JV'S KILLER POKER:
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

BY: John Vorhaus

This is the teaching of the Buddha, in the way of the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. Following the way of the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the extinction of suffering in life, and also, possibly, poker.

1. Right Understanding. Know the rules. All the rules. Not just blinds or limits, but subtle stuff, assumptions and taboos that guide your behavior and the behavior of others. Discover the hidden rules under which your opponents operate and you'll know how to strip them bare.

2. Right Thought. Bring bitterness or anger or vengefulness or ego or fear to the table with your money and you can be reasonably certain of leaving your money behind when you go. In the way of right thought, you'd better have your head together, wrapped around your most positive mental attitude when you set out to play. Literally, it pays to play happy.

3. Right Speech. The Buddha admires players who can say, "Nice hand" and mean it. Right speech – presenting yourself as a good, honorable person – pays pot dividends down the line by making you the sort of person people want to play with (and lose to). So what if you're angry or upset by that last bad beat? Really, who needs to know?

4. Right Action. Always be prepared to take the right action. If the situation calls for a bluff, bluff. If your position dictates that you drive the hand, drive that darn hand. And don't be afraid that it won't work out. A right action is a right action, regardless of the outcome this time.

5. Right Livelihood. No one masters every type of poker. Some specialize in hold'em; others in stud. Some play tournaments well, but stink in ring games. Some can beat up on home opponents, but fall to pieces in cardrooms or on the internet. Know your limits, and your proclivities. Select the livelihood – and the style and the level of that livelihood – that's right for you.

6. Right Effort. The right effort is 100% effort. If you're not prepared to give everything you've got to this tournament, this game, this session, this hand, this bet, then I think you'd better rethink your effort. And even if a half-assed effort would get the job done, wouldn't a whole-assed effort work twice as well?

7. Right Mindfulness. In right mindfulness, there is no past, no future, only the perfect now. Just won a big pot? Forget it. Going home in fifteen minutes? Put it out of your mind. Thinking of the past and the future – letting those phantoms influence you – can only hurt your performance and your profit. Be here now. There's no other place, or time, to be.

8. Right Concentration. Draw everything you know from every source and bring it to bear on the task at hand. When you have your concentration, you don't think about why you know what you know; you just know. Great players describe this as being in the zone. Lesser players describe it (in other players, with rue) as dumb luck.

Well, there you have it, the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to extinction of suffering, in poker as in life. Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. Follow this path and I think you'll find that your poker game ascends. And who knows? Maybe your life will too.