Why do you play poker? You may think this is a frivolous question, but I assure you it is important to your success in the game. Why you play poker is just as important as how you play poker, if not more so. In this and the next couple of articles we will explore what the various motivations of playing are, how you might rank and categorize them in order to fine-tune your own understanding, and how to use this information to your benefit, becoming a more successful player.
If one hundred poker players were asked the question, “Why do you play poker,” the odds are good that most of them would answer the equivalent of, “To win money.” Interestingly, if you then took an audit of those same hundred players records, tabulating how much money they have won in the last year, you would find a great deal of them are not winning much money at all. In fact, many of them would be shown to be loosing money. If “winning money” were the sole reason for playing the game of poker, and these players aren’t winning money, why do they continue to play?
There is obviously more beneath the surface answer then they let on, or will admit, even to themselves. Certainly winning money is a motivation, and probably a large one in the minds of our hundred players. However, there are other motivations that are just as strong or stronger.
Fun is a generic answer, but one that is probably the most prevalent. More specifically, playing to be social, playing out of sheer love of the game, and playing to pass time all can be “fun” reasons to play.
Challenge is another generic answer; one could also say “competition.” Playing to win, to compete against those better than you, playing to challenge yourself are all competitive reasons to play.
Understanding the various motivations behind your game is essential to selecting your style of play, adjusting your attitude towards wins and losses, and picking the right games, the ones that you will do best in. In the next article we will discuss ranking your motivations. For now, take the reasons mentioned above, or ones you think of on your own, and spend some time honestly answering the question, “why do you play poker?”
