Archive for the ‘Poker Psychology’ Category

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The Psychology of Poker

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

It’s amazing how the most basic of human functions are able to control the conscious mind.  Scientific experiments on mice and pigeons and more recently cuttlefish have shown that they can be taught to react to a specific sign with a specific behavior, much like Pavlov’s dogs.  Ring a bell and  our animal friend will expect food.  They become so conditioned to believing this through repetition that they always expect the same result.

Additional studies have shown that once this conditioning is thoroughly ingrained, the subject will not seek to learn more possible variations of the same phenomenon.  So, once the cuttlefish understands that a certain sign, say a red square, means food is on the way and a blue circle means no food, it has already come to the conclusion that that only a red square means food.  It is stuck with this one experience and ventures no further.

Having thoroughly mastered one condition, he blocks his mind to any other possibility, even though there may be strong indications there is one.  Think about your own experience.  Have you ever been jolted into a sudden illuminating thought that had never occurred to you before?  Like maybe the group of intelligentsia running our country have no more capability to do so than you do?

This phenomenon is reminiscent of the Rashomon effect.  I call it that because in the classic movie, there were several witnesses to an event.  Each witness saw the event from solely his own perspective and reality and each witness related differently what he had seen, yet they all saw exactly the same event.  We will now return to our poker analogy.  A group of players are taking a break and discussing another player (who is not present) who to their minds is a real loser and wonders why he is still in the game.  They agree on this and swear each other to secrecy so they can go back to the table and fleece the guy.  By revealing to each other the particulars as to how the outsider was playing, they discovered they each saw a completely different bit of behavior.  One noticed that every time outsider had a good hand, he makes the bet and balls his hands into fists, never doing so with a bad hand.  The other notices when outsider has a bad hand, he plays with his chips in a most annoying way, without doing this in any other situation.

So our loser outsider has two ways of conveying his hands, but each of our smug insiders have only discovered one.  They stopped at only one notion.

A good player will not consider this realization trivial.  He will take advantage of it by learning to be flexible in his observations and keep his mind active throughout play.  By classifying other players habits and behaviors as to high and low importance, he is increasing his odds of winning.

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Poker Psychology: Mental Blockage

Monday, November 16th, 2009

It is surprising to discover how thoroughly our basic functions sometimes control our conscious minds. Scientific studies have shown that mice and pigeons, and recently other animals such as cuttlefish, can be taught to react to a specific arbitrary sign with a specific set of behaviors: animals learn to expect food at a sight or sound, and learn to receive food by manipulating a lever, ringing a bell, or pecking a certain spot. Through habituation, they are conditioned to consistently believe that specific phenomena or actions regularly lead to the same specific results.

Moreover, additional experiments show that once an individual is thus conditioned, it will not learn what to a more developed mind, such as ours, may seem a variant of the same. That is, once a cuttlefish learns that a pink circle means food is coming and a blue spot means no food, it will take any additional color to mean no food. It has no capacity to interconnect new phenomena and allow hitherto inexperienced possibilities.

Having learned one condition, the mouse mind is blocked to any other possibility, even if subsequent stimuli are as strong or even stronger. Obviously? Before you condescendingly dismiss inferior mice, rooks, and cuttlefish (all significantly more intelligent then Man previously supposed), ask yourselves if have never been jolted into a sudden realization of a simple possibility that had never hitherto occurred to you: like that the bunch of guys at the top running the country might be as ignorant or even more ignorant than you?

Sometimes a bunch of good players will discuss at lunch the hands they had just been playing and somebody might say how surprised they are the guy in seat 4 hasn’t yet folded, he had been playing so terribly. Upon which another player might add smugly that, yes, and he has a huge tell on him, only to discover that besides one more player at the lunch table nobody else seems to be in on it. Swearing each other to secrecy, these two share their discoveries in somber undertones and immediately discover that each had in mind a completely different thing: the first one noticed that every time 4 has a good hand, he makes his bet and closes his hands in fists on the table and never does it otherwise than with a good hand; the other player noticed that when 4 has weak cards, he fidgets with his chips after placing a bet, never touching the chips otherwise.

So that the terrible player in seat 4 has at least two tells to betray him, but each pro has only discovered one. But where is written that there is never more than one tell to discover? Both of the better players had discovered sure tells and that surety blocked their superior minds from registering any additional clues.

This is not a trivial realization. In fact, what often distinguishes the best players is their flexibility to learn and keep actively in mind throughout the game a number of each opponent’s tells, classifying each according to importance and plausibility, increasing the possibilities of winning.

