On Poker and Golf

Many poker-playing readers of this blog will also be at least occasional golfers. Poker and golf have a lot in common.

For a start, they are both sports.

I know that there is debate about whether one of these is actually more of a “game” or a “pastime” than a genuine sport. Nevertheless, I believe that – despite their reputation for drinking, smoking, gambling and a general lack of physical fitness – golfers are still genuine sportsmen.

In any event, there are a great many commonalities in the experience of playing these two great games.

In both, the player benefits tremendously from experience and practice. For that reason they are also both sports that one can play credibly at an advanced age with the years of practice mitigating the loss of vigour.

Poker and golf offer a huge amount of material available to the player to further his/her game.
In both cases, the average player totally fails to take full advantage of the resources available and should undoubtedly study more and play less.

In poker there was already a wealth of books magazines and software tools available, and now there are online coaching videos and even one-to-one coaching. Unlike golf coaching, this can be achieved in the warm and dry over an internet link.

I wouldn’t argue that in poker one can gain much advantage by purchasing superior equipment – a difference from the golf parallel. Of course, some believe their latest iPod, ridiculously expensive noise-cancelling headphones and designer sunglasses are vital poker aids, so maybe I am wrong about this.

Both games constantly serve up disappointment but they also offer enough glimpses of glory to keep the player coming back for constant punishment.

In golf, we struggle round with a mix of pulled drives, thinned wedges, missed putts short, long, left and right and then suddenly on the 14th fairway we unexpectedly connect with a 5-wood from the semi-rough, catch a kind bounce and a favourable run and incredibly our ball finishes 6 feet from the hole for a miracle birdie chance.

It sometimes doesn’t even matter if we now miss the putt. Our faith in the game is restored and will carry us for weeks to come.

Likewise in poker we endure a constant diet of bad beats and poor finishes and most likely a steady drain on our bankroll until suddenly one night we make a final table or pull off some miraculous squeeze or river bluff check-raise or make a supreme winning call with King-high and suddenly we’re Phil Ivey all over again.

I think we ultimately remember the highs more than the lows, although I have never lost a WSOP bracelet heads up when my opponent 4-bet shoved with T4o and flopped a full house !
Poker is probably unique in the extent to which our own perception of our ability is correlated to results on such a short timescale, and it must offer one of the highest love-hate factors of any activity.

There are differences of course. Both can be played and enjoyed by beginners, but only poker offers the ultimate level playing field and – yes – that first-timer no-hoper may beat the entire field on the day. It does happen. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve even been that no-hoper.

And, for now anyway, poker (unlike golf) has not been granted Olympic status.

Quadruple crown anyone ? WSOP-WPT-EPT-Gold Medal .... it is absolutely no less ridiculous than tennis at the Olympics in my opinion !

What is the ultimate in either sport for the keen amateur ? Is a WSOP bracelet the equivalent of a hole in one ?

Well, whatever the doubts about the quality of my poker game I know for a fact that I am a better poker player than a golfer and yet I have actually achieved a hole in one. That took me only slightly more than 25 years to achieve but I’d be happy to wait the full 21 more years if I can have the bracelet .... just one time ....