Poker and Philosophy: Impermanence
by Bodog Poker | Sep 30 2010
The concept of impermanence is one of the key doctrines in the Buddhist faith. Essentially, the term defines the state of flux that all of existence is subject to. It's understood by Buddhists to be one of the three marks of existence, along with unsatisfactoriness and non-selfhood. These three things are hallmarks of every single thing in the whole of creation. To wit: the human life embodies impermanence in the aging process and the cycle of death and rebirth that is at the core of Buddhist theology. The Buddha taught his followers that all things are impermanent and attachment to them becomes the cause of future suffering. They should instead focus on nirvana, the all that sounds everything.
At this point, you're likely wondering how this relates to poker, and I don't blame you one bit.
Think of poker as nirvana, a whole that surrounds every event, every action, every moment at the tables. Your place at that table, those cards in your hand, everything that surrounds you is temporary, impermanent. Realizing this allows you to free up your game and give you a chance to enjoy and profit from your best moments and learn and move on from your worst. Everything changes, even as the game itself remains the same. This is, of course a double-edged sword.
During a hand of poker, you must think of more than the moment in which you are calling, raising, or folding, even if it should occupy a great deal of your mind. Even as you play the hands you are dealt, you have to embrace impermanence and think about the next hand. By seeing the whole of poker around you and thinking of yourself as a permanent fixture that should make it to the end, you may well be able to flow through the game, for lack of a better phrase.
While the ideal relationship between players and poker is one where they win, the realization that a loss is not the end of your place in the game can be incredibly liberating. There will be other games, there will be other hands, there will be other opponents. Framing the game in this way gives you the chance to view each new challenge as a fresh experience in which you take the knowledge that you have gained from earlier and apply it to your game. As you play, keeping positive and embracing impermanence can greatly help your game: a bad run of cards will end, a particularly vexing defeat is just one moment.
If you've not noticed, another key part of impermanence is your own ability to grow and learn from the game even as you remain fixed inside of the nirvana that is poker. Realize that your poker game will improve and that you should strive for the next goal, the next level in your career is attainable.
Take the concept of impermanence and the idea that your game is constantly in flux and begin to apply it the next time you play. You're dealt a weak pair? A new pair will come along. Let blinds go if you don't have cards worth pursuing. Letting go is the first step to taking it all.