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Practicing Proper Poker Etiquette at the Table

Friday, November 13th, 2009

The rules of decency and good behavior when engaging in any activity with other people are automatically practiced by most people as they are in any social gathering.  Activities involving software are another matter and the well-designed application will not take offense at the occasional outburst of pent up emotion and aggression.  So, if you play poker to get rid of your Neanderthal instincts and redirect your frustration, stick with the bot opponents.   Unfortunately not everyone follows this advice and thinks that bluffing while playing poker with humans requires behaving like the schoolyard bully.

A lot about a person can be ascertained by his behavior, especially when involved with other players in a game of poker.  The expert player comes off as focused and purposeful in his manner, even though he may be politely brisk.  He is there for an honest, competitive  game of quality poker.  As for the student of the game, the more sincere, purposeful and focused he is, the better the chances that he is following the basic rules of etiquette.

Professionals are known for both being masters at their craft and masters of manners.  A pleasant atmosphere is the result of good manners which makes a focused, professional game a reality.  Common sense dictates that insulting your opponents is always a mistake, they are responsible for your game being profitable.

It may seem odd, but etiquette is also required in on line games when playing with live opponents.  Above all, keep chat to a minimum.  Every message you send or respond to may reveal unintended information.  Every message you receive may mislead you.  The more chat going on, the more distracting it becomes.  Keep the chat to a minimum or do without it altogether.

By incessantly chatting, you may be revealing your level of mastery (or lack thereof) to your opponents.  This is not good for your game whatever your level may be.  Being discreet is usually a good idea, but especially so in poker.

Always be polite but save the salacious stuff for the water cooler.  You will be doing the table a favor.  An online poker game is not a chat room and treating it as such wastes time and opportunity.  Negative language will not achieve any goal.  It will only pollute the atmosphere and you want to keep the atmosphere pure and neutral.

Attempting to raise the ire of your opponents by insulting their technique is not going to increase your odds of winning and again, may reveal more than you intended about you and your level of mastery.  Out and out rudeness is officially not allowed in most online rooms.

If you must type a message, avoid doing so in upper case.  This comes across as shouting or expressing yourself in an intensely emotional vein, which has no place in a game of cards.  This is the mark of an immature player and reveals much more about your true self than you intended.  No matter what, be cool, and never let anyone see you sweat.

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Mastering Yourself at the Poker Table

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Discipline in every sport is an important factor to success on a regular basis.  This holds true of poker as well.  Even though most considerate it to be a game of chance, to be a money making pro at it, you must build on a foundation of the sportsmanlike attributes of learning, understanding and endless practice.  This takes discipline.  Natural ability is certainly a good part of it,  but even the most blessed require a method, and a method is gotten by a serious and careful study of the game and how it is played by experts.

Mozart was certainly a child protégé of great talent, but even Mozart practiced his music relentlessly even as a child.  Mozart knew that talent is well-practiced potential.  But don’t depend on anyone else to impose discipline.  You must impose it on yourself.

The amateur plays for the thrill of risk and the adrenaline rush that comes from fighting against blind chance.  Poker is kept alive by this rush.  The pros leave nothing to chance, the pro knows what his basic odds are and takes full advantage of his opponents’ errors, notes if there are familiar patterns, and calculates the risk.  The serious professional player will not expect to enjoy himself at a friendly game of cards, this is his job.  And his job is to take every cent he can from the other players gathered around the table having a casual game of poker to pass the time.  The professional’s strategy is to match his wits against chance and his opponent’s methods and come out with a win.

There are many varieties of poker and it is vital to know which of the varieties is most suited to your intuition, skill and behavior patterns.  If you do not have this habit of self-introspection, chances are you will keep playing a plodding game which never fully engages your faculties.  Try other varieties of poker to see which one(s) excites you.  You just might be surprised at what a skillful player you really are.

Know the difference between limit and no-limit poker, there is a big one.  The player with discipline will not yield to temptation and will go for the game where he feels in control, steady and cool.  In limit poker, players play with caution, remain calm, and skillfully and accurately obtain and remember information about the other players in order to overcome them with small moves.  This disciplined player will play only the hands he deems to be winning, this may be only about 20% of the hands that are dealt.

The no-limit pro will appear to be the opposite of the reserved, cool limit player.  He will play aggressively before the flop, and play hands that to a limit expert would appear to be pure folly.  The disciplined no-limit player is always aware of exactly what he is trying to achieve with every bold move.

No matter which type of poker the pro is playing, he knows when to fold up his tent, quit the frustration, and move on to other things.

When the pro comes back to the table and has a better day, he never trusts that his good fortune will go on ad infinitum.  He has learned his lesson to abandon ship before he loses his edge, and knows to limit his gains as well as his losses.

