White Belt Poker

There are two main ideas that went into the naming of this site, both of which are quite apt for someone like me who is learning the game from the beginning. First of all, there’s the obvious combat element. Okay, so we throw chips at each other rather than fists or swords, but there’s no getting away from the fact that poker is a battle of superiority, of acquisition. The language of the game is full of war metaphors. We talk about “bringing your big guns”, “the battle of the blinds” or even just “going to war with a hand”. The origins of what we now know as “game theory” may even reach as far back as Sun Tzu’s famous work “The Art of War”.

The second part is the figurative wearing of the “white belt” itself. As everyone knows, the white belt is worn by beginners in a particular martial art. The name is my admission that I’m a beginner in the art of poker. Of course, gradually, I aim to gain experience and knowledge and to become a better player. A year after I began playing, I certainly believe that I’ve done that to a degree.

But there’s more to the white belt concept than that. A few years ago I read a book called “Zen Guitar” by the late author Philip Toshio Sudo. I’d had a passing interest in zen philosophy for a while – not as a religious thing, because I’m an atheist – but for it’s insights into human nature. Sudo’s book is remarkable – it doesn’t contain any lessons on guitar techniques or chord theory or any of the other ideas that you would expect to find in a book that’s ostensibly about guitar playing. Instead, the book seeks to encourage the reader to examine their own approach to the instrument; to revel in the vibration of the strings under your fingers; to hold on to that feeling of joy that you felt when you first made a noise with a guitar and to feel that way every time you pick up the instrument. In essence, “to play the right note at the right time.” One of the most important concepts in the book is that of maintaining the “the beginner’s mind”. It’s this approach that I aim to bring to my poker game:

After the immediate thrill I experienced from playing for money (and taking it away from other people) it didn’t take long for me to realise that my own goals as a poker player were longer term. As I began to absorb more of the ideas around the game I realised that the smart players all took this patient, long-term approach. Matthew Hilger even came up with the equation ‘good disciplined players = the money… given time’ in his book “Internet Texas Hold’em”. There are elements of zen in this approach of course. Howard Lederer has also written a great article about how a zen mindset has helped his game.

Of course, not all zen concepts fit snugly within the poker world. As Larry W. Phillips points out in his book “Zen and the Art of Poker”, material acquisition and cutthroat competition are not strictly part of the deal. Zen embraces poverty and rejects acts of selfishness. Some things just can’t be reconciled with playing poker. But hey, I’m part of the generation that grew up with video games and MTV, so if it helps me to see beyond the next three minutes then there has to be something in it.