Lee Davy dissects the classic Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and considers how its lessons have lived through the life of a poker player.

What is the starting point of all achievement?

I have a friend who is a professional poker player. His pattern is familiar. He fell in love with the game, played it incessantly, mastered it, found riches, backed a ton of players, squandered riches, his luck turned, and then he was broke.

In any other walk of life this pattern would have broken someone in half like a broomstick carrying a witch that had eaten too much pumpkin pie. Poker can be an addiction caused by pain. This man should have experienced the glory of suffering. But he didn’t. He was saved because he knew the answer to the question. He had lived through its conception. It was deep inside of him; scratching; determined to emerge.