Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Applying the wisdom of Warren Buffett to poker

I wonder if its possible .. but here are a few quotes from the great man and how i'd apply them to poker:

"I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute. " Not sure if its useful for poker, but a good motto to live by ....

"I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over. " Why challenge the sharks when you can play against fish?

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. " The same can happen to your bankroll. Think about it.

"Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars. " I suspect the same applies to poker players some will be nice, others not so nice

"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked. " He who bets outside his bankroll will be caught when the inevitable downswing happens

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. " Know what you are doing ...

"Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1." Whilst not applying to individual sessions or hands, I think you can apply this appropriately to bankroll management


"Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks. " For some people limit holdem might not be their game. For others poker might not be their game. If its not, its time to try something else

"The only time to buy these is on a day with no "y" in it." Its never a good day to play a -EV game

"There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult. " Keep it simple - abc poker will work relatively often

"Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre. " Variance will even out over time and show whether you are a winning or losing player


"We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds." Interesting concept. Almost applies to myself I think


"Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful". " Play on sites you enjoy playing on and against players you enjoy playing against


"Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing. " Do you need to focus on multiple games, or ensure you are very skilled at one?


"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong. " Too many small errors will add up to a big hole in your bankroll


That might be the end of my semi-thoughtful posts for a bit as I think i'm outta ideas, so the next few might be a few more boring session updates and hand histories. Will see.

In terms of play I put in about an hour last night, but couldn't find too many soft tables so was stuck with playing only one or two tables at a time. I eeked out a gain of 7BBs at $2/4, broke even at $3/6, and lost a few BBs at $1/2, so no big movement in the bankroll, although should see a small increase in rakeback in the next day or two.

I still need to stop myself from going into the chat box to give my 2c on a bonehead suckout that has cost me 10-20BBs. I'm sure one day I will quit doin it. Don't tap on the aquarium and all that ....

Current bankroll: $14,000

5 comments:

PHLUKKE said...

AHA......DO NOT USE THE CHATBOX !!!! FULL STOP .
seriously , you are far too good a player to be distracting yourself . Sever the link with any reaction to suckouts, beats , cold cards , whatever . TRAIN urself to become immune . I know it is difficult but when you can achieve it 9 times out of 10 you will become unstoppable because nothing will throw you off your A game .
Like i said to you recently.....it is like a spiritual journey......almost trance like .KNOW you can beat them and just chuckle to yourself at their stupidity . Every time i tag a fish now i get really excited and cant wait to go up against them again.

Nick said...

I wonder if Buffett plays poker. I doubt it, probably too risque.

parttimebonuschaser said...

my guess would be he'd play bridge rather than poker

TiocfaidhArLa said...

"You know," Buffet told Blackstone, "I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had the right three cell mates, so we could play bridge all the time."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/16/sunday/main3840748.shtml

... and all I would need is a laptop and a (reliable) ADSL modem.

An insightful article on cards when the November 9 would be making headlines you would think.

My favourite Buffet quote was when he was asked about the short tenure of CEO's and he replied "When was the last time you washed a rental car?".

Great post!

PS He and Gates donated $1M to teach kids bridge. I know that some stock traders on Wall Street get taught poker. Taken seriously, they are both very educational.

TiocfaidhArLa said...

oops, my URL got trucated, here is an overlapping conclusion ... sunday/main3840748.shtml