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, Early Retirement & Lifestyle Design
Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It
Pursuing financial independence, financial freedom, or early retirement often leads to the same questions: How do I become financially independent? How much should I save? What happens after I reach FI?

FI Minded helps you use money to create more freedom, without turning your entire life into a financial optimization project.

Host Justin Peters explores the decisions behind building a flexible, work-optional life, from reaching financial independence and navigating Coast FI and Slow FI to spending your money, changing careers, stepping away from work, and figuring out what comes after FI.

Each episode combines practical personal finance with conversations about early retirement, lifestyle design, work, spending, healthcare, self-employment, and life after financial independence. The goal isn't simply to reach FI as quickly as possible. It's to make progress toward financial freedom while actually enjoying your life along the way.

On FI Minded, you'll learn how to:
- Reach financial independence without burning out
- Build a flexible, work-optional lifestyle
- Navigate Coast FI, Slow FI, and other paths to FI
- Make smarter decisions about spending and saving
- Prepare financially and emotionally for early retirement
- Figure out what life can look like after financial independence
- Think through the tradeoffs behind major money and lifestyle 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), Maggie Tucker (Inside Out Money), Cody Berman (The Financial Independence Show), Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamins), Doug Cunnington (Mile High FI), and and others helping you rethink how to approach financial independence.
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