Poker and Baseball

There is a remarkable similarity between poker and baseball.

I am a former baseball player, by the way. I played it in high school and college and actually tried out with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I was a pitcher and an outfielder, and joined 500 other aspirants at the old Forbes Field in downtown Pittsburgh. It was a crazy, exciting day. One of the Pirate scouts took a few notes on me and then had me take the mound. After I had thrown about 10 pitches, he called me aside.

'Good knuckleball, son, but you don't have a fast ball. And if you can't throw a ball through the side of a barn, the team just isn't interested in you.'

My cousin Matthew, nicknamed Pudgy because of his girth, tried out for the Pirates and they actually offered him a contract. The signing bonus was only $1,000, and his father talked him out of signing it. The team never offered him another contract and he spent the rest of his career working as a high school principal.

Baseball teams win games in streaks. They build up momentum, and the energy carries the team from victory to victory.

Poker players also win in streaks. I remember an incredible period in Pennsylvania when I won 14 straight sessions at the Rivers Casino. I thought I was invincible. Some of the people I played against complained to my brother, 'He just plays the nuts.' Whatever the reason, I kept winning and winning.

I have said this before and I will repeat it because it's true: a player must treat each poker session like a baseball game. A baseball team can be down 3-0 in the early innings, but if the team sticks to principles, it can make up those runs and win the game.

To be a winning baseball player, you need to practice. Repetition makes perfection. When you do something over and over, it becomes natural to do it when it counts. With enough practice, your instinct takes over and that is when you make the best plays.

The same is true in poker. You can never practice enough. A poker player must always remind himself of how the game must be played to be profitable. A player must always make his best efforts. Otherwise, he is in great danger of being a loser.

To win a baseball game, a pitcher needs a pitch he can count on. In my case, that pitch was a knuckle ball hook. It was a slow pitch, but it broke sharply and it got the job done.

In poker, a player must be capable of making a play that the other players don't expect. Sometimes you will have the cards to accomplish it, and at other times it will be a bluff. Both work together if you practice enough. Good luck. Let the games begin.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).