Good poker players make excellent political leaders

I was away on a solo holiday for the past three weeks and after indulging in all the holiday pleasures during the day, I would spend most of my nights indoors playing poker with friends. Mingling in night crowds over smoke and loud music filled places of entertainment has never been my idea of fun, I prefer quiet nights wining and dining with soft music in the background or spending the night reading a good book, watching a nice romantic comedy movie or playing poker with friends. Poker is a very interesting game that requires the player to strategise all the moves like a perfect leader in order to win and it greatly resembles real life scenarios in the political and business world. It was during one poker game that it occured to me that a good poker player can be an excellent political leader and I got inspired to write this article. My acknowledgement goes to Mark Bernberg of The Poker Room who gave me permission to quote him in this article.

A good political leader is one who focuses on everything that affects the living conditions of the people he wants to serve and bases his decisions on the situation on the ground and then implements his decisions in an effective way. Analogous to that is that the beauty of poker is that it trains you to focus on everything, the players, their tells, the odds and probabilities and the money on the table. You take into account all these factors and make them the foundation for the decision making process and once you have made a decision you have to execute. This is the hidden gem of poker that would make a good poker player a great political leader who is able to get in touch with the situation on the ground and then make decisions, execute his decisions and then move forward no matter what the outcome.

A good political leader governs least to allow for free markets, free press and many other freedoms that give citizens the space to grow and reach their full potential, but the few times he does govern he is proactive and shows excellent leadership. Poker players will often talk about taking control of a hand, of a table. The pros believe that the best way to play is tight-aggressive. In other words, play very few hands, but when you do, play them hard, be aggressive and take control of the hand. A good poker player who plays tight aggressive would make a great political leader who governs only when there is need to and when he does govern the result will be a win for the whole nation.

The political turf is at often times very bumpy and a good political leader is judged by how effectively he deals with the tough times so that the difficult times have minimum effect on the people he will be leading. A poker player's worst nightmare, but a matter of pure and simple reality is that at some point in time things are not going to go your way. Professional poker players call such a period, a period of cold cards. Given that the cards being dealt are completely random, the only element separating the good poker players from the bad ones is the effective skills they use to manouvre their way out of the cold periods. A good poker player would make a good political leader who is able to overcome all the difficulties that the nation encounters.

A great political leader radiates an aura of complete control no matter what the circumstances. A great political leader remains calm, focused, consistent and stable in their outlook and decision-making processes. A great political leader creates the right perception that will cause the nation to succeed in all their endeavours. The best poker players in the world will never let on that they might be in trouble, might not have the goods, or worse are scared and nervous of your play or your cards. Their poker face will never give you an indication of their strength or weakness. Their poker face creates your perception. In poker terms this perception is called the table image. The best poker players in the world have a table image that is strong, intimidating and fearsome. They are leaders in their field and their table image lets you know it. Their table image affects other poker players' decisions. A good poker player would make a good political leader who creates the perception that everything is under control and therefore makes the citizens feel calm and secure in the trust that their leader will guide the nation through the stormy waters until its safe. With that perception the citizens will rally behind their political leader, all hands on deck and help steer the ship to safety.

There are times when a political leader's endurance is tested to the limits, particularly during periods when there is uncertainty in the financial markets, times when economic factors threaten to destabilise the nation, times of inflation, depression or recession when the economic environment is not conducive for economic growth, times when the nation's treasury is bankrupt and no donors are wiiling to bail the nation out and times when the nation is plagued by infectious diseases or disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, famine, veld fires or floods. It is during such times that true leaders need to shine in the fields of calmness, logic, reason and the swiftness to act to solve the problems. Every poker player will at some point encounter bad luck. This will test the nerve, emotional strength and mental capacity of the player. It is human nature to want to win and when you see victory being snatched away bit by bit by the jaws of defeat some poker players will go on tilt. Going on tilt means to play irrationally, emotionally and in a manner that will leave you scraping your ego and empty wallet of the table, lost in the realm of cards, chips and croupiers. The best poker players in the world have the ability to avoid going on tilt, to avoid playing with their heart and to play only with their head. After all its poker and there is nothing personal about it, the same applies to politics, after all its only politics and there is nothing personal about it. A good poker player would make a good political leader who shows strength and calmness even when things are not going his way and by so doing others around him will feed off these attributes and become strong, motivated and productive themselves.

If you analyse, Tsvangirai, Mutambara, Munangagwa, Dabengwa and Makoni's leadership qualities, whom do you think would be the best poker player?