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Discipline in The Art of Poker

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Most people think of poker players as gamblers in a game of chance.  It this were totally true, however, there would not be professionals who make their living by earning more than they lose and amateurs who lose more than they win.  The difference here is that the pros have acquired the discipline involved in all sports of learning, understanding, and most essentially, practicing endlessly in their chosen field.  They may have card sense, but above all they have the discipline to find a method that works for them.

There is actually no real spontaneous talent.  Think of Mozart, truly a talented child protégé.  One who practiced without end even as a small child, without which he would be just another composer/pianist of some merit.  Mozart proves the old adage that talent is oft-practiced potential.  No one learns discipline by someone else beating it into them.  It must be self-imposed.

The fun of the game to most amateurs lies in the excitement of pitting themselves against blind chance.  Poker is popular because of the adrenaline rush that comes with taking a risk.  The professional knows his basic chances at poker, but rather than having a pleasurable time, he studies and takes advantage of opponents’ mistakes, remembers them and uses them against them while calculating immediate odds.  Chance is only one element to challenge his skill and wits.  The pro is not playing a half-blind game of chance, he is playing a strategic game of matching himself against another’s method and besting him.

Because of the many varieties of poker out there that are regularly played, you must learn them all.  You must find the one that is best suited to your intuitions, likes and aptitudes.  The one that engages you most fully and keeps you focused is the one to choose.  Not having this self-imposed introspection, players find themselves plodding soddenly along in a game which is not turning on their best instincts.  A professional will tell them to try another form of the game.  They are probably amazed at what a talented performer they have become should they take the pros advice.

Make no mistake, there is a vast difference between limit and no-limit poker.  The disciplined player will keep temptation in check and will prefer the game at which he feels fully in control and can go about it calmly and cautiously, all the while gathering data on his opponents to use against them relentlessly in small moves.  They will only play the hands that seem to be the best, disregarding about 80% of the hands that are dealt.

A no-limit professional player also has discipline.  He will, however, not appear cool and collected but will play aggressively before the flop, and will play hands that the limit player would consider as one of those 80% he wouldn’t touch.  The no-limit pro while seeming to be reckless, is acutely aware of exactly what he is attempting to accomplish by every aggressive move he makes.

Whether limit or no-limit, of at least the same importance as the right move, is to not get so carried away that you don’t refrain yourself from knowing when to fold.  If the situation is hopeless, or you feel a lack of control, which is certainly not uncommon, as a disciplined player aware of your performance, you will not continue with a game bringing only frustration.

You must never believe that your good fortune, on better days, will go on for eternity.  Learn to leave while you are still hot, not when you cool off.  During each session, you must not only have a cap on your losses, but also on your gains.

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Discipline in Poker

Friday, November 6th, 2009

It is true for every sport that discipline is a key factor in consistent success. Despite the common understanding that poker is a gambling game of chance, you have to realize that if one day you are to become a profitable pro, you will have to establish sportsmanlike discipline of learning, understanding, and incessant practice. “Talent” is certainly essential, but even the greatest talent needs a method, and method is acquired from careful study.

In fact, there is no such thing as spontaneous talent: music did not “just made sense” to Mozart – where would he be if he hadn’t spent his childhood practicing? One could say that talent is well-practiced potential. But don’t wait for a freaky father to hit you with a rod over your fingers every time you play the wrong card; impose your own discipline.

Amateurs play for the fun and excitement of risk against blind Chance. That is what keeps the business alive. Professional players leave Chance no chance: the pro knows what his basic chances are and takes advantage of every opponent’s slip, remembers repetitive patterns, and calculates the current odds. The serious player does not expect to have simpleminded fun: rather, his takes pleasure in efficiently emptying pockets as a profession. Chance only enters the professional’s world as one of the elements against which he matches his intelligence and skill. The idea is not to gamble half-blindly, but to pitch oneself against another’s method and win.

It is vital to be familiar with the varieties of poker games and to know which of them best suit your abilities and predispositions; not only to realize what your weaknesses are, but to know also which game incites you to your best effort and best engages your intuitions. Players who haven’t the habit of self-introspection keep sullenly playing a game which doesn’t engage their best faculties. Sometimes a benevolent professional looking from the side may advise the person to try another game type and the player is surprised to discover that they are much more talented than they thought.

There is a big difference between limit and no-limit poker. A disciplined player will not yield to temptation and will prefer the game in which he feels in full, cucumber-cool control. In limit poker, disciplined players tend to play with caution, act cool, taking the time to covertly collect information about opponents, intending to milk them by small moves. They will play only the hands worth playing: the best ones play only about 20% of the hands dealt them.

