Playing the Long Game

Later tonight, I'm headed to the neighborhood dads' poker game. Each of these guys has a different playing style. Some are conservative betters; others are aggressive. Some play the intellectual game; others get overly emotional. Some get drunk; others capitalize on their competitors' drunkenness. Some play the short game; others play the long game. The long game is the collection of small decisions and their resultant successes and failures over a duration. Months. Years. Decades. When it comes down to success, I wholly believe in the consistency of good decisions is what matters. I'm probably a below-average poker player. Yet, it's possible for me to sit at a table of world champion players... and win. How? By getting lucky enough times when I make bad decisions. If I sat down against those same players for another 100 games, I'd get crushed in 95+ of them. These guys are stacking good decisions on top of each other. For them, getting lucky means maximizi