always get worse. And it both, it can always get better. These contrasts, et al., are one of the reasons why we appreciate when things go well.

In life, like in poker, you can’t value being painless, without having the contrast to pain; you can’t value being energized, without having the notion of what feeling exhausted feels like; you can’t value when things are good, without the contrast of when thing go bad; you can’t value wisdom, without having the contrast with ignorance; you can’t value joy, without having the contrast with sadness; you can’t value a painting, without knowing what a blank canvas looks like; you can’t value peace, without having a contrast of war; you can’t value love, without having a contrast with fear; you can’t value life, without being it compared to death; you can’t value the best, without knowing how it feels to have the worst.

Bottom line: you can’t value one side of the coin, without knowing the other exists. And in those contrasts that life offers, like poker, we have choices, an endless pool of choices from which to draw from.

In poker, you get a choice on how to handle each circumstance, and just because you make the right choice, doesn’t mean you will win; in life, it’s no different. In both, you can make the best choices repeatedly, and still end up getting screwed [1]. This makes people often think that “Life isn’t fair” and so on, and that’s understandable. But who ever said life had to be anything – particularly ‘fair’? That kind of mindset is dangerous because it leads people to skip (or overlook) optimal choices simply because they might lead to a sense of unfairness, of something that doesn’t feel good. “The game is rigged, I’m not going to win anyway,” is something someone could say in poker; in life, someone could say “What does it matter? Nothing ever works out for me.” It comes down to mindset, mindset, mindset.

Life and poker are a lot more complicated than merely once choice. In fact, both life and poker, if anything, are a never ending series of choices; choices that are easy, choices that are complex; choices that leave you feeling good, choices that leave you feeling bad; choices that can alter your life, for the best or for the worst; choices that might feel good, and choices that might be good (there’s a distinction, and that distinction is crucial). Just because something feels good, doesn’t mean it’s the optimal choice. A choice feeling good, and it being good, are not mutually exclusive. That’s not to say that feelings, nor instincts, have no place in life, nor in poker, not at all. They both do, and each has a place in it, an integral one at that, but going on feelings alone is simply operating from one side of your brain, from a limited set of options. That’s why a holistic approach is better, for it provides a full-range of options to draw from rather than a limited set of choices.

The point is that a lot of the times our perspectives tailor how we react, and our perspectives are tailored by our mindset. Our mindset is tailored by a confluence of factors, those being our upbringing, life experience, education, mindfulness, randomness [2], choices we take individually, and countless other circumstances as well.

Bottom line, to reiterate, we always, always, always, have a choice. Do we ‘play’, in life and in poker, optimally, or suboptimally?; do we gamble, or do we sit painstakingly patient, waiting for ‘our’ time, sitting tight, folding, over and over again; do which is the right choice? Does it matter? HECK YES IT DOES!

It does matter, which is why we each are here, each as individuals on our own journey. Our journey in life, like that in poker, is essentially about key moments, key moments that change our bearing ever so slightly (or significantly) every single day. Do we let those circumstances tailor our life, or do we let our life tailor our circumstances? Another great contrast to consider, especially since it couples to mindset.

Life, and poker, both shuffle their decks constantly, day in and day out. You never know what you get, what cards you will be dealt. However, the greatest contrast between poker and life is that, you don’t have to play in poker, while you have to saddle up and ‘play’ in life, individuals have no options about that.

Life, like poker, has its own deck of cards. But ironically, the place where we need to play our cards the best is in life, because we have to use the cards we are dealt with, we have to deal with the circumstances in life as they come at us.

The deck will always keep shuffling, as it always has, and always will. Circumstances will never keep manifesting.

That said, and this is the most important point: the cards you get dealt doesn’t matter, not at all. How you play what you are dealt is what matters. The best example that harpoons this point is that, there are players that butcher playing Aces, while on the flip side, some people turn a junk hand into a miracle, in both in poker, and in life.

Both life and poker offer circumstances, positive and negative. Since positive circumstances are rather straight forward (for the most part) we will focus on the negative ones.

