[polarmatt]

I'm considering taking up bridge to help me concentrate better at the poker. does anyone else do or have done this?

[etha]

polarmatt, on 2019-May-08, 08:11, said:

I'm considering taking up bridge to help me concentrate better at the poker. does anyone else do or have done this?

Not sure how it is going to help you. Poker is 5 hours of nothing happening and 5 mins of needing to be awake. Bridge is less hours of not needing to be awake and a few more minutes of needing to be awake at less obvious times. my vote goes to some sort of transcendental meditation technique. eating the right food might even be the best bet.

Having said that try bridge anyway you might enjoy it.

[pescetom]

polarmatt, on 2019-May-08, 08:11, said:

I'm considering taking up bridge to help me concentrate better at the poker. does anyone else do or have done this?

At least that's better than hoping to make a living out of it
But I don't think it makes much sense.
You certainly need to train to do well in any competition, but my experience is that it is very specific: the basis for winning at poker will be to play poker tournaments, for years.
See the 10,000 hours rule.

[johnu]

etha, on 2019-May-08, 11:34, said:

Not sure how it is going to help you. Poker is 5 hours of nothing happening and 5 mins of needing to be awake.

You may not be in a lot of hands during a poker session, but not paying attention is going to cost you money. Studying the opponents can help you make the right decisions in later hands and increase your overall odds of winning.

[kuhchung]

I mean if you aren't paying attention to players' betting patterns and what they're showing down, why would playing bridge help with this?

[rmnka447]

There are a few top bridge players who also play poker professionally, too.

One who comes to mind is one of the better younger players, John Kranyak, who now lives in Las Vegas, but is originally from Cleveland.

[pescetom]

rmnka447, on 2019-May-09, 19:47, said:

There are a few top bridge players who also play poker professionally, too.

One who comes to mind is one of the better younger players, John Kranyak, who now lives in Las Vegas, but is originally from Cleveland.

There are pro cyclists who are also good runners (Davide Formolo comes to mind) and pro runners who are also good cyclists, but they aren't better at their job because they do the other sport. I would never suggest to an ordinary runner or cyclist that he can improve performance by taking up the other sport - his only chance is to stick to what he knows and train, lots.

[etha]

and weirdly in bridge you aren't allowed to stare intently at the other players to get tells and soul reads. Gus Hansen plays bridge, and has interesting ideas unsurprisingly.

[jdulmage]

Once I had been playing (and winning) at bridge I decided to try poker thinking I'd have equal success. Never happened. Not even close. I would say the two games do not mix well.