The Poker MBA: Winning in Business No Matter What Cards You're Dealt

One of the greatest so called business strategy books often cited is Sun-Tzu "The Art of War", a treatise on warfare which has been adapted to the business world given that the arena of business is muhc like warfare. It is not surprising at all that the game of Poker also can be used to draw lessons and strategies in the business world. I am a poker player, option trader and businessman and I found the book did an excellent job of showing the fun, intrigue and skill of poker and how it is played and how we can learn to use those same skills in negotiations, management and making investments. The book is written with great little stories and examples with special highlights of kep points and chapter summaries of diferent issues. If you love Poker, then you will love the details the book covers on what skills the pros use in bluffing, playing their hands, and reading their opponents. You will also enjoy how the authors show the use of those skills in business dealings and how relevant and useful those skills are.
To the reviewer who criticized the book in its discussion of poker and business, I think the reviewer missed an excellent point of hte book. Business is NOT a chess game where two people with equal resources (same pieces on the baord) deal with each other and the individual's skill level determines the winner. In chess, everything is out there on the board and your emotion plays no role in affecting your other opponent. for example, one side cannot seem more desparate at the beginning of the game before the pieces have been moved.
However this is not true in the real world. In business negotations, parties do not have the same resource to compete with. Parties are also coming from different emotional states. One side may be very desparate to get a deal doen while the other has enough money to wait out the deal and see if something better comes along. The individual skill in such settings is how you use your resources and emotions and play with the hand that has been dealt to you. This is poker at its finest.
If you have a good hand, you still need to analyze what your opponent has and how he or she is betting. But what if they are bluffing? Don't we bluff in business deals as well. The same pshychology that goes into learning your opponent and determing if they are bluffing you based on teh card showing is the same skill we need to sit across from someone at a negotiation table and determine what they are offering and what we can offer. It is also true in managing people and handling investments. The skills of POKER are very transferable to the business world. THis book does a great job of showing how the wonderful skills of poker can be used in the business world and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. After just reading it once, it already got my mind thinking a different way when I consider future business proposals, negotiations or just dealing with co-workers on business issues.