The best advice I can give you is this: when life stacks the deck against you, and you are feeling incredibly overwhelmed, always remember, as long as you are in the game, as long as you are here, you always have a choice, you always have an out. Knowledge of this is crucial, for it allows an individual to know that they are creators of their own destiny, they have their life story to write, they have a life to live to its maximum potential.

And if you conquer when you conquer those obstacles that life throws at you, you will feel like a conquering hero, you will feel like Frodo crossing the lands of Mordor going all the way; you will feel so invigorated, so capable, you will be so confident that you will be able to drop your soul on Satan’s doorstep and say “Try me.”

That’s the type of mindset that will make you see that the next boulder life tosses your way is merely a pebble, something to be flicked away, like a particle of dust. Dust off your shoulder.

That’s power you can’t buy, that’s a mindset, that will make all the difference in the world.

It’s a perspective, a mindset, that will change your life. Forever.

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[1] This is one of the notions that leads people to make suboptimal choices, and its understandable. We live in an insta-feedback society. Individuals in modern times make choices faster than ever before, particularly with the internet as a backbone to modern times and many (or most) of the choices we have; as such, our feedback is faster than ever before. That feedback, when it’s not good and it also comes with rapidity, can be something hard to overcome and often overwhelming. It’s not impossible though, not at all.
[2] Randomness, or chance, is one the TOUGHEST issues to deal with, in my estimate, in both poker and in life. This factor alone can drive people crazy, figuratively and literally.
[3] Sometimes to the point of desperation; I should know, I gave in to desperation and recklessness hundreds of times in poker, and I will write about it in the future. This happens a lot more often than poker players, or people in life, would like to admit.

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About The Author:

Logic – The Missing Link

Logic
“Profound simplicity = common sense. – The height of cultivation runs to simplicity of common sense; the straightest, most logical way.”[1]

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
March 25, 2019

Logic is an amazing tool. In fact, so much so, that those that do not employ it do not see what others may see or find as obvious.

By way of example, I will give examples that venture into two of my favorite things in life: gaming and poker.

While in my teens, I used to play a Real-Time-Strategy game called Starcraft. The goal of the game was to beat you opponent’s army with your own. Starcraft could be played by yourself, or online. I myself chose to play it online because I could play it with and against other people, whether individually or teams, instead of playing against simply against the Artificial Intelligence that the ‘computer’ generated, which at that time was strong, but not stronger than individuals.

Often times, while playing online, opponents would accuse me of hacking. This took place the majority of the time because my forces were (1) right where they needed to be, and (2) the speed at which I built was faster-than-usual (although not unnatural). Opponents couldn’t imagine someone not hacking and accomplishing those two.

In the first example above, instincts (coupled with experience) will go a long way into ascertaining what your opponents would do, although never 100% probability in the long run. This is why logic was and is vital. For instance, if there are three avenues of approach to your base, and you have verified that your opponent is not at the other two, then its logical to infer that he must be taking that third route, without having to check the third road. Now we will take apart the second example revolving around building orders.

Within the second example, all it would take for an individual was to come up with a logically-based-building order in order to figure out how to acquire whatever unit, or resource you needed to acquire, and do so in rapid fashion. The more logical your building order, the easier it was to accomplish your goal. Just like paper cannot be made without trees, within Starcraft, specialized units could not be made without certain structures. Those that got them quickest had an incredible advantage that allowed you to essentially crush your opponent when they couldn’t see you coming (in this case literally, since you were employing cloaking technology that was part of a unit called a Ghost and its repertoire.) Players that didn’t employ building orders, nor logic, could not see what could be accomplished by discipline, practice, trial-and-error and precision of thought within the game.

Are the above examples simple? Yes, but they prove the point. The Poker example will follow in a second. Keep in mind that although, logic is like a laser, and highly helpful, it can be detrimental if used in a flawed manner.

