The Joys of Teaching Poker to Your Kids

教孩子打扑克的乐趣

 

The lessons they glean will last a lifetime – so long as they hurt

他们所汲取的经验教训将受用一生——只要他们真的付出了代价

 

“The beauty of poker,” writes David Sklansky in the introduction to “The Theory of Poker”, perhaps the best book written about the best card game invented, “is that on the surface it is a game of utter simplicity, yet beneath the surface it is profound, rich and full of subtlety.”

 

戴维·斯克兰斯基在其《扑克理论》一书的引言中写道，“扑克的魅力在于，从表面上看，这是一种非常简单的游戏，然而藏于表面之下的却是高深与微妙”。

 

Cooped-up children can learn the rules in just a few open hands – that is, rounds played with all cards visible and all moves explained. The lessons they glean will last a lifetime.

 

被关在家中的孩子们只需打上几把就能学会规则，也就是说，每轮打出的所有牌都是看得见的，所有的打法都是清晰明了的。他们汲取的经验教训将受用一生。

 

To sceptics, poker conjures up images of casinos, late nights and smoky back rooms – all places inappropriate for kids. That outmoded caricature need not trouble people playing in quarantined homes, at reasonable hours and without cigars. And, yes, poker is a form of gambling, but it is primarily a game of skill and nerve.

 

对于持怀疑态度的人来说，扑克总会让人联想到赌场、深夜和烟雾缭绕的密室等所有不适合孩子们前往的地方。但这种刻板的印象并不妨碍被隔离在家中的人们在时间合适、没有雪茄的情况下打打牌。确实，扑克游戏是赌博的一种形式，但它首先是一种需要技巧和勇气的游戏。

 

Luck plays a larger role than in purely skill-driven games such as chess, but that is what makes poker so appealing for put-upon parents: you will be a better player than your children, but they will still win often enough to keep them interested.

 

相比纯靠技术的游戏（比如国际象棋），在扑克游戏中，运气能够起到更大的作用，这也正是扑克游戏深受父母喜爱的原因：你会比你的孩子们打得更好，但他们还是经常会赢，这足以让他们保持兴趣。

 

As Mr Sklansky puts it, “The 500th best player could easily win a [poker] tournament. By contrast, the 500th best golfer is not going to win a golf tournament.”

 

正如斯克兰斯基所说，“排在第500位的最佳牌手能够轻松地赢得（扑克）锦标赛的冠军。相比之下，排在第500位的最佳高尔夫球手是不可能赢得高尔夫锦标赛冠军的”。

 

There are enough variations for children to pick personal favourites; in other words, like literature and music, it offers them a chance for self-expression within a shared passion.

 

扑克游戏种类丰富，孩子们能够选择自己所喜欢的；就像文学和音乐一样，扑克为他们提供了一个在共同的爱好中表达自我的机会。

 

Just as a parent thrills to see their offspring reading, even if what the child chooses to read is not what the adult would, a poker-enthusiast parent will happily play Five-card Draw with his child, even if he prefers Texas Hold ’Em.

 

就像父母在看到孩子读书时会表现地激动不已的那样（即使孩子们与大人们所读的书是完全不同的），一位扑克爱好者也会很乐意与他的孩子一起玩五张抽（即使他更喜欢的是德州扑克）。

 

The goal is always straightforward: amass a better five-card hand than your opponents. But the paths to success are many and divergent. Sometimes it involves bluffing, a practice that, initially, children embrace with lunatic enthusiasm.

 

扑克游戏追求的目标总是很简单：积累一手比你的对手更好的五张牌。但取得胜利的方式是多种多样的。有时，虚张声势不失为一种策略，一开始，孩子们会特别钟情于这种策略。

 

A parent may feel guilty about taking all his child’s chips the fourth time the kid goes all-in with nothing higher than a nine. Persist: eventually, they will learn that they cannot always lie their way to victory, and that sometimes the wiser action is to withdraw from the fight. They will also learn the corollary of that lesson: sometimes bluffing works.

 

父母可能会在第四次赢下孩子的全部筹码时感到内疚。但坚持下去：最终，他们会明白不可能总靠谎言来取得胜利，有时及时退出战斗才是更明智的做法。他们也将从这场教训中明白一个道理：虚张声势有时也是奏效的。

 

Soon they will figure out how to read their opponents – observing that cockiness can be a cover for weakness, and reticence a ploy to tempt others into overconfidence.

 

很快，他们就能够学会如何解读对手的表现，如果对手表现得趾高气扬，则可能是在为自己的烂牌做掩饰，而表现得沉默寡言则可能是在诱使他人盲目自信。

 

They will see that a lost hand is not a lost game, and a lost game today does not augur the same tomorrow. In poker, as in life, the race is not always to the swift, and chance and bad beats (losing a winnable hand) happeneth to one and all.

 

他们会发现，拿到一手烂牌并不意味着会输掉比赛，今天输掉比赛并不意味着明天也会输。扑克游戏就像我们的生活一样，跑得快的人并不一定是最后的赢家，每个人都有机会，也都会碰到拿着一手好牌却因为一张牌而输掉比赛的情况。

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