Like a lot of people I started my 2014 with a trip to the PCA. Actually the most interesting story from my trip to the Bahamas came before I even got there.
I had a flight from New York on the morning of January 6th. There were a lot of huge snowstorms in that region just prior to then, and there was more bad weather in the forecast, too. About two or three days before I was scheduled to leave, many flights were delayed or cancelled, but by then everything had resumed and I just assumed all was going to be fine as far as my flight was concerned.
My flight was around 9 a.m. and I arrived about an hour-and-a-half in advance, not too concerned about either making my flight or it departing as scheduled. My Dad drove me to the airport, and as we pulled up we noticed a lot of traffic just getting to the departure zone, more than I’d ever seen before. I wondered a little about it, but again I wasn’t too worried as I got out and first stepped into the terminal with my bags.
That’s when I saw everything might not go as smoothly as I’d expected. There was a huge swarm of people inside the terminal, and the line just to check in was enormous. I soon realized there was such a backlog of travelers from the previous couple of days trying finally to get a flight, which explained the big crowd. I’ve traveled a lot, but I’d never encountered something quite like this before.
So I looked at the line to my terminal and it’s the longest line I’ve ever seen in my life. I waited for a good while, but eventually I knew it wasn’t realistic to think I could wait in the line and still make my flight. I started to go around looking for someone who might be able to help me, but of course everyone working there was freaking out, too, because of everyone stressing out all around them and bugging them with questions. People were yelling and screaming and it was nearly a chaotic scene.
Finally I spotted someone working who looked like she might be able to help me. I went up to her and waited for everyone else to clear away and things to calm down a little. Then instead of letting my stress show I took the approach of being very nice and even made a joke to kind of lighten the mood a little.
I told her about my flight and asked her if there were any way I could get to it without standing in the line, because if I did I wouldn’t make it on time. At first she said no, I had to wait. But then she interrupted herself. “Hang on a second,” she said, then consulted with this other fellow who was carrying a loudspeaker around and making announcements. Then she turned back to me and directed me to another super short line with just a couple of people in it — you couldn’t even see it from the big line and I don’t think many people even knew it was there.
Before I knew it, I was checking in. I was going to make it!
The person checking me in then told me if I had been just four minutes later, I wouldn’t have made my flight — and there wouldn’t be any other flights to the Bahamas for the next three days on my airline! Later I realized also that people who had arrived earlier than I had ended up having problems getting through the line and that if had gotten to the airport earlier perhaps I wouldn’t have made it, either.
There were a couple of morals to the story, I guess, and in fact both kind of relate to poker in a way.
One is that sometimes it is better to be late. The same thing happens in poker, of course, with regards to timing. Sometimes when you decide to make a move, it just so happens you’ve timed it well thanks to factors out of your control.
The other moral I’d say has to do with my decision to be friendly with the woman from whom I asked for help rather than harassing her as some others were. She wasn’t necessarily in the best mood when I walked up there, I could tell, and so instinctively I cracked a smile and was very light-hearted about it all with her, which I think genuinely increased the chances of her helping me.
That, too, is not unlike what happens in poker sometimes when you find yourself dealing with a particular personality type sitting across the table from you and you realize it’s better sometimes (for example) to have a “light” touch, say, with an opponent against whom it looks like that might be the most profitable way to act and play against them.
We’re always reacting to others at the poker table, reacting both to how they play and how they act. And so it’s good to be able to read situations and understand from a psychological standpoint what the best approach might be in order to get what you want.
And I guess there was one other poker-related moral to my story of barely making my flight to the PCA, too — it never hurts to be lucky!
Eugene Katchalov is a member of Team PokerStars Pro
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