The odds...................................

When Annie started playing poker seriously, it was her brother who sat her down and explained what separated the winners form everyone else.  Losers, Howard said, are always looking for certainty at the table.  Winners are comfortable admitting to themselves what they don't know.  In fact, knowing what you don't know is a huge advantage - something that can be used against other players.  When Annie would call Howard and complain that she had lost, had suffered bad luck, that the cards had gone against her, he would tell her to stop whining.
     "Have you considered that you might be the idiot at the table who's looking for certainty?"  he asked...


      "A lot of poker comes down to luck,"  Annie told me.  "Just like life.  You never know where you'll end up.  When I checked myself into the psych hospital my sophomore year, there's no way I would have guessed I would end up as a professional poker player.  But you have to be comfortable not knowing exactly where life is going.  That's how I've learned to keep the anxiety away.  All we can do is learn how to make the best decisions that are in front of us, and trust that, over time, the odds will be in our favor."


-Charles Duhigg,  Smarter Faster Better:  The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, as excerpted from the chapter highlighting poker player Annie Duke