Poker

by Robert Alvarez

One of my favourite past times is playing poker. It’s one of the ways I bond with my high school friends after not seeing them for a while. There is a misconception that poker is a game of skill, but that’s untrue. You could play the percentages all you want, but that would only get you so far. There is a human element that you simply cannot remove from the game, the need to read your opponent. Like in life, you can start out with the worst hand and still win it all.


The analogy I’m trying to make here is that of objectivism, and subjectivism. As in poker, there is a need for a middle ground in everyday life. The computations and theories (the sciences) in poker are not meant to be gospel, but a guide, the sciences are not an end in themselves. People in the Ateneo have a tendency to be bookish, exposed to so many theories and utopian ideas. There are times when these intelligent people are duped, robbed, or scammed by people schooled in life, and not in a classroom. This is because there’s also a need for street smarts, that’s something you can’t simply gleam from your text books or journals. Coming from a prestigious school like the Ateneo, we are prone to fall into the trap that we’re better (in terms of skill) than everyone else. This belief often ends with disappointment when you apply for a job and don’t get the position, or the salary you want. When Dr. Garcia started the semester he said that we’ve been asking the wrong question all along, maybe it is in this way that we’ve been seeking the wrong kind of knowledge.