The Best Poker Quotes of All Time

Inspirational Poker Quotes

“Fold and live to die again.” – Stu

“Life, just like poker, comes with a certain amount of risk. It should not be avoided. It should be confronted.” – Edward Norton

“Poker does not allow the meek to inherit the Earth.” – David Hayano

“You will be judged on the hands that you fold, not what you play.” – Dan Reed

“Poker is a skill game that pretends to be a chance.” – James Altucher

“Serious poker doesn’t involve gambling, but rock climbing is about taking chances.” – Al Alvarez

“Poker may be a form of psychological warfare, an art form, or a way to live, but it is also merely the game in which money is just the means of keeping score.”

– Anthony Holden

“Just play every hand. You can’t miss them all.” – Sammy Farha

“Poker can be considered war.” People pretend it’s a game.” Doyle Brunson

“People would be amazed to learn how much I learned about praying from playing poker.” – Mary Austin

“Underestimating your opponent is the most common mistake in history; it happens all the time at the poker table.” – General David Shoup

“In the long-run, there’s no luck with poker, but the short-run is longer than most people realize.” – Rick Bennet

“What I know about poker, you can fit in a thimble with space left over, but that’s what I’m learning.” – Wilford Brimley

“If you always start from the worst hand, you will never have a bad beat story.” – Chuck Thompson

“Forget about a chair and a chip; give me a hand, and I’ll stand.” – Warren Karp

“Don’t get mad at losing, get mad that you didn’t win.” – Michael Gersitz

Poker Quotes About Life

“If a player wants to have you fund their poker career, then you need to look at the reasons they are broke.” – James Guill

“There’s more to poker than life.” – Tom McEvoy

Mike Caro: “Aces are bigger than life and more than mountains.”

“Poker is a combination of luck and skill. Although people think mastering the skill is difficult, they are wrong. “Mastering the luck is the key to poker.” – Jesse May

“The one who wagers the most wins. Cards just break ties.” – Sammy Farha

“I learned poker that you don’t count your winnings because that’s when it starts to lose.” Kenneth Langone

“I think one thing I like about poker is that you can let your ego go and you’re done.” – Al Alvarez

“The two most important things to succeed in poker are first, find the muck and second, don’t play your money.” – David “Devilfish” Ulliott

“Nobody is ever a winner and anyone who claims he is, is either lying or doesn’t play any poker.” – Amarillo Slim

“Life isn’t always about holding good cards. Sometimes it’s about playing poorly.” Jack London

“A Smith & Wesson beats 4 aces.” – American proverb

“Hold ’em” is to study what chess and checkers are to each other.” – Johnny Moss

“Everyone is lucky once in a while, but no one is consistently lucky.” – Doyle Brunson

“Living in history is a Jethro Tull album, and not a smart poker strategy.” -Richard Roeper

“What’s true in poker is true in life.” Most people are suckers and don’t realize it.” – Michael Faust

“Baseball is a poker game. “Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when they’re losing.” – Jackie Robinson

Lou Krieger: “Most of what you’ll win at poker is not due to your brilliance, but the ineptitude and skill of your opponents.”

“Aside from lovemaking and singing in a shower, there aren’t many human activities where there is more difference between a person’s self-delusional ability or their actual ability than poker.” – Steve Badger

“Don’t challenge the strong players, challenge weak ones. That’s what they are there for.” – John Vorhaus

“One day you’re a chump, and the next day you’re a champion. What a difference one day makes in tournament poker!” – Mike Sexton

Poker Quotes About Animals

The Funniest Poker Quotes

“Last night, I stayed up late playing Tarot cards and poker.” “I got a full house, and four people died.” – Steven Wright

“Avoid people who have gold teeth and want to play cards.” – George Carlin

“The next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing.” – Nick “The Greek” Dandolos

“Money isn’t everything unless you’re playing a tournament to rebuy.” – Unknown

“If luck weren’t involved, I would win every single time.” – Phil Hellmuth

“Trust everyone, but always cut the cards.” – Benny Binion

“If you are playing poker and you can’t see who the sucker is, it’s you.” – Paul Newman

“Poker feels like a sport, but it doesn’t require you to do push-ups.” – Penn Jillette

“Bad beats can, from time to time, still rob you like crack addicts with an empty pipe.” – Rick Dacey

“Going on tilt does not mean ‘mixing up your plays.’” – Steve Badger

“Poker is a lot like sex. Everyone thinks they’re the best. But most people don’t know what they are doing.” – Dutch Boyd

“You played that hand as a vegan.” – Erick Linderer (to Daniel Negreanu).

