stevesbets

I wrote an essay for a business school application today so I don’t really feel like blogging, I figure I will post a rough draft of the essay since it is poker related and will probably interest you all anyway. There is one blank in it and I would like suggestions for who to plug into it, a notably unlucky historical figure. The topic for this essay is: Describe a failure or setback that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words).

Enjoy:

A memorable failure came a year into my poker career. I was in college at the time but nonetheless considered myself a professional given the stakes I was playing and the time I put into being a poker player. Throughout the first year I had gradually built the money I had to play with (known as bankroll) through careful thought, sharp math skills, and most importantly, excellent discipline. The less glamorous side of being a poker professional is the absolute necessity of that last skill: discipline. Getting caught up in the allure of quick riches can be intoxicating, and if you play games that you cannot afford, you can go broke even if you play with exceptional skill. Since I was still relatively new to the game, I learned this truism the hard way after playing games that I could barely afford, then after losing a bit, being unable to move down stakes and play at a more responsible level.

As I saw my money drift away day after day I blamed mostly terrible luck for my poor fate. After about 2 months of playing irresponsibly and truly being pretty unlucky, I lost basically the last of my bankroll. I began questioning my ability to play and even things I knew to be true like the fact that no one can be “lucky” or “unlucky” when it comes to expected value in the long run. Only when I got to the point that I was able to accept that my own deficits as a professional poker player were what caused my downfall was I able to begin to take steps to fix it. I realized that the truth of my situation was that I was indeed unlucky. This lack of luck however, was not the impetus for my problem; everyone in any business will experience a tide of misfortune at some point. To stay successful one must be exercising proper discipline at the time that misfortune strikes. For poker that means play in games you can afford even if you have a streak of misfortune that would rival ____.

I finally was able to begin rebuilding. The first step was to reach out to my poker contacts to find someone who had faith in me that would “stake” me. This means one player puts up the money for another to play and gets a percentage of the profit. If the player loses, the “staker” takes the brunt of the loss. I was fortunate to have a number of others who had faith in my poker game. I played with someone’s money and won enough for myself to rebuild and for the man who staked me to be very pleased.

Through this setback I learned to get back in my control something that seemed out of it, I needed to accept personal responsibility for 100% of the problem, and then take the necessary steps to fix it.