HOW I Become a Poker Champion in One Year

 HOW I BECAME A POKEER CHAMPION IN A YEAR

I was a newbie to poker when I met Erik Seidel for the first time. Rounders is a 1998 Matt Damon movie that tells the story of a brilliant student in law who works hard to make ends meet and eventually quits law to become a poker player full-time. In the background, you can see a real-life match of poker. The 1988 World Series of Poker final-table showdown is between a young Seidel (the "master"), as Chan is frequently described by commentators. This is the most famous nonpoker poker match. After the expert trapping of his younger victim, Seidel's set with queens falls to Chan, Chan's straight.

Chan was reigning world champion at the time and Seidel, his first major tournament. To make it to the final table, he had defeated 165 competitors. Seidel, now the master, has been there for thirty years. Seidel is the holder of eight WSOP bracelets - only five other players have more - and a World Poker Tour championship. He is one of only 32 poker hall of fame members. He holds the record for the fourth-highest career tournament winnings in poker history and the fourth-highest number of times he has cashed at the WSOP (114). Many consider him to be the GOAT-the greatest of all times.

Seidel's longevity is what sets him apart from all other players: He still holds the No. 1 spot. Since his late '80s career began, Seidel has been No. 1. This takes some effort. Over the past 30 year, the game has undergone a significant transformation. The qualitative aspects of poker, like so many other aspects of modern living, have taken a backseat to the quantitative. Caltech Ph.D.s are now on the tables. You will often see printedouts of statistics columns. GTO (game theoretical optimal) and +EV (positive expected values) are two common terms that often pop up in conversations. Despite the fact that Seidel's play style is psychologically enticing, it doesn't seem like he will become a dinosaur.

Seidel taught me poker three years back. A professional poker player, the professional poker player, would agree to allow a random journalist to follow his journey like a toddler. It's not to get publicity or money. Seidel is notoriously reserved and doesn't like sharing his methods. However, I was an ideal student in many ways. My Ph.D. in psychology means that I am well-equipped to comprehend Seidel's style. Seidel didn't have to remove me from any bad habits, as I had never been much into playing cards. My lack of experience and academic training made me the perfect candidate to test whether Seidel's psychological approach could win over a strictly mathematical method.

I was busy with my personal life at the time. It was not the ideal time to try and answer a vague question about a video game I didn't know much about. My husband had just been laid off and our lives were in constant flux. But poker quickly became my obsession. It was a great way to test my theories about the role luck plays in our lives. Poker is not a game of chance or chess. The nuanced understanding of human intent, interactions and deceptions is what poker relies on, in addition to the underlying mathematics. It gives you the parameters you need to face uncertainty.

Seidel & I came up with a plan. Seidel would train me to compete in the World Series of Poker. With Chan finishing second, this tournament was what he used to launch his own career. It would have taken me less then a year to prepare. The Players in Poker