“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” These are telling words from the late John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach who died recently at 99.
Wooden wasn’t a poker player, but was much more than just a basketball coach and his wisdom transcends sport. While many considered him the greatest coach of all time, regardless of the sport, Wooden liked to think of himself simply as a teacher. He was a humble man, never cool and never hip, and he never aspired to be. He was a humble, caring, man of straightforward Midwestern values who was a beacon of light to all who knew him.
His words should resonate with poker players as well as they do with basketball players, captains of industry, and leaders of nations—many of whom are fond of quoting John Wooden in a variety of circumstances.
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts,” should touch anyone who ever won a poker tournament and thought that it was skill alone enabling his triumph. Wooden’s words should also hit home for anyone who rode a run of luck into a big win in a cash game and left thinking he was the greatest poker player ever to river a three-outer and capture a pot he never should have been contesting in the first place.
But for players who suffer bad days despite playing well, Wooden’s phrase, “Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts,” offers both solace and direction. So too does Wooden’s observation that, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” Yes, without ever playing a hand of poker, John Wooden knew you have to play the hand you’re dealt.
If he had been a poker player Coach Wooden would never bemoan a bad-beat, blame the dealer for a poor run of cards, or swear at the donkey who drew out at him. He was all about personal accountability and character. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are,” speaks directly to poker players who know that all they ultimately have when it comes to dealings in and about the poker table is the quality of their character and their reputation.
Wooden recognized the need for self awareness, and the fact that for poker players—and everyone else too—learning should never stop. “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be,” he said. He also offered the timeless, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”
In his 99 years on Earth, despite achieving more than most people could ever hope to, and setting records—such as winning seven consecutive NCAA championships and ten in all—that will probably never be broken, he knew the best of us were human and not supermen. “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do,” he said, which is perhaps his unique take on the adage that “Pride goeth before a fall.”
He admonished us that, “Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” And on the basketball court as well as in life, he implored us with the enigmatic words, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
Moving Day for My Blog and Website.
I’ve been associated with the online site Pokerology.com for some time and recently decided to integrate my blog and my website, and move both of them closer to Pokerology’s site.
Now you can find both my blog and website at www.loukrieger.com, and have access to a lot more material in the process. I hope you like the new site. The content won’t change except for the fact that now you can read my posts, check out my books, quotes, and other web site information, as well as avail yourself of posts and poker lessons from myself and others at www.pokerology.com, all in one, convenient place.
Visit Lou Krieger online at www.loukrieger.com, where you can read his blog, and check out all of his books. Write directly to him at loukrieger@aol.com.
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