Poker and Writing

So for those of you that know me in the real world, you know that I enjoy poker and writing. So I wanted to tie these two things together, or at least how I see it.

Poker is a game of chance, odds, and a bit of luck. Writing is about creating a world with problems where your character must live and overcome these problems. Not to similar are they?

I think they are closer than you might see at first.

So even though I'm okay at poker, I think that I'm a pretty decent writer, at least worth of publication.

The most important thing in writing is making the characters believable and to do this your character has to gamble with something, see the poker relevance. Being a good liar is paramount to poker, because you want the people playing against you to believe you have something when you don't always have it. In writing you have to make your reader believe in the world you are creating, so that they can enjoy the tale you are weaving for them.

So your character has to take a chance, get outside of his comfort zone and rely on a bit of luck and hope the odds fall in their favor. (See how that ties to poker?) So by stacking the deck against the character, you are creating conflict, and drama, which is loved by readers. I think that the being able to tell a viable lie is what makes a good writer. Since you are making things up, just like you do in poker at times, the skill translates well to writing .

Maybe I'm just grasping at straws here and you can feel free to tell me in the comments, but there is some truth to it, I think...