Poker Quote 1

Is it a reasonable thing, I ask you, for a grown man to run about and hit a ball?  Poker’s the only game fit for a grown man.  Then, your hand is against every man’s, and every man’s is against yours.  Teamwork?  Who ever made a fortune by teamwork?  There’s only one way to make a fortune, and that’s to down the fellow who’s up against you.  ~W. Somerset Maugham

While I’m a big proponent of team-playing and accomplishing things together (heh, I shouldn’t be writing about poker now, should I?), I think Somerset Maugham is being a little too dramatic with this quote. Or actually, the character who speaks these words is. In this context, it seems that baseball is also crap, on the basis of it being a team sport where one doesn’t get to shine personally. I don’t think baseball sport is any better than poker, in fact, it may be worse because in my opinion it doesn’t require heaps of logic or making risky choices. It’s more of physical skill sport, isn’t it. Are there any baseball experts out there that can tell me that it’s more than being able to hit the ball and run? Or depend on other people to do their job well? Or recite baseball statistics.

The one man against the world mentality is a little too much for me as well. Yes, you can indeed be rough in poker, and you have to play to defeat everyone else at the table, but I would definitely argue that you can make a fortune that way. Emotions will eventually get the better of you, at least once. This is where team mate’s advice would really help, no?

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