A disciplined no-limit professional will evince the opposite of reserve, will be aggressive before the flop, and will play hands that to the limit expert would seem reckless stunts, always knowing, however, what precisely he is trying to achieve by every aggressive move.

In both cases, no less important than the right move is the ability to restrain oneself and quit when the situation is hopeless or when you feel you are loosing control: it happens to everyone, but the disciplined player dedicated to consistent performance will not pursue the phantom of mounting frustration.

On better days, never trust chance to maintain your good fortune forever – learn to leave before you loose the edge. Good players learn to establish not only the limits of their losses, but also the limits of their gain during each session.

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Intuition as a Science as it Relates to the Poker Mind

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

In order to determine the thought processes of your opponent, it would help to read their minds.  But not being a mind reader, are there any seminars or classes offered on the subject?  Not really and even if there were you are not going to learn the psychology of your opponents neurosis from a class.  If you were able to, this is still no guarantee of winning.

When thinking of poker, one would think of it as a game of strategy rather than one of psychoanalysis.  Strategy is only one of the components of winning play, however.  Getting into your opponent’s head is the essence of smart play.  This does not mean that you must suffer while he goes over the details of his life story ad nauseum.

Outstanding players, like outstanding artists, don’t get that way from reading a manual.   They progress intuitively, summoning their powers of observation, diligently practiced and enhanced over a period of many years.

You have probably noticed a dearth of technical manuals dealing with the psychology of poker.  That brings us right to the crux of this issue.  Whatever tips and advice may be out there for you to read up on, you cannot put them to practical use without your own sense of intuition that is achieved by putting your own thought processes to work beyond the grasp of your opponent.

Most players will lose more than they win because they depend on strict models of play, much like computer programs, or simulations that present themselves as predictions to be used robotically by the savvy player.  This could be quite simple depending on the number of variables involved in the prediction.

Such schematics are disdained by the professional player, who makes their own observations regarding others methods of play as well as their own.  Using their well-developed intuition, they take those observations and mix them into principles according to their own thought processes.  This results in a strategy known only to themselves.  The most talented players use these complex (or deceptively simple) secret strategies to make them less vulnerable than their opponents.

Artists and good poker players do not reveal their secrets.  They may give advice or even write books on their art, but they will never reveal what really sets them apart.  Remember this, they did not achieve their lofty peaks by relying on someone else’s tips.

It is then most vital to commit yourself to the intense study of personal observation from your own practice to develop your observational skills as well as your imagination.  Do this and you will independently create ways of acquiring a manner of play that is unique to you in its every detail.

Use this individually developed strategy to get under the skin of bluffers.  You can only do this by letting loose of your robust intuition to which only you have access.

You will have to work hard to develop your unique manner of play.  Even more difficult though is to have the courage and independence to use your carefully developed imagination in successful ways while sometimes appearing idiotic.  This personal quirk will lead to a spirit of discovery and innovation that will set you ahead of the pack.

All of us have intuition.  Few of us have the persistence and wherewithal to aggressively fine tune it and use it, and use it often.  This is something everyone has to work on by himself.  While everyone has intuition, that intuition is unique to the individual.

Which brings to mind the old vaudeville routine:  “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”  Practice, practice, practice.

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Some Thoughts on Poker Psychology

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Some may think that the talent of unraveling what lurks in their opponents mind is the secret to playing poker well.  It might also be considered that If one could attend a class or seminar on the science of the unconscious mind while indulging in games of chance that it  would be a great help to their game.  No way.  If one was able to be taught how to read another’s mind and discover their various neuroses in the process, it would still be no guarantee of a win.

While strategy is a real and important element of poker, and is certainly more basic than psychoanalysis, it is still only one important tactic.  Mindreading would certainly be an asset to wise play, but is this possible?  It is in a way.

Once thing for sure about great artists and great players is they did not reach this status by reading an instruction book.  They got there by trusting their intuition, an intuition borne out of a natively keen talent of observation which they rehearsed and developed individually over a long period of time.

Good technical manuals on poker psychology are rare.  This is at the very crux of the matter.  Whatever tips and advice you may find off the net or in the bookstore, you can not practically or successfully put them into real play.  You must have that inexplicable talent of intuition that puts your own creative mind processes over the limit of your opponents.

If the game could be played based on principles, it would be boiled down to predictions,  simple or complex depending upon the variables by use of a computer program.  Actually, this is the approach of amateurs and the not-so-gifted players – the ones that mostly lose.