“May the flop be yours.” – Doyle Brunson

“Poker requires 100% skill and 50% luck.” – Phil Hellmuth 

Grantland Rice: “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but how many bad beat stories were you able to tell.”

“I have never seen a poker player’s cash that I didn’t like.” – Oklahoma Johnny Hale

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist for to be good at poker.” – Phil Gordon

They say poker is a zero-sum card game. It must be, because I always get zero when I play poker.” – Max Shapiro

“No river, no fish.” ~ – Amarillo Slim

“The beauty of poker is that everyone thinks they can play.” – Chris Moneymaker

“The guy who invented poker had a bright mind, but the genius who invented the chip was brilliant.” – Julius “Big Julie” Weintraub

“I must complain that the cards are ill-shuffled until I have a good deal.” – Jonathan Swift

“Dogs are terrible poker players. They wag their tails when they have a good hand.” – Unknown

“No-limit hold’em: Hours of boredom, followed by moments of sheer terror.” – Tom McEvoy

“If you play bridge poorly, you make your partner suffer. But if you play poker poorly, you make everyone happy.” – Joe Laurie, Jr.

“To be a poker champion, you must have a strong bladder.” – Jack McClelland

“I don’t play any two-suited cards. I play any two non-suited cards. This way, I can draw at two different flushes.” – Amarillo Slim

“Every poker player, just like every fisherman, needs a story in his box. Most poker stories are boring.” – Jason Alexander

“Omaha is a game invented by sadists and played by masochists.” – Shane Smith

“They say that sex is good, but poker lasts longer.” Al Alvarez

Obscure poker quotes

“It is said that patience and stubbornness are the two most important psychological characteristics of snipers. Some might argue that the same holds true for poker players.” – Stephen Bloomfield

“Is it really possible to touch the gaming tables without being infected instantly by superstition?” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Poker is the only game that’s suitable for grown men. Then, your hand is against all men’s and every man’s is against yours.” – W. Somerset Maugham

“Poker reveals to a frank observer another important thing. It will help him understand his own nature. Many poor players don’t improve because they can’t bear self-knowledge.” – David Mamet

“I’m certain I’ll win it because I’m ruthless. I’m a poker player and my job is destruction.” – James Woods

“Poker is a wonderful, fascinating, and intricate adventure on high seas of human nature. – David A. Daniel

“Poker, no. A game with cards for some purpose that is not known to this lexicographer.” – Ambrose Bierce

Limit poker is a science, while no-limit poker is an art. Limit is shooting at a target. No-limit means that the target is alive and firing back at you.” – Jack Strauss

“Poker is a microcosm of everything we admire and disdain regarding capitalism and democracy.” – Lou Kreiger

The Wisest Poker Quotes

“Everybody will eventually run worse than they thought was possible. The difference between a winner and a loser is, that the latter thinks they do not deserve it.” – Irieguy

“The smarter you play, the luckier you’ll be.” ~ Mark Pilarski

“A man with money is no match against a man on a mission.” ~ Doyle Brunson

Poker Quotes Related to the Game

“No wife can bear a gambling husband unless they are a steady winner.” – Lord Dewar

“Depend on rabbit’s feet if you like, but remember that it didn’t work out for the rabbit.” – R. E. Shay

“Life is a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism. But the way you play it will be free will.” – Jawaharlal Nehru

“A person should always gamble because it is so bad to be lucky and not know it.” – Robert Turner

“Bad health is the only thing that can bring down a good gambler. Any other setbacks can be a temporary aggravation.” – Benny Binion

“Take some time to think, but when it’s time to act, stop thinking and get in.” – Andrew Jackson

“Life is too short to play bad cards.” – Frank DiElsi

“The luckier you are, the smarter you play.” – Mark Pilarski

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.” – Gore Vidal

“To be a successful gambler, you must have complete disregard for money.” – Doyle Brunson

“If I lose today, I can look forward to winning tomorrow. If I win today, I can expect a loss tomorrow.” – Chico Marx 

“Cards are war disguised as a sport.” – Charles Lamb

“Play like a champ. Win like a champ. “Act like a champ.” – Frank Henderson

“Money won’t be earned is twice as sweet as it is money won.” – Paul Newman