Stay Young; Play Poker — Part II

Part I said that combining poker, diet, and exercise can help you to remain younger, healthier and smarter. Diet and exercise have much greater effects than anything you do at the tables, but there are many excellent books about them. So I’ll emphasize changing your poker approach.

Unless you’re a pro or semi-pro, you probably haven’t worked hard on your game. It just didn’t seem worth it. But, if changing your approach to poker can help you to stay young, sharp, and healthy, the cost-benefit ratios of working hard change dramatically. What can be more important than your physical and mental health? Better yet, some anti-aging steps will also increase your poker profits.

If you’re a pro or semi-pro, your first reaction to these recommendations may be, “I can’t afford to take the time. I have to play many hours to pay my bills.” But, from a longer-term perspective, you can’t afford not to take that time.

You already spend time studying and discussing poker to boost your profits. The same principle applies here. Changing your poker approach will make you healthier and sharper, and the better you feel, the more money you’ll win.

General Principles

Constantly emphasize poker’s mental stimulation and social interaction. The more fully you become engaged, the more you will learn, the better you will play, and the more you will delay aging.

Be active, both mentally and socially. Treat poker as a series of challenging puzzles to stimulate your thinking, and discuss poker with others to learn from them and keep you socially involved. If you play poker on auto-pilot and don’t interact intelligently with your opponents and poker buddies, your poker results will be disappointing, and you’ll age more quickly.

Emphasize novelty. Repeating the same old moves won’t slow down aging or increase your poker profits. The more you force your brain to develop new connections, the more you will gain. In addition to staying sharper, you’ll become harder to read, predict, and control.

Optimize stress. Too much stress speeds up aging and can even cause physical and mental illnesses. Too little stress reduces stimulation. You need just the right amount. The two largest stressors are the games’ stakes and toughness. If a game is too big or too tough, you’ll be scared. If it’s too small or too easy, you’ll be bored.

Reactions to different types of stress vary immensely. For example, the large swings from loose-aggressive games (especially no-limit ones) really bother some players, while others enjoy them, but react negatively to tight or small games.

In addition, stresses are cumulative. Small amounts of several types of stress can put you past your limits. So determine how much and which kinds of stress bring out your best. Then seek the amount and type of stresses that stimulate, but don’t overwhelm you.

Create a score-keeping system. If you can’t see progress, you’ll probably get bored or discouraged and stop working.

Apply these principles when you’re:

• Preparing to play
• Choosing games and seats
• Playing a hand
• Observing others after folding your cards
• Waiting for the next hand
• Taking a break
• Reviewing the session

Preparing

Reading Card Player and good books will obviously improve your results, but the way you study is almost as important as the material you select. If you just read passively, you won’t learn much, nor will you get the essential mental exercise and social interaction.

Learn actively. Force yourself to think instead of just trying to memorize information. Active learning is immensely more efficient than passive learning. You can’t learn much from just reading, and thinking provides mental exercise that slows down aging.

If a reading contains problems and quizzes, emphasize them. When you get one wrong, analyze your thinking: Why did you make that mistake? How is it similar or different from other mistakes?

Whenever you read something, ask yourself, “How does it relate to my game? How can I apply that principle? When did I misapply or ignore it? What happened?”

Think of ways to adapt principles to your game. Authors either tell you what works in their games or propose general principles: But your game is different, perhaps very different. Analyze the differences and their implications; then develop a specific strategy for your game.

If you play in different games, develop a specific strategy for each one. Decide to be tighter here, looser and more aggressive there. State the reasons for these differences. Why should you play differently in each game? The more clearly you state your reasoning, the better your thinking will be, and the more easily you will correct mistakes.

Do the same with individual players. Regard them as living puzzles that you have to solve. Play particular attention to the ones who give you the most trouble. Ask yourself: “What are their styles, strengths, and weaknesses?”

Then go a big step further. Ask yourself: “Why do they think and play that way” Remember one central psychological principle: People’s behavior is generally consistent with their motives and perceptions. Their actions may seem irrational and inexplicable to you, but you’re confused primarily because you don’t understand how they see situations, feel about them, and think about them. If you can develop that understanding, you’ll become much better at reading, predicting, and controlling them.

Treating specific opponents – especially the ones who confuse you – as puzzles to be solved will stimulate your thinking and develop your general ability to read and control opponents. Then plan specific adjustments to exploit the weak players and reduce the stronger ones’ edge.

Combine active learning and social interaction by working with others. If you don’t have a poker buddy, get one ASAP. Join or start a poker discussion group like the one I described in “The Wednesday Poker Discussion Group’s 100th Meeting” (Card Player 6/20/2003).

Exchange ideas in online forums. Take positions, including ones you doubt, to get reactions. Listen carefully when others disagree. Keep your mind open and constantly challenge yourself to think in new ways.

Emphasize novelty: Many people study the subjects they already understand because they’re more comfortable with them. Mathematically-oriented players study Sklansky and Chen to learn advanced techniques. Psychologically-oriented players read Caro, Navarro, McKenna, Tendler, and Reber to learn more about subjects they already understand well.

They’ve got it backwards. You’ll gain much more by studying subjects you don’t understand. First, you can make more progress by working on your weaknesses than on your strengths. Second, it’s much more stimulating (but more stressful) to work on new subjects.

Instead of just strengthening connections your brain already has, confront it with situations and problems that force it to process information in new ways.

Optimize stress. Critically evaluate yourself. Then set ambitious, but realistic, self-development goals and plans. If you’re too ambitious, you’ll feel overwhelmed. If you’re not ambitious enough, you won’t develop your game, nor will you get the stimulation needed to slow down aging.

Dr. Al ([email protected]) coaches only on psychology issues, such as controlling impulses and emotions, coping with losing streaks, and developing yourself. He is David Sklansky’s co-author for DUCY? and the sole author of five poker psychology books.