Dating sucks. Poker sucks. Dating rocks. Poker rocks. It depends on your perspective to figure out where your really stand. If you’ve been taking a beating in poker and in relationships, this guide is definitely for you. There are a lot of similarities between good poker and great relationships. If you’re really set up getting the right stuff done, you need to make sure that you’re thinking about the bigger picture. The last thing that you really want to do is find that you just can’t hang with the big boys anymore. You might be raising when you should be folding. You might be getting aggressive when you really need to slow play. There is nothing wrong at all with playing slow. You just need to make sure that you know when you’re playing slow for the right reasons.
Poker is like dating — it’s all about selection. You need to make sure that you’re playing premium hands and good hands. 95o is not a good hand. 72o is not a good hand. T5o is not a good hand. A-garbage is not a good hand. Just because you have an A, K, or Q doesn’t mean that you’re automatically going to win. You need to really ensure that you’re trying to be selective, especially when the blind start going up. That’s the best time to actually start playing tight. That’s the best time to really start looking at the type of gameplay that you’re honestly going to be interested in. if you just think that you can rush in, well — neither your gambling life or your dating life is going to be very stable for long.
Poker is also like dating, because you might have the best intentions…and still not get anywhere. Even worse, you might play by the rules and still lose everything to someone that just rushed in with a bad hand and a bad image. This is life. Things like that happen. You can’t get discouraged and think that your poker playing days are over. That’s just not the answer to everything. You’re going to have to focus a lot more than normal and really make sure that you’re thinking about all of your options. There will be other hands, just like there will be other women coming around. You can always live to play another day.
Poker is also like dating because there’s a time and a place for rest. You might be burnt out on poker. You might be burnt out on dating. Staying in either world too long will make you absolutely crazy. The right hand will come along, and the right person will come along. It’s all about how you honestly feel with life. You can’t think that everything will just be fine merely because you say so. You have to think about taking a break. Give yourself time to see what you really get out of the situation. Take some time to breathe and relax. Dating can be competitive, and when you’ve gone through so many dates that your eyes are beginning to cross, you know that it’s time to step back.
Of course, these are just analogies. Real dating and real poker have a lot of twists and turns. If both are things that you want, then you need to focus, study well, and just get out there. Having a good time is far better than speculating, you know!