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Online poker is still one of the most popular online games across the globe. According to the World Poker Tour, there were 100 million online poker players worldwide, with 60 million players in the United States alone as of 2021. The online poker industry is booming, and just like Chris Moneymaker in 2003, millions of people are eager to learn everything about poker and hopefully write their names in poker history.
For many, poker is a game that is taken up as a hobby or for entertainment. However, professional poker players take the game seriously and are able to build a strong financial foundation to secure their future. The game requires mastery of many different skills, which is why many business owners also take up poker, as there are many parallels between playing poker and running a business. Some business owners even have their employees play poker as a method of training.
We’ll discuss how playing poker can be used within your own business to improve employee productivity.
1. Calculating Risks
The best poker players know that poker is a game of skill, and one of those skills is calculating risks. An article at Poker.org covers the importance of calculating odds and how to do it even with minimal math skills. This may include assessing the odds of completing a winning a hand, the poker pot odds, or how much to risk when placing bets. Just like in business, this means looking at all the data, accessing the risk level, and making a calculated decision based on the risk level and odds (hopefully in your favor). Calculating risks helps reduce making painful mistakes and replaces them with logical decision-making, which is crucial in both business and poker.
2. Improves Decision-Making
Poker trains your mind to think, analyze, compare and make an immediate decision: a player needs to be able to figure out hand sequences while under pressure as well as how to get a hand that has the best chance of winning. Playing poker constantly pushes you to make better decisions, regardless of whether you win or lose. These same skills can transfer over to business. When employees learn how to play poker, they’ll learn to approach problems with a poker mindset – to analyze everything and compare before taking action, thus leading to improved decision-making skills.
3. Money Management
There is a lot of risk involved in poker. Thus, understanding how to properly manage money is absolutely crucial to succeeding. Bankroll management, or BRM, is a way of managing your chips, just like how a business manages money when playing. An article at SI.com pointed out the importance of bankroll management to achieve a profitable and long-term wagering experience. This includes placing your winnings in a separate account and having a minimum base amount at all times.
You should also know how much you’re willing to risk, when to go all-in, and even when to fold. Employees that pick-up poker can master these money management principles. Whether it’s reducing risks or increasing a budget, BRM is a vital skill in poker and business.
Poker skills are not limited to the felt, as they are applicable even in running a successful business. Keep this in mind the next time you think about what type of training to give your employees! We hope these suggestions will help you, and for more articles like this one, please check out our piece on ‘Running a Business While Living in Different States- Best Practices’.
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