Money Can Buy Happiness at the Poker Table

15 July 2005

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA – (PRESS RELEASE) -- It occurred to me today that if the leaders of our war-torn globe are truly interested in achieving universal harmony, they could learn a lesson or two from the poker world. What these leaders will quickly find is that a poker table is an environment unlike any other.

-Discrimination does not exist at a poker table. The people seated at this table care only about the color of your money, not the color of your skin.

-Cultural divides are easily bridged on the felt. Bets, checks and raises are the common language. In fact, one need not speak at all. Pushing a gargantuan pile of chips into the middle of the table speaks louder than mere rhetoric ever could.

-Envy, greed and fear, have no place at the poker table. Oh sure, they arise from time to time, and just as quickly they disappear along with the bankroll of the player unwise enough to let petty emotions govern his play.

-Best of all, there is no need to harbor grudges at the poker table. There's always another hand, another game, another chance to turn the tables as it were.

Perhaps, it is this last characteristic, more than any other that explains how the game of poker has maintained this delicate balance between traditional values and modern sensibilities as the game rockets through a growth phase unprecedented in its storied history.

How else can we explain the fact that Doyle Brunson can co-exist at a table with Phil "The Unabomber' Laak without feeling an irresistible urge to ram a copy of Super System 2 down his ample esophagus? Surely to a poker traditionalist like Brunson, Laak represents everything wrong with the modern player? From kneeling behind the dealer while the flop is dealt to touching other player's chips, Laak epitomizes the new breed of poker professional: aggressive to the max and more than a little cognizant of the television ratings cache that his pseudo bad boy behavior elicits. In stark contrast, Brunson is the original riverboat gambler, the living embodiment of an era when the unspoken rules of poker were every bit as important as the rules according to Hoyle. While it is certainly tempting to portray Doyle Brunson as a relic of a passing era, his own comments reveal a man in touch with the times and a player who understands that bad behavior or not, more players represent more opportunity for the seasoned professional.

"Well, the Internet, along with the media, is what's started this whole poker explosion. The Internet creates a lot of new players – people who are too shy to go into the casinos to play in person when they start off. They can practice the game and play what I call the 'micro-limits' and they can advance that way as fast as they want to. The Internet's invaluable in creating players and generating interest in the game."

-Doyle Brunson, Bluff Magazine, February/March 2005

In one simple, succinct statement, Brunson reveals why poker's past sits so comfortably alongside it's present and future. More players means more opportunity, and while the times they are a changing, the best players will still win more often than not—and now they're winning more than ever!

The best example of poker's unspoken truce is last year's World Series of Poker. While media pundits decried the aggressive and seemingly illogical tactics of the new breed of Internet players, stopping just short of calling for an outright poker revolt from the old guard, poker's practiced professionals were oddly silent. Perhaps, more than a few recognize the inestimable value of the game's growth: growth that is translating into record prizes for poker tournaments around the globe, growth that is translating into more opportunities for poker players of every generation.

In actuality, today's poker professional is just as likely to take a seat online as off. The Internet's ability to offer the game of your choice, anytime or anywhere, has swelled the ranks of those able to earn a living playing the game they love, and thanks to record tournament turnouts, the cream of the crop are doing better than ever!

A timeless game is bridging the gaps between tradition and change. In poker, it seems money can indeed buy happiness, and while seating the world's leaders around the poker table may not be the ultimate blueprint for world peace, I can't help but think that they could learn something from a game where eloquent rhetoric and grandiose posturing mean very little in comparison to the cards you hold and the brains you have.