Locus of Control

There is a close relationship between your locus of control, your mindset, and your results. To put it bluntly, the wrong locus costs you money. Here’s a short test that psychologists have used for decades.

Instructions

Circle A or B by the statement that best describes your real feelings (not what you think is the “right” answer). Don’t skip any questions. If you dislike both answers, select the one you dislike less.

1A. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck.
1B. People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.
2A. One of the major reasons why we have wars is because people don’t take enough interest in politics.
2B. There will always be wars, no matter how hard people try to prevent them.
3A. In the long run, people get the respect they deserve in this world.
3B. Unfortunately, an individual’s worth often passes unrecognized, no matter how hard he tries.
4A. The idea that teachers are unfair to students is nonsense.
4B. Most students don’t realize the extent to which their grades are influenced by accidental happenings.
5A. Without the right breaks, one cannot be an effective leader.
5B. Capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities.
6A. No matter how hard you try, some people just don’t like you.
6B. People who can’t get others to like them don’t understand how to get along with others.
7A. I have often found that what is going to happen will happen.
7B. Trusting to fate has never turned out as well for me as making a decision to take a definite course of action.
8A. In the case of the well prepared student, there is rarely, if ever, such a thing as an unfair test.
8B. Many times exam questions tend to be so unrelated to course work that studying is really useless.
9A. Becoming a success is a matter of hard work; luck has little or nothing to do with it.
9B. Getting a good job depends mainly on being in the right place at the right time.
10A. The average citizen can have an influence in government decisions.
10B. This world is run by the few people in power, and there is not much the little guy can do about it.
11A. When I make plans, I am almost certain that I can make them work.
11B. It is not always wise to plan too far ahead because many things turn out to be a matter of luck anyway.
12A. In my case, getting what I want has little or nothing to do with luck.
12B. Many times we might just as well decide what to do by flipping a coin.
13A. What happens to me is my own doing.
13B. Sometimes I feel that I don’t have enough control over the direction my life is taking.

Scoring

Score one point for 1A, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8B, 9B, 10B, 11B, 12B, 13B.
12-13 Very external locus
10-11 Moderately external locus
8-9 Slightly external locus
7 Balanced
5-6 Slightly internal locus
3-4 Moderately internal locus
1-2 Very internal locus

Definition

Wikipedia says, “locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them… Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events in their life derive primarily from their own actions… people with an external locus of control would tend to praise or blame an external factor.”

Research Results

I don’t know of any poker research, but investigations in many other settings have shown that:

Internal locus people:

Take responsibility for their actions
Tend to work hard to achieve their goals
Feel confident in the face of challenges
Are physically healthier
Are happier and more independent
Often achieve greater career success
External locus people:
Blame outside forces for their circumstances
Often credit luck or chance for any successes
Don’t believe personal efforts will change their situation
Feel hopeless or powerless in difficult situations
Those results aren’t surprising. People who feel they can control their destinies are much more likely to succeed and feel good, while those who feel they can’t control their fate are more likely to fail and feel depressed.

Locus and Poker

Although there is no hard data, I’m confident that winners have a different locus than losers.

Most winners have an internal locus: They accept responsibility for their results, accept poker as it is, feel more confident, and work harder. They essentially apply the experts’ standard advice: Focus on the only thing you can control, your own decisions.

Most losers have an external locus: They don’t accept responsibility for their results and don’t work hard on their games. Instead, they get upset about bad luck, incompetent dealers, idiotic players, and so on. They may also try to change their luck by requesting setups, changing seats, and other superstitious silliness.

Why Do So Many Players Have An External Locus?

We all know that there are far more losers than winners, and an important reason is that so many players have an external locus. Since it costs them money, the critical question is, Why?

The answer is quite simple: It protects their egos.

They believe that their bad results are not their fault. That’s why bad beat stories are so common. Storytellers want to believe that bad luck, idiotic players, and so on cause their losses. Ego-protection is so destructive that I discussed it on the first page of my first poker book, The Psychology of Poker:

“Other games emphasize self-criticism and objective analysis. Football and basketball teams review game films to learn how they and other teams play, then revise their game plan for the next opponent…

“Instead, we whine about our luck and tell ‘bad beat’ stories. Most stories essentially say: ‘I played my hand well, but this idiot’s stupidity and my terrible luck cost me the pot.’ It’s as if a football coach played the films of a losing game, not to learn how to win next time, but to prove they were unlucky to lose. Bad beat stories may make you feel better, but they do not help your game…

“Poker winners do the same thing as winning football coaches…They objectively analyze how they and their opponents play, accept responsibility instead of blaming bad luck, work hard on their game, and ask their friends for critical comments.”

Conclusions

If your results are disappointing, you’re not unlucky. You’re either:

1. Playing in the wrong games.
2. Playing poorly.

Stop blaming bad luck, and start trying to change it. Accept poker as it is, and shift your focus from the outside to the inside.

You’re the problem, and you can’t solve it without critically analyzing yourself. If you’re playing in the wrong games, why haven’t you changed games? If you’re playing poorly, what are you doing wrong? And what forces within you cause you to keep making the same mistakes?

If you don’t switch your locus of control and accept responsibility for your results, your frustration will continue forever. ♠

“Dr. Al” ([email protected]) coaches only on psychology issues. For information about seminas and webinars, go to propokerseminars.com. He is David Sklansky’s co-author of DUCY? and the sole author of four poker psychology books.