We all know that courtesy goes a long way. The most courteous thing we say is “thank you”. It may surprise you that you can add joy to your already juicy poker by saying thank you to yourself! Thank you is a great life hack and saying it to yourself can and will improve your poker!
Online Poker Need Not be Anonymous
Online poker is as much a social event as land-based poker is. The best online poker is poker where the players all respect each other even though one will often win much more than the others. Here is where courtesy comes in and being courteous to oneself has many positive benefits outside of poker.
What Happens when we Say Thank You?
Thank you telegraphs two major social interactions. It demonstrates gratitude and shows appreciation. However, a thank you said sarcastically has the exact opposite effect; it shows disrespect. In poker, when you win a pot and say thank you to the losers, it may be a sincere demonstration or it may indicate how little you respect the opponents.
So, if a poker player sarcastically says thank you after winning a pot, he or she is in a real sense, asking the others to avenge not the loss, since every player loses some hands they thought they would win, but the lack of respect. On the other hand, a sincere thank you shows the others that you value their judgment, their insight into the hand, and their value as people outside of the poker room.
Does this also Happen in Real Life?
Yes, it does and it happens often every day.
For example, you might go to the supermarket where a bagger helps you bag your groceries. It might not be expected to tip the bagger but a sincere thank you goes a long way to make a teenager feel grown up while doing what is at best an entry level menial job!
When enough people say thank you to the cashier or the bagger, they feel better about themselves. The simple thank you makes the speaker feel better about him or herself as well!
A sincere thank you also means that you don’t take for granted the situation you are in. We often take things for granted until it is too late! This happens in politics quite often and it happens in many other areas of life as well.
Americans say Thank You about Everything
When people come to the USA for a conference or for a vacation—both of which activities have taken a strong body blow from the small corona virus—they are often taken aback a bit by the predilection of Americans to say thank you.
Some people think that Americans say thank you too much!
It is also true that Americans can be plenty rude! But they do say thank you a lot. It has become part of the American culture and landscape! A sociologist studying the phenomenon might have a few insights but the fact is that thank yous can snowball into more thank yous and so on!
In other words, “the more you say thank you, the more you say thank you”!
What Does this Have to Do with Poker?
A lot, if you let it!
We want to talk about saying thank you to yourself.
Thank you expresses gratitude. What do poker players have to feel gratitude about to such a degree that they say thank you to themselves?
Thank You for Not Going on Tilt
A player suffers a bad beat. He or she may have lost a substantial amount of money calling what they thought was a bluff or bluffing into a solid hand! The situation is rife for a good bout of tilt. Instead of tilting, the player simply goes on with the game.
It helps enormously in this kind of situation to say thank you to yourself for not going into a tilt! We have to express gratitude to ourselves when we deserve it and other people usually don’t know when we deserve an expression of gratitude.
Thank You for Playing within Your Means
This is one of the hardest lessons to learn! We are told to play in the tight aggressive framework. That means going after the pot full bore when we have a good hand. Sometimes that extra aggressiveness can get out of hand and we expose ourselves to a big loss if the other player gets lucky.
So, while we do want to be aggressive when we get good cards, we also want to be prudent and when we feel that we have succeeded in doing both of these seemingly contradictory things on the same hand, we deserve a heartfelt thank you!
Thank You for Staying Healthy in All Phases
Studying hundreds of poker hands is fine. Playing every day is also fine as long as we don’t play beyond our physical and mental capacity. We need to be both physically and mentally healthy to be successful at poker!
Physical health involves exercise, eating correctly, sleeping well, and all other actions that enhance health such as taking vitamins and staying safe during the ongoing corona virus crisis. Physical health means playing as long as you feel strong physically and stopping at exactly the right moment.
Mental health can also be seen as emotional or psychological health. We spoke about avoiding tilt above. Of course, there is quite a bit more to emotional health than avoiding tilt. In English we have terms that describe ultimately a player who is not emotionally sound and stable.
“Throwing good money after bad”, is one such phrase. While Kenny Rogers told us to “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” in a popular song, the message is really a lot deeper. We need to fold ‘em for the time being when we are too tired or stressed or hungry to continue with the expectation of success.
Thank You for Taking Time from Poker to “Have a Life”
Poker is not the be all and end all of life! We need friends, family, and outside activities. These elements in our lives make our lives better. When we say thank you to ourselves for seeing poker as just one activity of many activities that are good for us, we acknowledge that we have crossed a line where poker has its place, not the only place!
Online poker is one of those many activities that all together are the ingredients of a full life. While land-based poker is exciting in its own way, it often leads to all of the reasons not to say thank you to ourselves.
The last thank you in this article is: Thank you for joining JUICY STAKES POKER!
