Questions From Russia: Part III

Two of my books, Your Worst Poker Enemy and Your Best Poker Friend, were translated into Russian. Russian readers had some questions, and the publisher translated their questions and my answers. Here are a few more of them.

Question: I was in the big blind with a pair of sixes and flopped quads. After I checked, my opponent bet, and I just called. When he turned a flush, we raised each other several times, and he went all in. He rivered a straight flush. Will you help me classify my opponent?

Answer: You asked me to classify your opponent, but you seem more interested in telling a bad-beat story. That’s certainly understandable, as you took a horrible beat. On the flop, you were more than a 99 percent favorite.

His bet on the flop seems legitimate. You had shown weakness by checking, and semibluffing with a flush draw is a good play. His turn play strongly suggests that he is much too loose and aggressive. With a pair on the board, competent players holding a flush don’t put in several raises.

However, don’t draw firm conclusions about a player from only one hand. You must be particularly cautious when you have taken a horrible beat. You probably want to believe that he’s a maniac or near-maniac, because it will make you feel better. “I lost only because he’s so stupid.”

Some players claim that they are so insightful that they can instantly judge others. They are almost always wrong. Everybody makes mistakes and occasionally acts out of character. In addition, you did not provide any context, and taking a hand out of context usually obscures its meaning. If I cherry-picked the hands, didn’t identify the players, and didn’t describe the context, you could conclude that the world’s best players are donkeys. For example, who would play 10-2 offsuit?

However, it does look as though he overplays his good hands, which suggests that he is too loose-aggressive and has bad judgment. So, draw that tentative conclusion. If he plays reasonably well most of the time, he probably just had a momentary lapse in judgment. Everybody has them. If he repeatedly overplays his hands, especially weak ones, he is much too loose-aggressive, a maniac, or a near-maniac.

Q: Is there any scientific explanation for why people act emotionally most of the time? Why don’t we follow our common sense instead?

A: I think that’s an overstatement. We all act emotionally at times, and some of us do it far too frequently, but you shouldn’t say that we do it most of the time.

Because emotions are so destructive, we must constantly fight them and our natural desire to trust our feelings. We should strive to have our intellect dominate our emotions, but that can be very difficult. We naturally want to trust our instincts, even when they have been affected by our emotions.

David Sklansky and I have frequently written about techniques to enable our rational brains to override our emotions, gut reactions, intuitions, and instincts. For example, we recently published DUCY? (It stands for “Do You See Why?”) We wrote, “Many people say that you should trust your instincts when making a decision, and it is often the worst advice you can get …

“You can’t make yourself immune from [an emotional reaction], but you can minimize its effects. First, just acknowledging to yourself that you may be influenced by irrational influences may temper their impact. Second, you can establish objective procedures and be willing to stick to the resulting decision (especially if it’s close), even if you ‘feel’ it’s the wrong one.” (Pages 84-85)

In addition, repeatedly ask yourself, “Why did I do that?” You will frequently find that you let your emotions override your intellect. When you recognize this pattern, you become less vulnerable to yielding to your emotions. Unfortunately, most poker players don’t like to look at themselves, especially not at their emotions. They would rather protect their egos by denying reality. So, they make the same mistakes again and again.

Q: I play poker online, and I often do not think much (or at all) before clicking the “Bet” button. I just automatically click it. Why do I do it?

A: I honestly don’t know, but you’re a little ahead of some players. They act unthinkingly, but don’t realize it. You must convert that self-knowledge into action by forcing yourself to think before acting. If you don’t do so, you must stop playing or resign yourself to losing. Sorry to be so blunt, but poker rewards thoughtful actions and punishes impulsive ones.

Q: You’ve written a lot about controlling emotions, but isn’t it dangerous to hold our emotions inside ourselves?

A: It can be very dangerous. If, for example, you are extremely angry and don’t have a harmless way to express your feelings, you may “lose it.” Your suppressed emotions may become so strong that you have to express them. Then, you may play poker crazily or do something much worse, such as drive recklessly or punch out your boss or spouse.

So, don’t deny your emotions. Understand and monitor them. Then, express them in relatively harmless ways. For example, instead of hitting your stupid boss, write him a nasty letter, but don’t mail it. Instead of blowing off steam by playing wildly in your usual game, play that way for tiny stakes online. Even Daniel Negreanu occasionally plays crazily, and calls it “party day.” He wrote, “The real benefit I got from party day was stress release!” (“Party Day,” Card Player, March 30, 2001)

Q: I’m not satisfied with my progress. A while ago, I made a plan to improve my skills. I set a goal of winning a certain number of tournaments and money in a year. It took quite a bit of time and effort, but I did achieve my goals. Now, even though I recognize that I need new skills, I’m not motivated to work on my game. What should I do?

A: I’m glad that you achieved your goals, but I have some doubts about your emphasizing short-term results. They depend too much on luck, and good results can make you complacent. They may have taken away your motivation to improve.

That motivation’s significance depends upon how important poker is to you. If you’re playing primarily for fun, you don’t need to want to improve. Relax, play as well as you can without working too hard, and don’t worry much about your bottom line.

But, if you’re playing for a living, or if it’s your second job, you’d better find that motivation. If you don’t work on your skills, you’re heading for trouble. Your better opponents will improve, meaning that you will get relatively worse. Remember, it is not how well you play, but how well you play compared to the competition. You must work as hard as they do, or expect to see your profits shrink or even become losses.

Dr. Schoonmaker ([email protected]) is David Sklansky’s co-author of DUCY? He is the sole author of The Psychology of Poker, Your Worst Poker Enemy, Your Best Poker Friend, and Poker Winners Are Different.