A talented player will spurn any computer-spun model and make their own decisions on how to play their game and their opponents’ game.  They are led by intuition into observations that they then combine into rules of play according to their creative imagination and wit.  The strategy that comes out of this is distinctively their own.  No matter how complex or how elegantly simple their secret strategy is, it makes them less vulnerable.

You will never find a great artist or a great player divulging his secrets.  They may write books, give lectures, advice and tips, but not on the really good stuff.  It seems like a great service they perform by letting us mere mortals in on such tidbits.  But don’t be fooled.  They did not rise to the top of their professions by reading and heeding someone else’s great tips.

It would seem that the most vital element in becoming a master artist in any genre is commitment to study and practice to develop one’s own observational skills and imagination by engaging in the activity in which you want to become great.  In this way you will be independent in your thoughts and actions and master the ability to do your thing in a way that is uniquely your own.  Only you are privy to the minute details of your “thing.”

By far the best bluffers of the game are those who do it with regularity in a manner that prohibits anyone at the table from deciphering the bluff.  This requires a strong intuition developed by lots of practice and known only to them.

While hard work and persistence are involved here, they are of little benefit unless you have the courage and independence to use your imagination in some cases that make you seem less than sane but are innovative and demand a curious nature and the soul of an explorer which puts you way out in front.

At this point, a look into the processes that make up intuition might be in order.  In fact we all have intuition.  Few have the initiative and guts to tune it up and make use of it.  To get results, you must develop and work on your own unique intuition.  It doesn’t fall from the sky and it cannot be taught.

What I have written about here calls for a lifetime commitment.  Nobody who was ever considered a master at his craft, whatever that may be, was given that title.  They worked long and hard and on their own and they earned it.

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The Science of the Poker Mind: Intuition

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

To be good at poker “psychology” – to effectively predict your opponent’s likely thought processes – there is no need to take a seminar on Card Games and their Relation to the Unconscious. Your opponent is not your patient, and even if he/she is, no matter how well you apply Jacques Lacan to their neurosis, you are still not guaranteed to win.

Strategy is more basic to poker than psychoanalysis. But strategy is only the first step on your way to fame and fortune. “Reading” your opponents’ minds is the key to smart play, but such “reading” does not require you to listen to the other’s life story.

The best of players, as the best of artists, never required a manual on the subject of their professions. They proceed intuitively, by means of naturally sharp observation which they practiced and developed individually in the course of the years.

This is not merely the reason why so few good technical manuals on poker psychology exist. This is also possibly the most key point about the issue: whatever tips you may find on the net or in books, you will never be able to put them to much good use unless you have that touch of intuition which puts your thought processes beyond the reach of your opponents.

If everyone played according to strict principles, the games would be no different than relatively complex computer simulations and prediction would be relatively simple, depending on the number of variables. This is in fact more or less how novices and people without much gift for games generally play, and it is why they generally loose more than they win.

The talented player, on the other hand, disdains crude cribs. Instead, they make their own observations about their own play and about that of others. Guided by their own intuition, they then combine those observations into principles according to their own whim and fancy. The resulting strategy is known only to them. The more talented the player is, the more complex (or ingeniously simple, which is basically the same thing) and idiosyncratic his secret strategy, making him less vulnerable.

This may be another reason why artists and players (two creatures in the same family) do not easily and never fully reveal their trade secrets to the general public: at best they allow some general theoretical discussion of their work or a few relatively trivial technical tips. Which may be very nice of them, but the problem is that they did not achieve their status by reading somebody else’s tips.

The first and most vital principle of any game then seems to be this: to commit oneself to intense individual study from individual practice; develop observational and imaginative skills by individually engaging similar activities; and become as independent in one’s ways and views as is sanely possible in order to acquire a manner of playing which is uniquely yours in its minutiae.

Everyone is familiar with the common concept of bluffing, for example; but the best bluffers are those who do it consistently in a way which other players, no matter how smart or experienced, have no way of “reading.” And the only way to be able to do that is to employ a well muscled intuition which only you have access to.

It takes not only hard work, persistence, and erudition, but also the courage and independence to use your imagination in ways which might seem ridiculous but may prove innovative, individual curiosity and a spirit of discovery which keeps you ahead of the rest.

One could now proceed to elaborate on the processes of intuition, or suggest where to start or what not to neglect, but even that would be too much. Everyone is blessed with intuition; not everyone has the drive to aggressively hone and use it. If the results of your unique intuition are to be unique, you had better start on your own.

Be prepared for a lifetime commitment: nobody who was ever great at anything, was somehow mysteriously and effortlessly great – they worked hard; and they worked independently.

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