Every poker player got their start somewhere. For some, their first game was played between friends. Others tuned in on a very special day in 2003 and watched Chris Moneymaker, at the time a total unknown, win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker. No matter where your love for the game began, it ultimately relied on familiarity with cards, suits, and ranks. This is why many poker players got on the journey not with poker, but with the many exciting card games that share its DNA.
For some, that love bloomed while playing card fishing games, while others felt it while playing computer games on their old PCs. While these games were a far cry from the thrills and bluffs of poker, they set the groundwork that poker often relies on. Still, out of the many card games available to players, few set them up for poker success quite like good old solitaire does. It offers many lessons that apply to poker, such as keeping track of cards to make the best possible move and the discipline to see a game through to the end.
The Gateway Game that Still Delivers
If you visit online forums and Reddit, you’ll find a fair number of players who’ll tell you that playing solitaire games online helps them recognize straights faster and identify nut hands. This isn’t a total surprise, as solitaire and poker both rely on a similar skill of pattern recognition.
Solitaire requires you to track what cards are available to you to avoid blocking the deck. A good shuffle can practically hand you the win, but it’s the persistence and experimentation required to win a challenging card arrangement that sets the best players apart. Above all else, solitaire teaches players that patience is a virtue.
Of course, that doesn’t mean playing solitaire is going to replace the value of the poker grind. The best way to master seeing flush possibilities, dead cards, and straight draws is to play poker and stick with it. However, even professionals like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey will tell you that a mental reset is important. Rather than keep playing while tilted, it’s better to take a small break, reset, and return to the grind. For those short breaks, solitaire is the perfect way to keep yourself sharp.
A Shared Heritage, of Sorts
The way solitaire is structured will test your nerves in a similar manner as poker. Anyone who spent enough hours on that game knows the pain of an unfair shuffle that feels like it was purposefully arranged to make you lose. However, the best thing to do is to take a breath, try again, and take a different approach.
The familiarity of symbols is another plus point. It’s like the two games speak the same language with slightly different accents, and poker players have an easy time transferring their skills to solitaire and vice versa. That said, if you’re using solitaire to unwind between poker rounds, perhaps it’s best not to play it at the greatest difficulty. Solitaire is nothing if not customizable, and simpler variants can keep you sharp without tilting you further.
Solitaire As the Ultimate Training Ground
Ultimately, solitaire is the perfect companion to poker because it can set you up for success. When so much is riding on the line with every poker round, a bad card draw or a misplay can be devastating. Poker is a cruel mistress after all, and mastery requires more than knowing the best combos, as well as wisdom to recognize when you’re in a funk and that you need to back away for a bit.
Both of these can be addressed with an occasional game of solitaire. It may lack the stakes and spectacle of a proper poker game, but it delivers clarity of mind and a perfect training ground for poker pros ready to sharpen their instinct or stepping away to regroup. A few minutes is all it takes to clear the mind, restore focus, and start thinking one step ahead again.
