At a poker discussion group meeting I agreed to read a number of chapters from a book and report on it. Luckily for me, the book was the amazing new limit hold'em book by Barry Tanenbaum, Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy - Techniques For Beating Tough Games. I have a confession to make that I hope helps someone else overcome a handicap of sorts: I am a very poor reader. I got through school by being extremely clever and therefore, able to fool my teachers. Growing up with highly educated parents, our verbal interactions at home were always of an intelligent nature, and my vocabulary flourished. My reading skills did not.
Simply put, I hate to read. Give me a poker magazine and I can get through it. But books are painful for me. I graduated from college without ever reading a book cover to cover. Most of my poker books are stacked high atop my dresser with the bindings not even cracked. This is not something I'm proud of, but it is what it is, and if you are in that boat too, you're not alone. Anyway, our poker group was talking about New Year's resolutions and one of mine was to read more books, primarily (hell, let's be honest, exclusively) poker books. Dr. Al Schoonmaker, one of the group's leaders, asked me how I planned to accomplish that goal. Before I knew it, I not only told the group I read the book, but that two weeks from that date, I'd prepare and present the first three chapters (about 35 pages) to them.
Was it a struggle? Absolutely! Even though I tried hard to concentrate, I had trouble remembering what I read and had to reread each page. My mind wandered to such important things as thinking about the color of the wall around me. I realized that I needed a system, so I got out my yellow hiliter and marked the parts that I felt were particularly significant. I found that as long as I only read about ten or so pages at a time, I actually began to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.
With my system in place, I actually read 84 pages-more than twice my assigned amount-and prepared my presentation for the group. Upon completing my presentation-which I nailed in my humble opinion-I announced my intention to complete the book and present an overview of it to the group. Not only did I talk about Barry's concepts regarding the Illusion of Action and the Theory of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), but I also told them how I planned to adopt each of the sections into my own poker arsenal and become a better player in the process.
Will I breeze through the remainder of the book in a day or two? Of course not, but you can be sure I will read every word and understand what, how, and why it will make me a better player. If you'd like to come along for the ride, there are always seats open in our poker meetings, and you can email me for more information.
On another topic entirely, today I received the call I'd always awaited. Having been on the bone marrow transplant donor list since 1985, today I learned that I was a potential match and underwent a medical background interview by phone. Another of my resolutions for 2008 was to make a difference, preferably to a total stranger. If I pass the physical and DNA cross types, I may also be able to accomplish that goal. To give the gift of life makes reading a book seem, well, rather pedestrian, but here I am with the real chance of making both happen.
