Episode 77

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Published on:

5th Dec 2022

Think Like a Top 20 Poker Player | E77 Chris Sparks

Today’s episode is an exciting conversation with Chris Sparks, a retired professional poker player although I think he uses the term retired fairly loosely. I’ll settle somewhere in the middle and call him a well-paid hobbyist.

 

Chris has played over 2 million hands of poker across thousands of tournaments including main events tournaments like World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and the European, Asian-Pacific, and Latin American Poker Tour.

 

During his hay days, he had a fast and furious climb that eventually led him to being ranked in the top 20 online cash game players in the world.

 

In our conversation, Chris shares stories about his growth as a poker player. He’ll also teach us the meta-skills of high stakes poker that can be extrapolated and applied to our own life.

 

By listening to this episode, you’ll learn how to recognize a good bet, how to take action with incomplete information, and the benefits of focusing on the process versus being results-oriented.

 

If you’re a listener of the show and haven’t left us a rating and review, we’d really appreciate it if you did. And if you’re new, welcome, sit back, relax, and let’s learn something new.

 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with the man who started playing poker in college for fun but eventually used it to pay for his tuition…Chris Sparks.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Why Chris tried standup comedy
  • How Chris uses retirement in order to reprioritize what he currently wants his life to look like
  • How you can turn bad luck into good fortune 
  • The “Poker House”
  • How to use a forcing function to accomplish your goal
  • How to take action without complete information
  • Emotions have to be a part of the decision-making process
  • Skill acquisition is a long game so be kind to yourself, have fun, and stay curious

 

Mentions:

Expected Value Calculator: www.forcingfunction.com/evc

Play to Win Article: https://www.forcingfunction.com/articles/play-to-win

Experiment Without Limits Workbook: https://www.forcingfunction.com/workbook

Performance Assessment: https://www.forcingfunction.com/assessment

Team Performance Training: https://www.forcingfunction.com/team-training

 

More of Chris:

www.forcingfunction.com

 

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

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About the Podcast

FI Minded - Financial Independence Without the Extremes
Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It
Pursuing financial freedom, a work-optional lifestyle, or early retirement often leads to the same questions: “one more year,” “do I have enough?” “what does life actually look like after this?”

FI Minded helps you think like someone who’s already financially independent so you can make smarter decisions about how you work, spend, and live.

From Coast FI and Slow FI to lifestyle design, career transitions, healthcare, and self-employment, each episode explores the real decisions behind building a flexible, work-optional life…without burnout, over-optimization, or missing out along the way.

We cover:
* Smarter ways to reach financial independence (without burnout)
* Designing a flexible, work-optional lifestyle
* Coast FI, Slow FI, and enjoying your time along the way
* What life actually looks like after FI (and how to prepare for it)
* The tradeoffs behind big money decisions

Make progress toward financial independence while actually living your life.

Some of our past guests include Carl Jensen (1500 Days), Jeremy Schneider (Personal Finance Club), Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show), Andrew Giancola (The Personal Finance Podcast), Jordan Grumet (Earn & Invest), Rachael Camp (Work Optional), Jillian Johnsrud (Retire Often), Sean Mullaney (FI Tax Guy), Jill Sirianni (Frugal Friends), Jackie Cummings-Koski (Catching Up to FI), Joel Larsgaard (How to Money), Cody Garrett (Measure Twice), Jesse Cramer (Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors), Jess (The Fioneers), Chris Hutchins (All The Hacks), Diania Merriam (EconoMe), Andy Hill (Marriage Kids Money), Fritz Gilbert (Retirement Manifesto), and and others helping you rethink how to approach financial independence.
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