Is the right choice the best one?

From a simple poker decision to real-life choice: starting the exploration

Alex was playing poker with 5 other people still at the table. He was second to act and he drew arguably the worst hand in poker: 7-2 offsuit. There was a large raise before him from Jeremy, a pretty tight player. Alex's decision was very easy, almost automatic - fold.

The person acting next - Louise - called. Alex snickered to myself: what an amateur move. Everyone else folded and flop came up: 7-7-A. A bit of betting - and then another 7 came up on the turn. Eventually, there was an all-in and Jeremy lost with his pocket Kings to Louise's A-6 offsuit that she probably shouldn't have called with in the first place.

So what happened here? Did Alex make the right decision to fold? Of course, I did. But how did he feel when the two 7s came up on the flop? What about when another 7 came up and Alex realized that he would have won for sure? And then - when he saw that Louise won even though her decision to call initially was clearly wrong?

Alex made the right choice, but the way things turned out it wasn't the best choice. He lost. He could have won. Yes, Alex knew for sure that his decision was a correct one - and yet his mind dragged him into a "what-if", into a "this pot could have been mine", and so on. He may have felt a sharp sting of regret, and maybe even started doubting himself.

Poker, of course, is a much simpler game than life - but it does provide a glimpse into the challenges of making your decisions while facing uncertainty. You can choose "correctly" and still end on the short side of the stick. And guess what: that's OK.

There are many paths to explore from here, and I will write about them - but I'd like to leave you with just one question for now. Given that the right choice is not at all guaranteed to be the best one, just how much time and effort do you want to devote to reassuring yourself that your decision is "correct" or "right"? Why do you care so much, and what are you actually trying to achieve?

TO BE CONTINUED