Negotiations, Poker, and the Presidency

Negotiations Are Like Poker

James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street , about women in 2000 World Series of Poker, and Bunion's World Series of Poker , appeared on NPR Radio and was talking about Presidents and Poker. Obama started a poker group in Illinois while he was a state senator. It is said he liked Stud and Texas Hold'em. The question posed in the interview was whether Obama would continue to play poker in the White House. Appearedly Eisenhower and Nixon were big-time poker players. Supposedly Nixon funded his first campaign with money from poker. William Harding played twice a week and is said to have lost a set of White House china in a game. Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant also liked the game, but the stakes were lower.

Negotiations and poker are very similar so it seems natural that Presidents would like the game. The language of negotiations includes many references to poker. In negotiations we keep "bargaining chips" to get something that we want. Since we do not want the other side to know what we are thinking, we have a mask or "poker face." When we have a bad hand, we sometimes "bluff" so the other party is lured into thinking we have a good hand and might give up. We play our cards "close to the vest." Both negotiators and poker players read cues, check body language, and, if necessary, "put our cards" on the table.

Maybe poker in the White House is a good thing. It hones negotiations skills that can be used beyond the poker table.

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Source by Mary Greenwood