Learning to Look Left

Card Player just published one of my articles about a challenge that I gave myself at the casino one night when it became clear that the game I wanted to play wasn’t going to go off:

Rather than leave immediately, though, I gave myself a challenge. I had to pay attention to everything at the table for one full orbit. After every hand, especially those in which I was not involved, I needed to be able to recount the action, who won the pot, and how. When it was my turn to act, I had to look left and see if any of my opponents were telegraphing their intentions before I made any decisions. If I failed to do any of these things, the count would go back to zero and I’d have to start again trying to observe the game diligently for nine consecutive hands.

Read the full article, Learning to Look Left, to find out how I did and what I learned from the experience. Believe it or not, I wrote this before I knew that Elements of Poker would be the Thinking Poker Bookclub selection this month, although it’s a concept that Angelo discusses specifically.

If you read the article, and especially if you set yourself a similar challenge, I’d love to hear what you think!