Those who think that to win in poker you only need luck, do not know well how the game works. There could be the case that someone who played for the first time ended up winning, but it would be only that, a possibility, nothing to do with reality.
To play poker you need doses of temperance, study, concentration, and psychology, a lot of psychology.
Professional poker players choose the card game as their way of life, moving away from what would be a common 40-hour day. But in their workday, in addition to playing tournaments, a poker player needs to prepare by spending time studying different games, developing logic and preparing psychologically.
Psychology is, in many ways, an essential quality for the poker player. The first one we will talk about is how the poker player has to deal with themselves and, therefore, with his own psychology. As an elite sportsman who is alone on the court, the poker player must face his own ghosts at the gaming table and to do so, he must resort to different strategies:
Positive viewing
Visualize yourself before a championship with an attitude and winning status. Imagining yourself in a positive context exponentially increases your chances of winning.
Bonding
It's about repeating a gesture every time things go well and emulate it in times of stress and anxiety; That way you'll cheat your brain and your body will react with a positive gesture in adversity.
Body language
Poker is one of the professions where most people lie. For the poker player, it is essential to analyze how their body reacts depending on the emotions they feel so that they can dominate it at their convenience and mislead opponents to the contrary.
The second of the aspects in which the psychology is essential in poker is related to the relationship of the player with their opponents: just as we must know our gestures to control them, we must know the rest of the players at the table to anticipate their plays.
It is as simple as empathy, the ability to put ourselves in the other's place to understand it and to take advantage of it. One way to understand the adversary is to observe him before the game. It is a question of carefully observing how the opponent reacts in different contexts, analyze his gestures both outside the table and once the game has started.
Observing others and understanding their reactions is the only way for us to get a clear and realistic picture of what is happening or can happen. But, as each person and his psychology are unique.
Each case must be analyzed individually and without generalizing. For example, if a player talks a lot and then the table is quiet that can be: because they have bad cards and they're nervous, or because they have a good play and they're anxious. You will have to see what your particular case is and not generalize with the majority reaction of the players in that situation.
Knowing how a liar thinks
Poker is a profession in which you have to lie to survive, so mastering the reactions of your own body and the opponent's will help us to have an edge in the game. In this infographic made by the online poker house Full Tilt Poker, you can check the physiological reactions that we have when we lie.
The third of the aspects where psychology influences poker is when it comes to the perception of things.
Perception sometimes can trick us; when we overestimate our abilities, considering them better than they really are, and when we see the result of the game in a wrong way.
On the first point, we need to be objective in valuing ourselves and our opponent and to recognize that, in the same way, that we could win, losing is within the possibilities of the game and must be accepted when arrives.
Selective perception.
This means we always remember bad times more intensely than good ones because our psychology tends to focus more on the negative aspects. This leads us to perceive, in the wrong way, that the bad runs last longer than the good ones.
The psychology in poker is essential to survive on the green carpet and therefore, is one of the disciplines for the preparation of a professional poker player. But in addition, more and more studies indicate that the skills of poker can be extrapolated to everyday life.
At Harvard University, for example, the subject of 'Strategical Poker Thinking' is given to management skills.
On the other hand, psychologists have spent time studying aspects of psychology in poker to find out how they influence our lives. In particular, poker psychology might help us to: be more flexible in the face of unexpected changes, more constant and committed, for example, follow a diet, learn to manage stress better and knowing how to handle situations that do not depend entirely on us.
And so, in life as in poker, not everything is a matter of luck and you have to have a lot of psychology to win
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This is a well written and accurate post. I studied both cash game and tournament poker strategies over the past decade and have discovered that psychology is an integral part of the game of poker. Sometimes it is more important than the actual cards you're holding.
i liked the Jerrod Tendler book on the mental game of poker
Amazing book and person I highly recommend him (Jared Tendler) @bernardchapin Have you read his followup?
no only 1 book inhale that ive read following you now
Hey I liked your post thanks for sharing and citing your sources. Are you currently in Venezuela right now? Is PokerStars legal to play there?
Hello mate! yes I live in Venezuela and yes we can play on Pokerstars bro! we are living difficult times though. Thanks for reading, Cheers!
I know man because I live in Colombia y ya hay muchos venezolanos por aca. Me gustaría visitar tu pais un dia! Ya no mas PokerStars por acqui.
Bienvenido Hermano, espero que las cosas mejoren para que nos puedas visitar. Por que no tienen Pokerstars allá? que raro.
http://eldiario.deljuego.com.ar/submenunoticiadelaregion/17718-pokerstars-dej-de-operar-en-colombia.html
yep mate!! I like mostly to play the board and others opponents possible hands than just my own cards, that's the way I see this game. I like to bully people sometimes, pushing them to get nervous about what I made have or not.Of course, there is the range of cards to open in each position at the table, when you are at the Button u have advantage. I like to watch Fedor Holz videos, he is changing the way poker is played on this matter, he plays mostly the others mind than just his cards, that's the mental game that I like in poker, play people's mind !!! Nice post mate!! C you @ tables
I don't if you're noticed on lucksacks chat while we play, I use to "bully" people too, show them I'm not afraid. Most of people think that might not work but confidence is really important.
yep, I've noticed you bully hahaha You already did bully over me hahahha
Finally read all the way through this post, @jonsnow, and man, it's pretty epic. Nicely done!
Thanks for reading Beth! See you at the tables!
What about players that play online exclusively? How do you think psychology plays a part in that?
Online is a bit different for obvious reasons, mostly when it comes to see if a player is lying or not, yet psychology plays a big part in online poker as well, I would reccomend to work on your patience which most online players lack. Good Question that may be the subject of my next article, Cheers!
online u need to bully and push people, like I do hahah lol Im just a crazy agressive !!!
This was an incredible read man! I have been a Poker player for the better part of 5 years and I can absolutely tell the positive impact it has in terms of reading body language, being able to discern lies from the truth and so many other qualities that have improved my life overall. Whilst gambling can be extremely dangerous (and even life threatening) for terms of addictive personality types, I believe with anything you spend your money on, moderation is key and learning when and how to quit are also very important life lessons that can be learnt from the game.
If you keep your cool, you will do great. I know by first hand how dangerous gambling can be if you don't know how to control it, Thanks for reading bro!
what about when the liar actually believe they have the best hand lol? following you now
check this nice call, hero call!! Gosh against this insane bluff from Fedor Holz, this guy has balls!! :-) https://steemit.com/poker/@raphavongal/that-was-a-nice-call-insane-bluff-by-fedor-holz
Thank you @jonsnow1983! This really inspires me to write about my love to this greatest of games! :)
I'm also born in 1983 btw! ;)
all in
it s a mental game
Nice post, beautifully presented and explained. detail oriented with nice pics. thank you for sharing this with us, Upvoted,
Thanks to you for reading!
Thanks for this breakdown!
Glad you like it mate!
Great post, one of the things I constantly remind myself is that my role as a poker player is to put pressure on the other player trying to force them to make a mistake. I don't get to the casino enough because most tournaments finish late at night or early in the morning and I have to get to work the next day, but playing tournaments is my passion:)
Thanks for reading mate! you are certainly right, when you have a players mind they tend to commit mistakes and play with extra pressure against you; they become easy targets to bluff .