In the past months, I have re-discovered one of my passions that I have been following on and off for more than 25 years already: playing poker texas hold´em – especially tournaments. I always liked the strategic aspect of the game and found out over the passt years that poker and endurance sports like triathlon have a lot in common. Let´s find out what I´m talking about!
Strategy and Planning
As mentioned above, you need a lot of strategic knowledge and need to plan every hand you play. How much do you raise? What is your position? How many cards have the other players played so far, how did they play them? How big is your stack size? There are a lot of questions to think about, apart from the odds and probabilities. Then, there is a lot of psychology, esp. at live poker tournament tables.
In triathlons, you have a lot of strategy, too. How do you approach the race, how do you prepare, how do you plan all the training sessions? What do you do on race day, depending on weather, and other conditions? How do your competitors race, and can you beat them (in your age group) – if yes, how?
1% better makes a huge difference
At poker and triathlon, it is all about the 1%ers that accumulate over time. Neither can you master triathlon after a few days, nor poker. I have played more than 6000 poker tournaments and a million hands at cash games in my life so far. I have read a dozen books on poker and also triathlon to develop my skills and acquire the required knowledge to perform well. If you improve your bike FTP by 1% each and every month, then you can go from 200 watts to 250 watts FTP over 1-2 years. If you improve your decision making process at the poker tables, you can also improve your ROI from 5% to 20% and more which is massive!
Most players are not even positive but keep on losing which is true for about 90% of all players. If you want to belong to the winning players, you better work on the slight edges that give you 1% and more over time.
Work for your luck!
You can´t decide to win each tournament and triathlon race but you can increase the probabilities and work on your luck. So many things can go wrong during a triathlon, you can have a flat tyre, you can have a cramp, you can fail with your nutrition, etc. pp. At the poker tables, even AA can get cracked by 72o – but the better you prepare and the harder you work, the luckier you will be.
You need persistence and endurance!
An Ironman can be a very long event, some people say that it is the longest day of the year. I would agree: when the pain comes, and your body screams “Stop!”, you need to find ways to push through and persevere. Also, at the poker tables, you need a lot of patience and endurance. At the live poker event in Melbourne a few weeks ago, I already felt exhausted after Day 1 which took about 4 hours of focused play.
After the break, I felt that my concentration was not on spot anymore, and this is most likely where I missed to play some spots that would enable me to come closer to the final table. In Brisbane a good month later, I was much closer to the final table but then the necessary luck was missing, when I lost with TT to AK, and then with AKs to AA in the following hand. But I definitely improved! The more experience and the more practice you have, the more endurance you will develop and get used to the long sessions over many hours, sometimes 12 hours and more. But in the end, you will be rewarded.
Competition & sport
What I love about triathlon and tournament poker the most is the competition and sport aspect. You can train for weeks, months, and years, and then regularly gather with other players to find out where you are at. It is not (always) about being on the podium but also about comparing yourself to yourself! Did I improve over time? What could I have done better? The analysis of previous events and training sessions is essential to become a better version of yourself, and then in the end, to be able to compete with others. It should also be fun, since for most people, triathlon and tournament poker are not their professions but passions and pastimes.
Did I miss anything else? Then please share in the comments!
