Locus of Control — Part II

Part One of this series quoted Wikipedia’s definition: “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.”

Part One contained a simple test that researchers have used frequently. I suggested taking that test to see where you stand because, “Most winners have an internal locus: They accept responsibility for their results… feel more confident, and work harder…”

“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.”

Matt Lessinger, a Card Player columnist for many years and author of The Book of Bluffs, expressed doubts about causality: “If we’re using poker as an example, everyone who wins seems to credit their skill (even when they get lucky) and everyone who loses seems to blame bad luck (even when their skill is inferior). So the people who succeed will, of course, be internally-oriented, while the people who fail will be externally-oriented.”

“You’re saying they succeed because they are internally-oriented. I would argue that even people who succeed through luck or circumstances will then become internally-oriented, taking the credit for their success even though their abilities might have had little to do with it.”

Matt’s right, and locus of control is more complicated than I had believed. It’s not a permanent state of mind. We all have a baseline locus, but winning, losing, or other events can change our locus, at least temporarily. Winning makes us more internally-oriented, confident, and decisive; so we play better. Losing makes us blame bad luck and become less confident and decisive, which makes us play worse.

It’s Your Belief, Not Reality.

Prof. Arthur Reber discussed loci in his excellent book, Poker, Life, and Other Confusing Things. “When a psychologist talks about the locus of control, he or she is referring to the figurative place where a person feels that control is located—not is located but feels like it is located. That is, where does an individual believe control lies; where do they attribute cause?”

In most casino games, the locus is almost or completely external. You can do little or nothing to influence your results, but countless people try to control them. They write down the baccarat cards, trying to predict the next cards. They increase or decrease their craps bets when they think the dice are hot or cold. They cannot accept that cards and dice are random and unpredictable.

In poker you can’t control the cards, but you can control the way you play them. But many players, perhaps including you, don’t truly accept that cards are random. You may say that you know they’re random, but in your innermost heart, you don’t believe it.

Prof. Reber wrote: “Here are some questions to ask your poker-playing self…

Have you ever changed seats because you’re losing?

Have you ever groaned in despair when the guy who moved into the seat you abandoned won a huge pot?

Have you ever asked the dealer for a new setup because things just aren’t going right?

Have you ever thought that a certain dealer was ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky?’

Do you have a ‘lucky’ charm or ‘lucky’ hand or ‘lucky’ seat?

If recognizing yourself in any of these makes you feel a tad uncomfortable, that’s okay; you’ve got a lot of company. Many players do these things and for understandable reasons. They are ‘magical’ gestures that give them a vague sense that they are, in fact, exerting some measure of control. But, of course, all is illusion.”

Why do so many people believe that illusion? Because randomness is frightening. It makes us feel helpless, and nobody wants to feel helpless.

Let’s Look At Our Opponents.

I’ve emphasized understanding your own locus because it greatly affects your thoughts, feelings, and actions. The more clearly you understand yourself, the better you will think, feel, and play.

We all know that poker is a people game, and that reading our opponents is a critically important skill. The more accurately we can understand their locus of control, the better we can read, predict, and control them.

There’s a surprising contradiction: It’s easier to beat externally-oriented opponents, but harder to read them. It’s easier to beat them because they make many stupid mistakes. Instead of studying situations and making rational decisions, they waste their time and energy by thinking about and reacting to irrelevant factors.

These irrational reactions make it harder to read them. They get tighter, looser, or more passive or aggressive because they feel hot or cold, believe that nines are running hot, have lucky cards, or think, “I never make flushes.” Since we can’t know how these irrelevant factors affect them, we can’t understand what they’re doing or why they’re doing it.

So how can you identify people like that? Externally-oriented people:

Change seats for luck
Whine about their bad luck and other players’ good luck
Request setups
Complain about dealers
Wear copper bracelets, magnets, energy bands, lucky charms, or religious medals
Have lucky hats, card protectors, or other silly possessions
Squeeze or shuffle their cards

Here’s an example of an extremely external locus that shows how it creates depressing feelings of powerlessness. A friend was playing in a very tough game. I whispered in his ear, “Change tables. That game is much softer.”

He stayed in the tough game and replied, “I’m so unlucky that it doesn’t matter where I sit.”

What’s the Bottom Line?

Despite accepting Matt’s point about causality, I’m still convinced that it’s way better to have an internal focus. Prof. Reber agrees: “Perhaps not surprisingly, high internalizers tend to be more successful in life. They make more money, win more contests, live longer, have lower incidences of depression, alcoholism, drug abuse. You name it, they’re better off than their externalizing cousins. Attributing causality for life’s fortunes (or misfortunes) to others or to uncontrollable forces is associated with a lot of unhappy outcomes.”

So how do you become more internally-oriented? You probably can’t change your basic locus directly. It’s a deeply-held belief created by your genes and a lifetime of experiences.
But you can change the way you act. You have much more control over your actions than over your thoughts or feelings. If you stop taking externally-oriented actions, you may slowly shift toward an internal locus. Stop asking for setups, looking for lucky seats, and whining about dealers and luck. Throw away your copper bracelet. Don’t pray for luck. Don’t play lucky cards or vary your play because you think that you or somebody else is “hot” or “cold.” Constantly emphasize the only thing that counts: your own decisions. ♠

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