Real Poker: Reading People, Reading Hands, And Being In Tune With Yourself…. Psychology and Poker: Part 2

The psychological aspect of poker is often understated in importance. How others think and react emotionally, and how you think and react emotionally can significantly affect decisions. Being in tune with your own and opponent’s thinking, while making the required adjustments, brings about superior judgement.

I’d like to reiterate that I have little formal psychological training. These 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. They are by no means complete, in any particular order, or applicable to all circumstances.

People Project What They Want You To Think, What You See Isn’t What You Get

People wear a public mask, often to cover weaknesses and insecurities. Our ego aspires to be perceived as better than we truly are. At times, especially at the poker table, it’s done as a hustle. Opponents want you to think a certain way in order to exploit you. If you take people’s outward projections as reality, you won’t be in tune with who they really are or how they think, and that will cause poor poker decisions. You need to read their genuine reality, their true nature, and base your decisions correspondingly.

Pay careful attention, and you’ll find that most people inadvertently display their real self. It shows in facial expressions, a nervous trait, an overstated or understated gesture, or through non-standard verbal expressions. When something isn’t right or doesn’t flow correctly, your brain may automatically alert you. It’s a natural defense mechanism built through evolution. Nowadays, it’s often described as a “gut feel.” The harder you concentrate and the more you get in tune with a given situation (i.e. the poker table) the deeper and more effective your “gut feel” will develop. You must master learning all the signs, and incorporate the derived information into your decisions. It can be great insight for poker’s and life’s decisions.

People Are Predisposed To Be A Specified Way

People are psychologically biased to think a certain way, which often defines their poker thought process. Traits such as paranoia, negativity, optimism, aggression, the desire to conform, the desire to be perceived well, etc. all affect a poker player’s decisions, though sometimes in differing ways, i.e. some paranoid players pay off too much because they constantly fear they are being bluffed; others fold too much, fearing they’re always beat. Recent events can sometimes switch their mindset, and you must follow their thinking and mood, but in moments of doubt, they tend to revert to their fundamental mindset.

Once you can define these traits in an opponent, you can utilize that knowledge to define their range. For example, an opponent who wishes to be perceived well isn’t likely to make off-the-wall plays. The applications of this concept are as wide as the human psychological condition, and it often takes some deep thinking to effectively gauge how these factors play at the poker table. That said, at times, it can have great value.

People Have Impulses And Patterns

All people have impulses; emotional and chemical reactions that control many of their behaviors. Some control them better than others. You see this all the time at the poker table, and it’s generally not a difficult read. In some, it manifests into a gambling compulsion. They may vacillate in and out of them, but when triggered, the reactions are consistent.

Additionally, people have thought patterns. Some can be tough to ascertain, while others are basic. Once unearthed, they have high poker value. Some people are very consistent in following their thought patterns; others know enough to mix them up. Once you have a consistent person pegged, you will own them. You must learn to read other’s thoughts, think about their thought process, and determine how they arrived at their decisions. It’s a tedious process, but well worth the effort. Furthermore, don’t be set in your ways of your own thought process. You want to own, not get owned!

People Have Loss Aversions

Losing makes a stronger impression than an equivalent gain. You see this manifested in poker all the time. Players who can’t leave stuck, players who don’t equate saving a bet to winning a bet. We’re mentally wired to be possessive, to intensively dislike losing what we have. And that translates into illogical decisions. You need to recognize this bias in others and yourself, and adapt accordingly. Play when players overextend themselves, know who overemphasizes saving bets; adjust your strategies with them!

And don’t let loss-aversion affect your decisions. Understand gains and losses strictly in a mathematical perspective. Make decisions based on expected value (EV), not winning and losing. Many otherwise outstanding players find this single psychological flaw a fatal one that destroys an otherwise competent player. Don’t be that person.

Most poker literature is mathematically and strategically based. But learning poker psychology is hugely important, especially in live games where a greater opportunity to read your opponents’ thoughts and characteristics exists. Lots of high +EV situations arise when you’re in tune with your opponents’ thoughts.

Some poker psychology can be learned from studying. My favorite authors are Alan Schoonmaker and Jared Tendler. That said, the nuances have to come from observations. And the exploitative strategies from those observations need to be individually reasoned.

Add that to good strategic knowledge and you’ll be a poker superstar! ♠

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.