Reading People, Reading Hands, And Being in Tune with Yourself Psychology and Poker: Part 1

These days computers can analyze the crap out of anything. Poker has been no exception. Modern day computer geeks have created range vs. range analysis software that solves most poker problems.

However, to utilize that information, you need to ascertain your opponent’s range. If you’re multi-tabling online and data-mining your opponents, it’s mostly done for you. But in live games you need to analyze people, their actions, their knowledge, their thoughts, their emotions and their mindset. And humans can be mighty complex critters!

The human mind has evolved for millions of years with its basis being to survive and pass on our genes. Ten thousand years ago we were still living in caves. Our minds have evolved little since. Evolution didn’t design us to play poker well. To play well we must make adjustments to our natural way of thinking, plus read others’ natural instincts and how they have adjusted them. It’s an art, and not an exact one!

Let me state that I have little formal psychological training. These subsequent views are based on my observations from tens of thousands of hours of play. They will contain both what you need to change from your basic human nature and what you can read from others. It’s by no means complete, in any particular order, or applicable to all circumstances. I’m starting with an overview; in later parts I’ll address how this all relates to reading hands. Comprehending this will significantly grow your poker game!

1. We Are Not Rational Creatures… We’re Governed Much More By Emotion Than Reason: We don’t like to think so, but we’re often not in tune with reality. We’re ego-driven. We look for confirmation of ideas we want to believe, and we have numerous inherent biases.

Because we’re governed by emotions, we make many cognitive errors, creating illogical decisions. And in poker, as in life, a dose of reality is on its way to set you straight. At least it should, though with some people it seems it never does. You need to cultivate your ability to realistically reason through situations, both big and small, without your emotions or biases affecting your thoughts.

This doesn’t come naturally, nor is it easy to change. It takes a high level of insight into your own self and BRUTAL honesty. Assess your strengths, weaknesses, emotional faults and biases. Get in tune with yourself, think realistically, linearly, and honestly… and yes, it’s going to hurt. It does with me anyway!

2. Shortsightedness: It’s human nature to be shortsighted. What you see, hear and think in the present will very strongly influence your next impulses to reason and act. But in poker you need to perceive things in a big picture, long run context. If you overreact to short-term influences: winning, losing, bad beats, emotions, anger, etc., by getting over-exhilarated, panicky (tilt), or just losing focus on the long-term consequences of your actions, you’re going to pay dearly for it. You need to create a stoic big picture mindset to maintain consistency and not allow atypical circumstances to throw your thinking off track.

3. Empathy: Some people are naturally empathetic people-readers who have an intuitive gift for sensing how others think and feel. It’s a powerful tool at the poker table and can make up for a lot of strategic leaks. It’s also a subject that some extremely intelligent individuals with great knowledge, recall and logical thinking are totally lost. They lack the ability to relate to others who think and are emotionally very different from them. The best players have an extremely high level of both strategic knowledge and intuition. Intuition can be developed by focusing on others’ emotional and thinking patterns. Spend your time between hands thinking about these issues!

4. Narcissism: Narcissistic personalities are drawn to gambling, particularly poker. It makes sense that people who feel intellectually superior seek to economically advance themselves in intellectual pursuits. We all know people who honestly claim they play great and have no clue they have no clue. I once heard a man honestly claim, “I’m the best player that has ever walked through those doors and I’ve lost my last 29 plays.” Huh? That said, narcissistic traits are great for both poker and the gaming industry.

We all have narcissistic traits. They vary in strength depending upon the individual. High narcissism greatly distorts people’s perspective of the world, how they view themselves and their abilities. Highly narcissistic individuals overrate their strategic abilities, overrate how well they play tired, underrate the strength of their competition, and constantly get into deep trouble without understanding why. Their dysfunctional lack of rationality in assessing themselves and others creates a catch-22. They’re lost and can’t ever figure out why. Also, it’s often a psychological cause of problem gambling. That said, some, by adjusting, can become great players.

I’ll address other psychological issues and how they affect your poker game in upcoming columns. With the wealth of poker information currently available, any intelligent person can cultivate a high level of strategic knowledge, but understanding yourself and your opponents psychologically will significantly advance your game above those who dismiss the psychological aspect of poker and mostly focus on strategy. You’ll situationally adjust better, make more and higher quality plays, and stay in the right mindset more often.

It all leads to more money and a well-adjusted life. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman. Should you wish any information about Real Estate matters -including purchase, sale or mortgage, his office number is 702-376-1515 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.RoyCooke.com.