When it’s played right, poker should inspire everyone at the table, win or lose. Of course it’s nice to walk away from the felt a winner, but it shouldn’t define your mood. If it does, maybe you’re in the wrong game.
Better a rye smile and a few funny words than anything is our motto and it’s with that spirit in mind that we present to you seven final quotes from the great game to inspire your own week at the felt.
Let’s get the lesson on!
1. “People would be surprised to know how much I learned about prayer from playing poker.”
Mary Austin makes the surprise call about a player’s beliefs at the poker table. Have you ever been all-in against an opponent and they’ve called upon ‘The Poker Gods’ to save them despite veering between only agnostic or downright atheist? This isn’t uncommon in real life, actually. In times of peril, many people will summon a higher power for help having previously never believed. We think any God might be quite busy saving the starving and hungry to assist in preventing that one-outer landing on the river, but what do we know?
2. “If you play bridge badly you make your partner suffer, but if you play poker badly you make everybody happy.”
Joe Laurie Jr. hits the nail on the head, as in poker it really is you against the world. If the world wins, then they want you back at the table as soon as possible. If you win, well you’re happy. It sounds like the easiest thing to be a winner at poker, but it is of course, very difficult. Getting to know how your table (and in microcosm, the poker world) plays, is of course, key. There’s no way around playing at the felt to do this, so stay sharp by staying at the table.
3. “Even Jesus wouldn’t bet all of his chips on a Jack-three.”
Phil Gordon is inclined to believe that Jesus would have been tight-aggressive or at the very least tight-passive and who are we to disagree. What would Jesus’ favourite hands be? Well it’s hard to look past the son of God set-mining with the cowboys in order to get three kings – that would be the Jesus play. It’s unlikely he’d even call the flop with pocket sixes for fear of landing the hand of the devil – 666.
4. “I was tired, a little the worse for drink, jet lagged and light-headed – four out of four conditions in which one should certainly not play poker in Las Vegas.”
There aren’t many people we respect more in poker than Anthony Holden, who is better health than he has enjoyed recently, spoke to us way back in 2012 at the inaugural IFP poker event at the Rotunda in London.
If you haven’t read Anthony Holdens seminal poker book Big Deal, then read our review of it right here and make it your next poker purchase – it’s wonderful.
5. “Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.”
Jackie Robinson is bang right about one of the most important things to remember about playing poker and quitting while you’re ahead. No-one wins forever in poker, but those who learn to walk away from the table with profit on a consistent basis win the long game. In the end, the only battle is with yourself.
6. “Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”
Steven Wright with one of the funniest lines about poker ever written. Just the visualization of a home game with Tarot cards is enough to make us chuckle, but if you get tired of poker, you can always look at our article we published over Christmas which talks about other card games you might like to play.
7. “The next best thing about gambling and winning is gambling and losing.”
Nick ‘The Greek’ Dandalos had an appetite for gambling that was insatiable and he knew that win or lose, if you’re taking part, you’re enjoying it to some extent. Poker is like that and if you’re in a chair, virtual or otherwise, you can have fun.
If you’re playing poker tonight, then enjoy it! It’s enormous fun and should be enjoyed whenever you sit down to play. We hope that you’ve loved this look at some of the best quotes from the world of poker as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.
