Poker Learning Curve
Plot Your Poker Learning Curve
By
Barbara Feiner
If
you’re like most Americans, you were glued to your
seat when the two-hour season finale of Donald Trump’s
hit reality series, “The Apprentice,” aired live
on Dec. 15. This episode ranked No. 2 out of the 116
weekly network programs among adults ages 18 to 49.
With
apologies to The Donald, I’m a big fan of his female
“Apprentice” sidekick, Carolyn Kepcher, an
executive vice president with The Trump Organization
and managing partner of Trump Golf Management, LLC. In
fact, I just finished reading her book, “Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from The Apprentice’s Straight
Shooter,” which offers some
wonderful insights for poker players, not to mention
up-and-coming captains of industry.
One
of Kepcher’s basic rules is simple, yet extremely
important: “You’re the one in charge of your
learning curve.” She learned this lesson firsthand
in December 1994, when she drove to the Briar Hall
Country Club in
Briarcliff Manor
,
NY
, to meet with hotel-management executive John Murray.
The
club had fallen on hard times, had been repossessed by
the bank and was literally in shambles.
Murray
was looking to hire a golf-resort sales and marketing
director for several properties, and Kepcher -- still
in her early 20s -- was shocked by the appearance of
the building, which resembled a “haunted mansion in
a Victorian Gothic novel,” she writes.
During
her interview, Kepcher realized the job had great
potential -- but she knew absolutely nothing about
golf. Nonetheless, she sold herself to
Murray
and got the job.
On
her first day of work, Kepcher took a seat in her new
office, whose renovation “had terminated sometime
during the Truman administration,” she writes. She
then started her own apprenticeship: “After quickly
situating myself, I popped into John’s office,
plopped myself down on his rickety chair, and said,
‘Okay, talk to me about golf,’ ” she
writes. Thus began her intensive quest to learn
everything she could about the sport -- an educational
and professional mission that ultimately led to her
distinguished career with Donald Trump.
For
poker players, this is a critical lesson. If you
depend on “Celebrity Poker Showdown” for anything
other than sheer entertainment, you’ll be exiled to
a real-life version of the show’s infamous Loser’s
Lounge when you play. Similarly, hanging around
play-money rooms and taking notes on how other players
bet can really screw up your game. Fellow competitors
habitually make some of the most -- dare I say it? --
stupid mistakes imaginable, so you need to take charge
of your poker learning curve, as Kepcher suggests.
This means subscribing to top poker magazines (and
actually reading them), purchasing recommended books
(and actually reading these, too) and studying online
columns like this one. You’ll then be ready to take
on the online poker world.
Make
a new year’s resolution to accelerate your poker
learning curve. Here’s my “course syllabus” for
the first quarter of 2006:
January
Assignments
1.
Buy “Poker for Dummies,” by Richard D. Harroch and Lou
Krieger. It’s available in both book and DVD formats. Read several chapters a week, and complete the
book by the end of the month. If you’ve been playing
for a while, don’t scoff at the material aimed at
beginners. I guarantee you’ll pick up some useful
information, so don’t skip any chapters, and soak up
the basics.
2.
Subscribe
to “Card Player” magazine.
February
Assignments
1.
Buy
“World Poker Tour: Shuffle Up and Deal”
by poker pro and WPT television host Mike Sexton.
It’s a great strategy book filled with entertaining
anecdotes that offer an inside look at how poker pros
think. Read several chapters a week, and complete the
book by the end of the month.
2.
Subscribe
to
“Bluff” magazine.
March
Assignments
1.
Now
that you’ve read two classic poker books, buy a copy
of “Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from The Apprentice’s Straight
Shooter” by Kepcher. You won’t
hear much about poker, but her business tips and
stories about errant “Apprentice” contestants will
make you a much better player. Read several chapters a
week, and complete the book by the end of the month.
2.
Subscribe
to “All In” magazine.
Class
dismissed!
_____________
About Barbara Feiner:
Barbara Feiner is a Los Angeles-based journalist who
covers the poker world.
