Workout:
No Workout
Reading:
I listed to more of "The Signal and The Noise". The author talks about poker, the "poker bubble" of the 2000's, "fishes", "sharks", and his brief stint as a full-time online poker player. I thought it was very entertaining.
The author talks about how the ESPN world series of poker made poker go mainstream. He also talks about how the broadcasts made poker seem fun, dramatic, and made the viewer feel like poker was easy. As a result, a whole bunch of fans felt like they were incredibly good at poker (despite having no skills at all), and signed up for online poker games and the world series of poker. The author mentions an anecdote about how no other game has new players who are as full of hubris and deluded about their abilities as you'd find in poker.
Notes:
The Big Fish in a Small Pond
You head off to college and sign up for the ultimate team. When you join, you are certainly one of the worst players, but definitely not the worst. You stick with it, going regularly to practices and tournaments, and you feel committed. After a few years, your ability level relative to your peers begins to grow. Maybe you're an upperclassman, and those who you knew were better than you at ultimate have graduated by now. You're clearly one of the better players on the team (in your opinion), but also definitely not the best. You can't touch that guy, he's a beast. You feel secure in your standing as an older, wiser player. You feel like you have established yourself, that you are among The Upper Crust. You have made it! Maybe you dismiss a few disappointing regionals results as flukes. How could you lose? You're an all-star, right? Maybe you get comfortable and start to make excuses. Maybe you let your lifting schedule or throwing schedule slip. I think this is the trap of the big fish in a small pond.
No Workout
Reading:
I listed to more of "The Signal and The Noise". The author talks about poker, the "poker bubble" of the 2000's, "fishes", "sharks", and his brief stint as a full-time online poker player. I thought it was very entertaining.
The author talks about how the ESPN world series of poker made poker go mainstream. He also talks about how the broadcasts made poker seem fun, dramatic, and made the viewer feel like poker was easy. As a result, a whole bunch of fans felt like they were incredibly good at poker (despite having no skills at all), and signed up for online poker games and the world series of poker. The author mentions an anecdote about how no other game has new players who are as full of hubris and deluded about their abilities as you'd find in poker.
Notes:
The Big Fish in a Small Pond
You head off to college and sign up for the ultimate team. When you join, you are certainly one of the worst players, but definitely not the worst. You stick with it, going regularly to practices and tournaments, and you feel committed. After a few years, your ability level relative to your peers begins to grow. Maybe you're an upperclassman, and those who you knew were better than you at ultimate have graduated by now. You're clearly one of the better players on the team (in your opinion), but also definitely not the best. You can't touch that guy, he's a beast. You feel secure in your standing as an older, wiser player. You feel like you have established yourself, that you are among The Upper Crust. You have made it! Maybe you dismiss a few disappointing regionals results as flukes. How could you lose? You're an all-star, right? Maybe you get comfortable and start to make excuses. Maybe you let your lifting schedule or throwing schedule slip. I think this is the trap of the big fish in a small pond.
If it was the case that you would only ever compete against your own teammates, then this wouldn't be a problem. This is what happens with Intramural sports. But since you compete against teams outside your own, that you do not see very often, with players outside your immediate pool, the small pond is an illusion. I think that the size of your pond is dictated by the competition you choose to enter. You must be willing to look beyond your immediate surroundings, out of the pond and into the ocean. And I think that if you choose to compete on a national stage, it is absolutely critical to realize that you are a very small fish in a massive ocean.
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