The Poker Mindset – Attitude #5

The Poker Mindset is a set of seven attitudes that every poker player should try to master, regardless of their game, limits, or technical skill. Just like technical skills, the Poker Mindset will help you make better decisions at the table.

This is the fifth article of a series where we will examine each of the seven attitudes of the Poker Mindset. It includes excerpts from my book, coauthored with Ian Taylor, The Poker Mindset.

Attitude #5 Leave Your Ego at the Door

Watch poker on TV, play in your local card room, or even play online, and you will be amazed at the number of poker players who have seemingly huge egos. You will see players boasting about their skills, berating the play of others, and taking the most innocuous action as a personal insult.

If you are serious about winning money, you should leave your ego at the door when playing poker.

The major problem with bringing your ego to the table is that it may become a factor in your decision making. Remember that the goal in poker is to make the correct decision at the table, the one that will win you the most money on average. You introduce a new goal when you bring your ego to the table. You now want to make the most money you can while keeping your ego intact. This new goal might result in you making a different decision than you would have made otherwise, nearly always a worse one.

Your ego may lead you into several traps at the table, the following eight being the most common:

1. You might call bets that you shouldn’t.

Psychologically, folding is like surrendering, which is equated with defeat. In an ego-fueled game, folding can seem extremely unattractive, especially if the pot is big and especially if you think there is a chance you have the best hand. When contemplating calling a bet, the questions going through your mind should be things like:

What is the probability I am ahead?

If I am behind, what are the chances of drawing out?

Am I getting the correct pot odds to make the call?

What is the likelihood that my opponent is bluffing?

Undue influence from your ego may lead you to consider irrelevant factors and think irrelevant thoughts such as:

Will I look like a coward if I fold?

Will I look stupid if I fold and he shows a bluff?

2. You might allow a personal feud to cloud or override your judgment.

Poker is by nature a confrontational game. It is only natural that conflicts arise and players start to hold a grudge against one or more of their opponents.

The unfortunate result is that you might let a grudge lead you into bad decisions. You might go out of your way to play in pots with that player to try to win “your money” back, or even just to try to get one over on your nemesis. You may also be paying so much attention to one opponent that you are giving insufficient attention to the other players at the table.

3. You are likely to try too hard to get even.

Remember when we mentioned earlier that it is a bad idea to try to “get even” when you are stuck in a session? One of the reasons you might try to do this is because of ego. Nothing hurts a player’s ego like leaving a game with less money than he sat down with.

So some players don’t. They will stubbornly keep playing in the hope that they can at least get back to even and salvage some pride. The more they lose, the more they will want to try to win at least some of their money back. It is a vicious circle that could have been avoided if their ego had allowed them to walk away after losing a comparatively small amount.

4. You might play in games you can’t beat.

Poker is only profitable in the long term when you play against players who are worse than you. Players with big egos do not like admitting that they are outclassed, even to themselves. As a result, they may play in games that they simply can’t beat.

5. You might make plays to impress your opponents.

Sometimes you will be tempted to make plays that look good even if they have little chance of working. For example, you might try a raise on the river as a bluff or a check-raise on the flop with a weak hand. That is not to say that these plays don’t have their place, but you should only make them for the right reasons. Your ego is interfering with your decisions if you are making crazy plays that only work once in a blue moon so that you can slam your cards down and say “Gotcha!”

6. You might not drop down a limit when you should.

One of the most humbling things a poker player will have to do is to drop down limits. The fact is that you must drop down limits when you are no longer bankrolled to play at higher limits. Otherwise, you might be risking your entire bankroll to pander to your ego. There should be no shame in making a move that will protect your bankroll and ensure your long-term profitability.

7. You could inadvertently give away information to your opponents.

You will repeatedly see players demonstrating their knowledge of the game at the poker table. From a strategic perspective, there is no advantage in doing this. If your opponents are weak, then it doesn’t pay to advertise yourself as the table predator. On the other hand, if your opponents are strong players, you would like them to view you as a weak player in the hope they play incorrectly against you as a result.

8. You might scare away players who you would rather stay.

Of course, the nasty end of this verbal posturing is when decent but egotistical players berate and belittle other players for what they perceive as bad play. This is not only unpleasant, but is also completely asinine from a poker point of view. Poor players should be nurtured and cherished. Poor players make poker profitable for winning players and less costly for average players. If you look at bad players as your “customers,” it is easy to see that berating them is just not good business practice.

Learning to suppress or at least control your ego will help you avoid these eight pitfalls. Your ego is the enemy. Work on eliminating it just like any other deficiency in your game.

Next month we’ll look at the sixth attitude of the Poker Mindset — Remove All Emotions from Decisions.

Matthew is the owner of Dimat Enterprises, “Publishing Today’s Best Poker Books” and is a coauthor with Ian Taylor of The Poker Mindset, available at Kindle, Amazon, and pokerbooks.InternetTexasHoldem.com in both print and PDF format.