THE WINNING EDGE

SLIMPAC: A Formula For Success

by Dana Smith

SLIMPAC is a dietary supplement designed especially for poker players. If you're ready for a regular diet of winning, or if you want to shed the losing habits that drag you down, try this new formula for success in poker. SLIMPAC is an acronym for the seven vital ingredients in the diets of winners: Skill, Luck, Image, Money, People, Attitude, and Control.

Skill. No matter how good they are, winners are always looking for ways to improve their skills. They continually study, practice, and think, substituting hoping to win with planning how to win. They are also top-notch thinkers. "Action without thought is the cause of most failures," states Brian Tracy in his audiocassette program, The Universal Laws of Success and Achievement. Johnny Moss, the first winner of the World Series of Poker, had only an elementary school education. Yet made his living at poker, partly because of his credo: "I have to think fast and figure my percentages. I can't relax for a second. I tell you, gambling is hard work!"

Luck. Although Moss also said, "I don't trust on luck," both he and the rest of us have to get lucky sometimes ... because that's what poker is all about: a blend of skill and luck. Tex Sheahan once said that in poker, "Amateurs overemphasize luck and professionals overemphasize skill. It takes both to win." You sometimes hear, "I'd rather be lucky than smart" from a player who's just suffered a beat. Actually, you can increase your luck, just as you can increase your skill.

How? One way is to think lucky thoughts, be optimistic. Another is to widen your circle of friends, thereby augmenting your chances of meeting people who can help you get what you want. You can also develop a sense of awareness for serendipitous occasions, for luck so often occurs "when preparedness meets opportunity." (Want more on this subject? Try A.H.Z. Carr's book, How To Attract Good Luck. )

Image. Whether you´re in the business world or the poker world, your image is an important ingredient of success. Why doesn´t Phil Hellmuth remove his Oakleys at the poker table? Why does Doyle Brunson always wear his Stetson? Why does Scotty Nguyen wear so much jewelry? If "what you see is what you get," what image do you project? If you don't have one, you can create one by imagining yourself looking, talking, and acting the way you want to be perceived at the tables. Then, just do it.

Money. Poker is a money game. That's why I play it instead of duplicate bridge, where I could sometimes earn an entire $10 for four hours of play at the social bridge club. Money equals risk. Risk equals excitement. Excitement is living. In a competitive world, money moxie gives you a winning edge. It´s all about how you get it, how you manage it, and how you grow it. You've got to know these things to compete, to survive, to climb the ubiquitous ladder of wealth.

People. As the axiom goes, "Poker is a people game you play with cards." It's the people you play against who give you the money you earn at poker. Some of them become your generous benefactors, but others are stingy misers, from whom you cannot extract. It takes time to get to know the players who are contributors and those who are thieves. So, enter the game slowly if you are amongst strangers. Watch your opponents for a while, and wait for your best opportunities before you pit your skills against theirs.

Attitude. Attitude used to be a totally positive word, but in today's lingo, that's not always true. I regularly play against a guy with an attitude: he degrades winners as just being lucky, he moans about bad beats, and he changes seats often to find his lucky spot. His attitude plays to the strings of the greedy hearts of his opponents. Then there´s a gal who´s picky, picky, picky. She plays table captain, ever watchful for mistakes from dealers and players alike.

A way better attitude for a poker player to project is "positive expectancy," a term popularized by Denis Waitley in his book, The Psychology of Winning. Here's what it does for you: you remain optimistic. "Play happy," Roy West used to always say. Expect to win. When you appear to be confident, your weaker opponents tend to fear you.

Control. The final ingredient in the SLIMPAC formula is control. Actually, there are only two things you can control in life: your thoughts and your actions. Since your thoughts about events lead to your reactions to them, if you control your thinking, you control your life. "Tilt" means that you´ve lost control of yourself, and have transferred it to your opponents. To increase your personal control during a poker game, try defining your most devastating "fatal flaws." Try writing a few affirmative reminders to yourself-maybe "I´ll get dealt a new hand in two minutes"-to help maintain your patience, for example. Then take your "Control Card" to the game with you.

SLIMPAC will probably never be canned and sold in Von's as a nutritional supplement for poker players. But if it were, you can bet it would sell in the millions because everybody wants The Winning Edge.

Note: This series of motivational articles first appeared in Card Player magazine in the early ´90s when the author relocated her business, Cardsmith Publishing, to Las Vegas, where she became a columnist and editor for gaming magazines across the country. Currently she is the Executive Editor for Cardoza Publishing.