There’s no shortage of ways to get ahead in the startup world. Connecting with other people, taking courses that improve your weak points, and understanding the market are all classic methods for getting ahead. But it can also be worthwhile looking at less obvious ways to get ahead, too. For instance, there’s much that entrepreneurs can learn from poker, the classic casino game that’s more than two hundred years old yet remains more popular than ever. In this post, we’ll look at just how long-term players can benefit from the card game.
Controlling Emotion
Emotions and business don’t go well together. However, there’s only one of those environments where you learn the lesson quickly. In the business world, letting emotions infiltrate your decision-making process can lead to making the incorrect call, which might have huge long-term implications for your venture. When you play poker, the lesson is learned much more quickly. Through the course of regular playing, you’ll discover how to let your mind make your decisions, not your heart. And that’s something that’ll come in very useful when you’re having to make decisions to do with your business, too.
It Encourages Adaptability
Some of the world’s most successful businesses started their lives doing something similar, but quite different. Amazon was a bookstore. Netflix was a DVD rental service. Over time, those businesses understood that adapting their operations would be key to their success. All too often, entrepreneurs have a clear vision of what they want their business to be, but sometimes, it makes more sense to pivot to something else.
Poker players are continually adapting their game. They might start out by playing Texas Hold’em online, but they’ll also understand the importance of understanding how other variations of the game work, such as Omaha poker. By branching out into other games, they get to develop a fuller picture of the game, which ultimately helps them to become a better player.
The Art of Knowing the Game
The best poker players know that knowledge is power. In fact, if you speak to some of the best players, they’ll tell you how they now realize how little they knew about the game when they first started playing. In poker, becoming a great player is dependent on setting aside time to study poker theories and strategies. Without that, there’s only so well a person can expect to play. In the business world, having as much understanding as possible is paramount for success. It’s not just about understanding the products/services you provide, but about the overall market, the customer’s needs, competitors, and virtually everything else. Just as a poker player spends around 50% of their time playing, and 50% of their time studying, entrepreneurs should also commit to going beyond their surface intuition and getting as much knowledge about their world as possible.
It Helps With Decision-Making
Business owners have to make a thousand decisions every day. The vast majority of those decisions will be largely inconsequential.
But every now and again, owners will be faced with a decision that could have long-lasting repercussions for the overall success of their venture. Playing poker can help improve an individual’s decision-making capabilities, allowing them to assess the merits of each decision before they’ve actually taken it. In poker, that can lead to a successful game. In the business world, it can lead to the full potential of the business being realized.
Reading Competitors
Every business has to contend with competitors. It’s just the cost of doing business. The way to get ahead of them is to understand what they’re doing and try to do it better. Doing so involves looking before the company’s branding and marketing literature, and figuring out what exactly they’re doing. In poker, players aren’t just playing against the cards that have been dealt, but the human that’s holding them. Reading what they’re doing becomes essential for success, just as it is in the business world.
