Bad things happen in poker, they are part and parcel of the game. If you try to fight the fundamental nature of poker then you are in for a life of frustration as you are trying to control something that cannot be controlled in the main.

Fleeing is not a very palatable option either because this means packing the game in. If you are a winning player then this means losing income and this income could be considerable depending on the individual.

If you are not yet a winning online poker player but are striving to be one then this means giving up on your goal and dream. But there is a third option and that option is to “flow” or to learn poker better.

We have all heard the expression “to go with the flow” but yet how many of us have really fully taken on board what this actually means. In fact most old sayings and expressions have deep underlying meanings that can alter and transform a person’s life for the better when fully understood and implemented.

Rather than attempt to fight our surroundings then it is far better to attempt to accept them for what they are and flow with them. An example might be when you are stuck in a traffic jam. Rather than get angry and frustrated and agitated, why not turn on your radio or play your favorite CD and relax.

Treat the traffic jam not as an annoying situation but as an opportunity to sit in isolation without interruption and listen to your favourite music. This different outlook to what is an annoying everyday and unavoidable occurrence can be applied to almost everything that could possibly occur in daily life.

Money is perhaps the biggest reason for why players fail to become successful in poker! Why is this so? Well, this is because we value money so much and we definitely live in a very materialistic world these days where money and possessions equal status and this enables people to have better standards of living, increased status, better image and all of the rest that comes with it.

But it is because online poker is played for money that leads so many people to want some of it. In fact they want it so much and are so eager to get it that they simply don’t give themselves enough time to become good enough in order to be able to get it. This leads me onto another very important point that emanates from Zen. This is that we must stop striving to achieve something and just try to let it happen naturally.

It is this constant striving to win money in poker that is actually preventing people from being able to do it. Some time ago, I made it my goal in poker NOT to win money but to become absorbed with the sheer process of reading, writing, playing and coaching poker.

To love something for the sheer joy of just doing it irrespective of financial incentives is the ultimate goal that we must all seek not just in poker but in any field. I have always felt that this is a major reason for why students drop out of university.

They just did not love the subject that they were studying well enough. To truly be in love with a subject, the individual will feel intense passion and drive not just in those initial first few months but until the day that they die.

Now, whenever I am reading or writing or playing poker then I just do not see that as work but more like an enjoyable hobby and it is this kind of outlook that makes winning automatic. This leads me to quote yet another famous Zen saying and that is that “it is the journey itself that is the true goal”.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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