Best of the Crafty Southpaw: 20 Reasons Poker is Like Life

I got nothing.  But here's something I wrote back when I had six readers, and one of them is no longer around.  I miss you, DB Cooper, you plane-jumping Canuck...  Anyway, Enjoy!

20 Reasons why Poker is Like Life

• You can do everything right and still lose.
• You can do everything wrong and still win.
• Sometimes the bastards win.
• Sometimes the idiots win.
• When the chips are down, you usually lose; but when you win under those circumstances it's incredibly sweet (and memorable).
• Every so often you don't deserve what you get but you get it anyway.
• There is no substitute for hard work.
• You can be cruising along, thinking you have the world by the balls, and something will come out of nowhere to bruise and bloody you.
• It's not what you deserve; it's what you take.
• You will get the feeling that your friends, life, and God Almighty Himself are conspiring against you. Sometimes you will be right.
• Coming in second place can win you acclaim, notoriety, and money - but it's a pale shadow to winning.
• Having friends is more fulfilling than being a lone wolf. Defeats are softened, and victory sweetened, when shared with friends.
• If you don't learn from your mistakes, you are bound to repeat them, over and over again.
• Know thy enemy as you know thyself.
• Chance favors the prepared.
• Boorish, brash, uneducated behavior wins you little but the silent contempt of your peers, bearing in mind rule 4.
• In a perfect world, you either win with honor or lose with honor. Sometimes your adversary does not believe or practice this rule - but you should still, all the more because he does not.
• If you don't love it, it's an excruciating way to make a living.
• If you swim in waters too deep for you, it rarely ends well.
• There is always someone smarter than you.