Plus, read how Amarillo Slim beat a fortune out of Evel Knievel with a hammer!
EASY TO LEARN…..BUT… New poker players are often very pleased with themselves when they begin to feel comfortable with the dynamics of playing Texas Hold’em online. To their surprise it is a relatively simple game to learn. However, it can be a more painful realisation when they discover that the game is much more difficult to “master”. Why is it difficult to master? The main reason is that poker is a game of psychology, mathematics and self control. It’s not just a question of grasping the basic mechanics of the game. You may have a degree of self control and maybe you aren’t too bad at calculating odds quickly but it’s unlikely you are also a whizz at psychology. Finding yourself with two out of the three required weapons isn’t bad going but you are going to need to fully grasp the complete trio of disciplines before you develop the edge which magically turns Texas Hold’em into something much more than just a game of chance. You can’t be skilful at guessing the “number slot” a silver ball will fall into on a roulette wheel but you definitely can become a talented poker player if you work at the skills. Just ask the hundreds of millionaire poker professionals. Poker doesn’t need to be a game of chance, merely one that includes it.
IMAGINE GAMBLING WITH YOUR LIFE Those of you old enough to remember the Legendary Evel Knievel in his hey day will recall a world famous stuntman who gambled with his life every time he launched his motorcycle across a canyon or two dozen blazing Cadillacs. Can you begin to imagine what kind of a poker player Evel must have been? Well, surprisingly perhaps, not good. He simply liked risk too much according to Amarillo Slim. Amarillo, who loved to target wealthy “marks”, famously challenged Evel to a game of golf . This wasn’t to be just any normal game of golf. Evel was then worth over $300,000,000 and Amarillo wanted a big piece of him, so he bet the stuntman that he could beat him at golf using only a carpenter’s hammer against Knievel’s standard nine iron. Evel agreed to give Slim a stroke per hole and allowed him to play on his knees. Slim won and the winning payout to Amarillo was so large Knievel is on record as saying it hurt him more than the dozen or so bones he had broken up to that date, including his back. The poker lesson? Disciplined aggression based on experience is one thing, being a “risk junkie” is something to be avoided. It may not break your back but it will break your bankroll.
POKER QUOTER “Son, I’ve made a life out of readin’ peoples’ faces, And knowin’ what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.” Lyrics from Kenny Rogers’ huge hit “The Gambler” apparently dedicated to Amarillo Slim.
