They say you learn something new every day – and that can come from essentially any activity or hobby you’re taking part in. In the past, we’ve looked at some of the potential benefits of playing arcade games. There are also other types of games that people play and can benefit from. So today, we’ll shift gears and look at some of the benefits of playing poker, either professionally or as a pastime.
Decision MakingMost games require players to make important decisions, and poker is no exception – especially if we’re talking about high-stakes games. Poker is essentially a game of chance, but if you know the odds and how pot odds work, making decisions such as when to bet or fold is going to be easier. This is also a process we incorporate into our daily lives. Should you have pizza for lunch and risk heartburn, or have a salad instead? Would you be better off taking a different route to work, or stick to the same one you take every day?
Resilience
Seen as one of the key mental skills that poker teaches, resilience has to do with your ability to bounce back after experiencing disappointment. Poker, after all, leaves a lot up to chance. This means that even the next poker players tend to lose sometimes – and that’s okay. Resilience is an important skill to develop in order to deal with many aspects of life: work, education, and even our love life may throw some disappointing moments at us. If we can take those in stride, we can deal with anything.
Self-Improvement
No matter how good we are at something, we can always improve. Using feedback – either given to us from others or gleaned from self-reflection – can help immensely when it comes to improvement. Poker is a game that requires us to constantly improve our skills, much as life requires us to do the same. Once we decide what we need to improve, there is a myriad of tools at our disposal to help us achieve this goal. If you’re trying to get better at poker, you can watch videos of past or current tournaments, use tutorials, read books, and even participate in games with a mentor to guide you.
Social Intelligence
Social intelligence is a rather broad skill, encompassing everything from how to carry yourself during a conversation, to how to “read the room”. In poker, it mostly has to do with reading social expressions and non-verbal physical cues, such as a twitch or a player rubbing his or her hands together during stressful situations. It’s a skill we use in other situations as well – during an interview, while ordering coffee, or during a first date. Social intelligence is a skill worth developing, and poker can certainly help us with that.
Money Management
Saving what could arguably be called “the best for last”, we consider money management as an extremely important skill for, well, every aspect of life. In poker, money management is mostly about managing your bankroll and knowing when to quit. If you happen to be investing, knowing how to manage your invested money and understanding how much you can invest while still being able to pay your bills is an absolutely essential skill. Even if you don’t invest, do you know how much money you can spend on a night out or a new console and still live comfortably?
Poker is a great teacher when it comes to life skills. As you play, you’ll pick up these invaluable skills that are essential to daily life. We hope this has inspired you to play a game or two, and see how these skills can help you, both in-game and out.