On Pain, Breath, and Ego

Hi. Come on in. I ordered dinner "B" from the Chinese restaurant up the road. Do you want chopsticks or a fork? Dig in.

Pain: It only goes to 10. Professional athletes in all sports have a saying along the lines of, "Play through the pain." That might make sense for a football or hockey player, but it certainly doesn't work for a poker player. Let's consider both physical and mental pain, on a scale of 1 to 10.

One of my poker students, a doctor, tells me that when physical pain reaches 10, the body's protective mechanism shuts you down and you go unconscious. You cannot function. However, when your mental pain reaches 10 (usually after several horrendous beats), there is no shutdown. You can continue to play, and you usually do. And in that mental state, you play badly. That, most likely, will bring on more losses as you stay at 10 and continue to play – badly. That's why there is Roy's Rule No. 1, as we discussed last time: "Play happy or don't play." Violate that rule at peril to your mental and financial health.

Breath: Here's a refinement of a poker tell. After all of the cards are out, you notice a sudden, sharp, involuntary intake of breath by an opponent. What does it mean?

Several of us were talking about tells a few nights ago. One opinion was that this tell meant a big hand. Another was to suspect a bluff. Which one is right? Actually, both could be, but we had to add something to the tell. Then, we all agreed. If the player takes the above-described breath as he looks at his last card, he is excited by what he sees and his adrenaline flow is the cause of the sudden, sharp intake of breath. However, if he bets and then takes a deep breath, figure a bluff. His fear of being caught sets his "fight or flight" mechanism into motion, which leads to the sharp breath intake. Wow! That is a cool tell, isn't it?

Ego: You'll recall that one night last summer while we were relaxing here in a dark corner of your poker mind, we talked a lot about one of Roy's Rules: "Get your ego out of the game." We agreed that ego and poker do not mix well.

Let's kick that idea around a bit more today. Ego has many ways of making you a loser. One of its favorite ways is to keep you from stepping back a limit level when you're running bad. Let's take a player who is losing consistently at the $15-$30 level but won't step down. His ego won't let him. "I don't want my friends to see me playing in the 'smaller' games. They'll think I'm not a good player."

Well, the "friends" he's playing with now already know he's not a good player, and don't want to see him step down, either. Other players with a better grip on their egos have no problem stepping down if they're running bad, for whatever reason. You should be among them if it happens to you.

If you're losing and can't figure out why, it possibly means you've developed a hole in your game that you can't see. Step back while you figure it out. Sometimes the cards just don't come – for days at a time. You know that the cards should break even in the long run, but that's no help when the last good starting hand you picked up was during the Clinton administration, and you haven't been able to win more than your hat size since.

There's no honor in staying glued to that game while you fritter away your children's inheritance. Sure, you can make some of that back by stealing some antes – but not nearly that much. Step back, analyze, and wait.

Another way that the ego can make you a loser is to keep you playing in the game you'd like to beat, instead of the game you can beat. And don't let your ego move you up too soon, before you're ready with an adequate bankroll, experience, and a lot of heart. It can be difficult, and a whack to the ego, to admit that you can't win consistently against the "bigger kids."

Step back and work on your game, so that the next time you step up in limits, you'll be there to stay.

Ego tells every poker player in the world that his wins are because of his superior skill and his losses are just bad luck. Most players believe it. I do, don't you? (Let's work on that one together.)

Up until today I never saw anyone get splinters from eating with chopsticks. Next time, use a fork. Now I tire and am in need of a siesta (or whatever the word in Chinese is for "nap"). Kill the light on your way out.

Editor's note: Roy West, author of the bestseller 7 Card Stud, the Complete Course in Winning (available from Card Player), continues to give his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas to both tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. Call 1-800-548-6177 Ext. 03.