The Hustler’s Playbook: On Con Artists

My brother, Jake, just told me a story from Doyle Brunson’s biography.

There was a guy Doyle played poker with back in the old days. This poker buddy’s friend drove a fruit truck. The two of them got together and counted all the watermelons one day. Later, as this poker player was hanging around with his gambling buddies, his friend pulled up in the truck. The poker player suggested to his gambling buddies that they should bet on who could come closest to guessing the total number of watermelons in the truck.

Of course, the poker player knew exactly how many watermelons were in the truck. He collected $500, and later split it with the driver.

The poker player is not a hustler. He is a con artist, a con man.

Hustling is about putting forth the effort. It’s about acting with urgency. It’s about finding a way to create value and, yes, it is also about capturing some of that value.

Hustling isn’t about cheating someone. That’s the opposite of hustling. That’s trying to find a way to capture value without creating any for the other party. That’s stealing.

Hustling isn’t about looking for an unfair advantage. It’s not about trying to gain a competitive advantage by being dishonest. It’s about gaining an advantage that seems unfair by working harder than anyone else would.

Hustling isn’t about deceit. It’s about caring more than anyone else would dare and earning the trust on which lifetime relationships are built.

Con artists cheat. Con men are deceitful and dishonest. Hustlers hustle. And a hustler will out-perform, outlast, and out-earn a con artist every time.