A Lone Walker

By Author: Nikolaos Gonos
Total Articles: 1
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If Lucky Look would walk I bet he would have been one of the best professional players, because of his character. I say walk because I find hard to imagine Dolly drinking bourbon from a bucket in front of a casino's bar; and the parking lot being out of whistling range would have been rather inconvenient in case of an emergency.

One of the most distinguished characteristics of a professional player is loneliness. He is alone in victory and in defeat. He is alone during his most monumental decisions, greatest risks and biggest mistakes. He stands alone against the whole universe, when he and he alone knows why he decided to act or to remain inactive.

Whoever watches a player during his play they just observe the end result of myriad calculations, questions, answers, facts, instincts, inspirations, risks, defensive/offensive moves, endurance, psychology so on and so forth. To the eye of the observer every single outcome is categorized as either positive or negative. But in the player's mind is a whole play, written as a series of decisions and negations. Only a player knows how close failure was before it transformed ...
... into victory or vice versa.

Indeed it is a very lonely road

You have to deal with all the losers who cannot achieve what you are capable of and just excuse themselves offering simplified theories such as nobody can beat the roulette or no gambler is a rich man. You have to deal with each second that ay be an opportunity but to most people goes unnoticed; with staying into the race when everybody else quits; with beating not the game but yourself.

Definitely this profession is a lonely one since one is obliged to operate at the same environment with hundred others, with whom he shares the same objective while on the same time guarding his privacy. I remember countless of times being patted at the back and hearing a friendly voice saying something like Today is your day or the opposite and me having to give a polite reply in order not to be rude. Many times I have heard players saying that it is a huge mistake to play since they never going to win but on the very next day I can see them chasing with undiminished passion their dream. The same dream they have written off from the very beginning.

You must simply keep on walking the same direction you have decided in advance, without being able to say to anybody how, where, when or even if you are coming back. You must continue being an alert observer without being mislead by others people mistakes. You must be able to be yourself in any place except the place you are working in; there you have to be whatever it takes in order to be able to beat yourself in any given moment.

During my life I have loan money to every friend that found himself in need. But I never asked for my money back since I do not want to loose my friends. I think this is a better tactic than never lending money in order not to loose friends. The first option is a better one since your friend is given a chance to maintain friendship while the second signifies the beginning of the end. After all, it is money in question not chips.

Indeed it is a very lonely way the way of the professional player