Life isn't chess.
ChatGPT:
Life is like a game of chess in that every decision has consequences, requiring patience, strategy, and foresight to navigate challenges
Chess is a game of perfect information, one where you're given the entire state of the board, and your victory is to be earned solely to your own merit. You need to have foresight and always stay a step ahead of your opponents. Every action in the early game changes the endgame.
And to an extent, life is like chess, right? It's a simple set of rules (aka, get food, don't die), and the goal is survival. If you play all your moves correctly, outsmart your opponent, surely you're going to have a million bucks, right?
Life is Poker
Indeed, there are factors outside of your control. You can't control where you're born. You can't control who your family is. Your upbringing. And while these factors you cannot control, you can simply accept them as fact and then play for there, no?
In the game of poker, you're given two hole cards. You could be dealt pocket aces (American Airlines), and similarily be sent to Phillips Exeter. You could be your regular old asian male in the bay area and have pocket deuces (setmining = college apps). You could be an immigrant whos family has yet to prove themselves, having a speculative hand like JTs. Or, you could have a disability and be dealt 72o.
We can't change what cards we're dealt, but we CAN change how we play them, right? Yes. There exists a GTO solution to poker. If you play GTO, you're unexploitable. In the long run, over tens of thousands of hands, you're winning. But, life only happens once.
No matter how optimally you play, no matter how many balls you have, no matter how much of a MIT crackhead you are, life throws curveballs. American Airlines vs. Kings. River is a K. You jammed all-in preflop, just to get cooked with the last card.
Yes, you made the best decision based on the limited information you had. Yes, you played perfect GTO. Unfortunately, your opponent simply happened to hit a king. That's the thing about life that makes it so beautiful yet chaotic. One can spend their entire life trying to achieve greatness, or self efficacy, or financial freedom, or a fulfilling career, yet no matter how good their hole cards are, no matter how smart their bet sizing is, if you brick the river, the entire hand is a brick.
That's why you should never take anything for granted. Yes, you started off with AA against 22, sure. But if the flop puts out a two, that's gg. Never think you're winning until the game is over. Until your opponent is drawing dead.
Sometimes in life, the best decisions don't win, the biggest leads don't close, and the cards you took for granted work against you. That's just poker. And the opposite holds too. If you jam with 72o, you're cracking Aces 20% of the time. You were unlucky with your beginnings, yet you can still win.