Poker News

John Vorhaus

There’s an old saying — the title, in fact, of a book by Sheldon Kopp — “If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him.” What this means, I think, is that anyone who claims to have Answers should be met with skepticism, or possibly a sharp stick. No one has Answers. All they have are hypotheses.

If that’s true of other people, it’s doubly true of ourselves, and triply true in the context of our poker game. The minute we get too cocky about what we think we know, that’s when the real trouble starts.

Don’t be seduced into believing you know more than you do: about poker; about life; about traffic conditions on the interstate out of town. Why? Because no sooner do you think you have Answers than you stop looking for answers. And how can you expect to find better answers once you’ve stopped looking?

Rather than fall into the trap of certainty, demand of yourself that you make, and always continue to make, measured decisions based on available information. Take interim steps. Then stop and evaluate what new information is revealed. When your information changes and improves, update your decisions and plan new actions. In this way, decision- making becomes a fluid, dynamic thing, totally in the moment and not at all enslaved by the past.

This notion of making the latest possible decision based on the best available information has application for the large issues of our lives; within the context of an ongoing poker session (where we update our appraisal of our opponents); even right down there on the level of the singlepoker hand.

Consider: You start out with pocket queens. The information at hand tells you that your chances of success are good. But there are several raises from tight players before the flop. Now you have new information: Quality holdings are out against you. The flop brings an ace and a king and some other thing. A raising war breaks out. Your latest available information tells you that your oncepromising hand has gone south.

What do you do? Do you cling to that earlier optimistic assessment and lose a lot of money, or do you fold before the damage gets any worse? If you’re clear-eyed and self-aware, you’re prepared to make the right decision at the right time, based on the best available information.

If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him. No one has answers, except situationally, and since situations are fluid, the answers always change. Keep an open mind, and not just open but ferociously and aggressively open. Make room for new learning, new ideas, new ways to play your game and, above all, new information. Respond to changing situations–in poker, in life, and on that interstate out of town. You’ll stay out of trouble, or at least you’ll stay out of traffic.

[JV’s latest books, POKER NIGHT and THE KILLER POKER HOLD’EM HANDBOOK are available now in bookstores or through www.vorza.com.]

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