Chris Moorman writes an incredibly candid blog about the work he has being doing off the felt with Elite Performance Expert Dr. Stephen Simpson, and poker gets some airtime in Entrepreneur magazine.
Money is like water.
It can fill your bathtub and start flowing all over your bathroom floor, but if you develop just one leak it slowly disappears.
Ask Chris Moorman.
With over $11m in winnings he is the most successful online tournament player in the history of the game. He hasn’t done too bad in the brick and mortar card rooms either with over $4m in live tournament earnings.
$15m.
That would set some people up for life.
And yet prior to the 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Moorman was forced to call time on one of the largest backing stables in the game. As he writes in his CardPlayer blog, he had ‘over extended’ himself, and ‘made a lot of bad decisions along the way.’
Moorman continues to explain how those ‘bad decisions’ dented his bankroll quite significantly. His bathtub had developed a nasty leak. As he explains, he had to move down in stakes to build his roll back up again, and it was during this time that he had one of those light bulb moments that change your life.
The edges between the very best players in the world (of which Moorman undoubtedly is) are very fine. I have written too many times to mention about the importance of the mind, body and spirit. The very best poker players in the world are learning this and it’s good to see Moorman also recognizing it.
“I noticed myself being jealous of players whom I believed I was better than and wrote them off as just getting lucky when they won certain events. I didn’t like the person I was becoming and decided that it was serious enough that I would talk to someone about it.” Moorman wrote.
The person he sought out was an Elite Performance Expert called Dr. Stephen Simpson, who taught Moorman many things that included mindfulness, meditation and breathing exercises.
If you know Moorman then you will know he looks sharper and happier that at any moment in his life. It was no coincidence that Moorman won his first WPT title not long after he started working with Simpson.
When life is good outside of poker, then poker itself becomes pretty good too.
Just ask Chris Moorman.
Poker Makes an Appearance in Entrepreneur Magazine
So poker is making Chris Moorman a happy pappy, but it’s also had the same effect on the Executive Vice President of Cloud Solutions at Five9, a leading cloud contact center software solution.
Speaking to Entrepreneur magazine, Scott Welch, said that he realized that he lacked skills around reading people. It was an insight he had picked up whilst watching poker on TV and he decided to do something about it.
He started to learn how to play poker.
He told Entrepreneur that he learned five very important lessons that he has used to become more successful in his business.
1# Hiring Better Teams
Welch said that his ability to observe poker players tendencies helped him sift through the rubbish during interviews for positions at his company.
2# Tournament Strategy
Welch believed that a poker tournament consisted of a variety of different strategies that were deployed at different stages. He also believed the same philosophy could be used when getting involved in start-ups.
3# Know When to Give Up
Welch also learned that the parallels between cutting your losses in a poker hand, and a business decision, were very similar.
You need to “accept that the company should cut its losses” wrote Welch.
4# Time Your All-In
The Executive Vice President likened the timing of an all-in bet to making a move on a big-market opportunity in the business world. Timing is everything in both areas.
5# Grind
Perseverance, dedication and above all hard work.
“Since early in my career I have been someone who comes in early and leaves late.” Welch wrote.
The full article can be read here.
