The Thinking Man Game
While river may not mean “the last card to be shown in a hand of hold ‘em” in any standard dictionary, it IS the standard lingo for people who play the game, and even in the general public more and more people are learning the terms flop, turn and river, when you’re referring to the game of poker.
Invented nearly 200 years ago in New Orleans, the original “Cheating Game,” has evolved into the new “Thinking Game,” and it’s principles have extended well beyond the felt.
The way players think in a game of poker online, really reflects the way we think in several areas of society. From law, to economics, to military strategy, to artificial intelligence, poker online thought has permeated into just about every aspect of life.
Let’s look at it through a legal point of view. Two lawyers getting ready to argue in a court room. You can break it down a lot like a hand of poker. Each lawyer has his arguments ready (his starting hand), and to help support that hand there is statute (the flop), After the flop is argued, the lawyers then turn to precedent and case law (the turn), this will either help one player or hurt another, or possibly help or hurt them both. Finally you have evidence, this is the river in a court room. This is the final deciding card that lets the arguments speak most loudly.
Of course, law is just one example of how poker thinking and strategy can spill over into the lives of the non professional player. But it abounds for sure. Just look at politics, it’s an everchanging game of persuading someone else that your position is the one that has the support and is the best. Maybe poker 101 should be a prerequisite for all people before they graduate from university. It provides some real world skill beyond simple theoretics in any given field.
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