Communication is like a card game that resembles Texas Hold-em.

William Donohue, author of Card Talk: Winning Communication Games compares communication with the high-stakes poker card game, Texas Hold-em. 

Instead of card games with playing cards people play Talk Games with Talk Cards. Whenever someone crafts a message by talking, writing, calling, or texting someone, they frame that message from the role they are playing in relation to the other person (a Talk Game).

A Talk Game is a message exchange between people associated with a specific goal. The goal of this exchange becomes the name of the Talk Card Game we want to play. In playing Texas Hold-em, the goal is to win the game by taking the pot of money. Only one can win while the others all lose. Most talk games are different. Most Talk Games are cooperative events in which both people want to win by achieving their goals. 

The talk cards we use to play talk games are generally divided into two decks – Personal and Professional: 



The Personal Deck (covered in chapters 1-8) typically consists of cards we develop first within our families and friends and we use them most often when we communicate. They are usually our default cards. 
The second deck of cards we play relates more to our professional duties (covered in chapters 9-15). 

 
Of course, these cards overlap a great deal and we create card hands that mix cards from these two decks all the time. But it helps strategically to think about these two decks and how to play our cards to be most effective. Success and card choice are synonymous. If you don't have the card, you can't play the role.

Card Talk: Winning Communication Games helps the reader overcome these challenges. Everyone needs to think about and evaluate their Talk Card deck, create more and better cards to adapt effectively to different situations, and learn how to play talk games successfully. Using the "Card" metaphor is important because it provides a much simpler path toward communication growth than simply listing skills and hoping people improve. 

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