Anxiety and Stress in Poker and in Life
A game may be a game, but lessons learned at the poker table can often cross over into real life lessons.
I’ll be the first to say that you see the true color of a person when you see them play poker. Are they devious trappers or aloof drivers in traffic? Sometimes the real unmasked jerk comes out at the poker online table. Leave it to money to bring out the worst in people.
But when we look at the game of poker as it relates to the outside world, it can also be seen as practice for real life situations. Poker can help the inexperienced person to deal with stress and anxiety in a more professional way. It helps you separate your emotions. If you take a bad beat and it lingers on your mind, you’re probably going to make poor decisions during this time of mental instability. You’re more likely to risk your chips in a spot that you normally wouldn’t. We’ve seen it time and time again on TV; some players are representatives of this behavior - the Mike Matusow Blow-up.
In real life, think of this as getting into a fight with your girlfriend and going out to the bar and sleeping with a random available girl. If you had more experience dealing with stress, you might not let the argument send you down a road of bad decision making. I’m not saying poker is going to keep you from cheating on your girlfriend, but what I am saying is that it gives you experience at handling situations. If you practice staying in the present in the casino, you might do a better job dealing with your otherworldly realities.
