Why is it that people don’t change? Of course, this question is relevant to real life situations but let’s limit it to poker.
I have spent the last two evenings with a poker buddy and he hasn’t changed a bit. There’s much bravado around him, much knowing-it-all attitude hovering over his head and up to this day he has lived up to his reputation of being the ATM of the group.
When I organized a home game and I told everyone that “ATM” was coming, the turn-out was fantastic. I normally just get 6-9 players to come to my house, if I can even get them to come. Last night, I had 15 players all wanting to have a go at “ATM.”
The funny thing is “ATM” works for a poker company and somehow, I believe, he believes that working for a poker company gives him some sort of authority over the game.
Whatever…
At the beginning of the game he bought in for 2,000 worth of chips. I had 3,000. At the middle of the night I became chip leader to his surprise, uttering statements like, “When did she learn how to play poker?”
Whatever…
A few hours later, after playing so tight, he turns his 2,000 chip stack to a 15,000 chip stack then to 30,000. How did he get there? By calling and calling and calling. To which I asked him, “Why are you calling with such trash? There’s just no logic to that.” Then he goes, “It’s not a matter of logic. It’s matter of luck and I’d rather be a lucky player than a good player.” With that statement and with now about 40,000 in chips, hell broke loose – in a good way. It was like catching manna from heaven. By the end of the evening, rather at the start the morning, he lost all his chips, he lived up to his name, and everyone was happy.
A thousand and one reasons why he lost all his chips but he never said it was because he was unlucky or he played badly – and that how I got the answer to my question. People don’t change because they don’t see why they should.
