Phillips, Larry. Zen and The Art of Poker

z e n

AND THE ART OF

POKER

Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game

LARRY W. PHILLIPS

PLUME

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England

Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182–190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:

Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

First Printing, November, 1999 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright © Larry W. Phillips, 1999

All rights reserved

MSR ISBN 0 7865 6029 0

AEB ISBN 0 7865 6030 4

Set in Simoncini Garamond

Designed by Leonard Telesca

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.

Visit our web site at www.penguinputnam.com

This book is dedicated

to Thomas and Patricia Sprain

Contents

Introduction 1

I. Fundamentals

1.What Is Zen? 7

2.Folding 12

3.Take the Long View 28

4.Practice, Practice, Practice 31

5.The Road to Eventual Mastery 36

II.Calmness and Rhythm

6.Calmness: Prepare for the Worst-Case Scenario 41

7.Calmness: The Ordinary Way 48

8.Detachment: The Ego-ess State 55

9.Naturalness: The End of Self-Frustrating Effort 60

10.Rhythm: The Back-and-Forth Flow 65

11.The Wall of Cards: Cyclical Luck 74

III. Nuts and Bolts

12.Include Failure in the System 79

13.A Few Rules on Hesitating 85

14.Stealth, Sneakiness, and Cunning 87

15.The Poker Face and Body Language 91

IV. Warrior Zen

16.Betting 97

17.Aggression 104

18.Warrior Zen 109

19.Playing on Instinct 114

20.Consciousness 118

21.Focus 121

V.Emotions and Opponents

22.Respect for Opponents 125

23.On Overconfidence, Pride, and Arrogance 128

24.Steaming . . . and Other Emotions 134

25.Bad Luck and Losing 144

26.Examine Your Motives 152

27.Mastery: Expertise in Sight 157

Appendix 1.

Zen and Tournament Play 161

Appendix 2.

Notes on Zen and Poker Computer Software 165

Bibliography 171

Acknowledgments 174

Sages follow the rules of heaven; the wise obey the laws of earth; the intelligent follow precedent. Harm comes to the arrogant; calamity visits the proud.

—Zhuge Liang

Who knows this morning what will happen tonight?

—Chinese proverb