Poker and Philosophy: Napoleon

by Bodog Poker | Dec 2 2010

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them." - Napoleon Bonaparte

For those of you who somehow slept through every history class, Napoleon Bonaparte was a military and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I, whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century and whose legacy is still being felt today. He engaged in a series of conflicts with country after country in what's now known as the Napoleonic Wars.  A streak of victories meant that France held a dominant position on continental Europe for years until he made a critical escape: he took on Russia in 1812.

This marked a turning point in his (and France's) fortunes — his army was hindered greatly by the Russian campaign and never recovered and in 1813, the Sixth Coalition pushed his forces out of Leipzig and then continued their push until they reached France and eventually exiled him to the island of Elba. He escaped less than a year later and returned to power before the now-famous battle of Waterloo completely defeated the pint-sized would-be emperor. He died six years later.

At this point, you're likely wondering what this has to do with poker, and I say that there's a lot that can be learned by Napoleon's hubris and how he overextended himself against superior forces that eventually broke his back. When you sit down at a poker table, you may have the larger stack, you may have the better skill set and you may even have what you think is a bead on each and every other player that's there, but there are a number of factors that are simply beyond your control and you'll need to be aware of them and ready for their consequences.

Napoleon's belief that "great ambition" was important for "great character" is a hubristic, too-easy way to behave and it's been my experience that the egotistical players who are the most aggressive who burn out most spectacularly.  I'm not advocating that players become completely timid or, worse yet, calling stations, dullards who slow the game down for others, but I am suggesting that it's the patient tight/aggressive player who benefits the most by careful consideration and an ability to curtail their ambitions.

It's important to note that not everything that Napoleon espoused was bloviated and useless. We've all had spectacular crashes at the tables and it's from the general that we can learn something about gathering our forces and coming back to re-take a battlefield after the fact.  There's nothing wrong with strategic retreat if you've learned something about the opposition in the process, and by taking notes through online poker software and making adjustments to your playing style, it's possible to create victory from defeat.

Napoleon let his ambitions get the best of him, even as the world was his oyster. You may be playing for smaller stakes, but it's impotent to learn from his errors.

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