There are two basic types of reasoning which are (1) inductive and (2) deductive. Inductive reasoning yields probability, while deductive reasoning yields certainty. In the above example of the three roads heading into my base, two of which were reconnoitered, it was certain that the attack would come from the third. That’s certainty. Now, if my base contained 10 avenues of approach, and I had ran scans via the satellites of 8 of those roads, and still 2 remained unscanned, this would mean that I could not be 100% certain which road my opponent would come through, but it was highly probable that it had to be one or the other.

Now, one great mistake that can be made is when individuals confuse inductive reasoning with deductive reasoning. Just because something is likely, or even probable, that doesn’t make it certain. Confusing probability for certainty will only make individuals believe that because something seems a certain way, it ‘must be that way’, when such might not be the case.

While Starcraft featured one example in certainty and one in probability, the next example will strictly deal with probability. As a preamble to this next part, let’s take a look at a scene from the classic Poker move named Rounders, which actually inspired me to seek out the game as such:

Rounders Poker Scene

What do we have? We have a player that was able to analyze the cards of other players and be correct. This example is incredibly extreme though, though certainly possible. Knowing exactly what that many opponents have as the example above, while not impossible, is highly unlikely. Knowing what a handful of opponents have is certainly possible. The point is however, that by employing a variety of (mental) poker tools, an individual can narrow down the hand ranges of the individuals, so much so that they will oft-know what they have, but never to 100% accuracy. Of course, this lack of certainty implies probability.

Poker is a fascinating game because, although the example I speak of only deals with probability, inductive and deductive reasoning can play a vital role in the construction of a hand analysis. The more robust your ability to analyze hands on the fly, the easier it is going to be too narrow your opponents hand range (or even particular hand in rare instances) as in the movie clip above and the better prepared you will be while playing, thus knowing when to hold’em, and when to fold’em.

By knowing your opponents tendencies, knowing hand ranges, what those hand ranges will do on a bet-by-bet, or street by street bases, by picking up betting patterns (if they exist), by using deductive and inductive reasoning and also by employing poker combinatorics, individuals will be much better prepared to know what particular range of hand an opponent has, or even the actual hand; this all deals with probability. Those are not the only tools a player may employ, simply the ones I am mentioning not to overcomplicate this example.

The more robust and capable you are at such, the easier it is going to be to ‘read your opponent’ in such a way that it is obvious to you, but not others. This has left others accuse me of hacking and/or cheating in online games because they can’t fathom someone’s handreading ability to be as such. And many people are capable of this. That said, the baseless accusations employed in these two games evaporate quickly once realizes that there are simple explanations. Of course, I’m not the only player to have gone through this, many others have as well.

The point is that people that do not employ logic or imagination can at times accuse others that do employ logic and imagination in an acute way of doing things that did not take place, simply because they are missing out on the finer details. And that’s what life is, details.

Details are everywhere. Life, if nothing else, is composed of little things, salient details. They all tell a story. Those that pay attention to those details and know what they signify (or are likely too), are not magicians of any sort, hackers, or cheaters; these individuals are just seeing things for what they are when employing certainty, or what they are likely to be when employing high probability.

This is why I am constantly urging others to study Logic, so they can realize what it can do, and what it cannot. Everyone that studies it and employs it regularly is better off for myriad reasons, not the least of which is just seeing things in the totality of their existence, seeing an Ace for an Ace, or seeing a circumstance for a circumstance.

As such, Logic is the missing link. Not employing logic to its maximum potential is akin to an astronomer without a telescope. Just because an astronomer can visually see the sky does not mean that they are able to see its full breadth and scope. Logic allows for the exploration required to see the boundlessness of life.

In life, no matter what journey you choose to make, getting to your destination is always going to be easier with logic.

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Footnotes:

[1] Bruce Lee, Edited by John Little, Striking Thoughts – Bruce Lee’s Wisdom For Daily Wisdom, p. 189.

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If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and BreakawayIndividual.com
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Suggested Reading:

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Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston
A Workbook For Arguments by David R. Morrow & Anthony Wesson

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