But you also could argue that indifference is a stage too far. Some may argue that indifference is the best stage to reach, the stage where your short-term results do not matter at all, and you are concerned only with making the correct decisions and learning from your mistakes. The Poker Mindset discusses the stages of dealing with a lost pot, in ascending order of desirability: anger, frustration, acceptance, and indifference. Whether or not this is a bad thing depends on your point of view, but it certainly removes an element of the game that some people enjoy. When you completely remove emotions from the game, you end up with a bland game that is more like an exercise in intermediate mathematics than the thrilling, adrenaline-pumping roller coaster that it can be. You should be happy when you win a big pot, and disappointed when you lose. It should be exciting when a crucial card is coming on the river. The problem is that emotions are one of the things that make poker fun. This “attitude” - to remove all emotion from decisions - leads us to the emotional paradox of poker. Whenever you are making a decision at the table, you must try to make that decision based solely on the cards and on your read of your opponent.
In fact, this is the essence of avoiding and overcoming tilt. Therefore, it is important to master the second of these defenses: accepting emotions but not letting them affect our decisions. Even if we sit down in complete serenity, poker is a game that generates emotion in itself, so we will probably not remain serene for long. No matter when we sit down at the table, we will be feeling something, even though the level of emotion may be quite trivial. However, we must not forget that emotions are ever present in our psyche. The first defense is obviously easier to do, and is often the appropriate course of action to take, especially if you are in a particularly emotional state. Acknowledge your emotions, but don’t allow them to affect your decisions. Do not play when you are in an emotional state that may cause your play to suffer.Ģ. However, you do have two defenses against your emotions:ġ. We just have to accept and adapt to this facet of our personalities. Very few players can completely switch off their emotions. There is a long list of emotions that you can experience at the poker table that will inhibit your success, including anger, frustration, misery, fear, happiness, pity, pride, and nervousness. The negative effects that emotions can have on your game are numerous, and every player is different. Emotions will only cloud your judgment and divert your attention to things you should not be thinking about. They do not help your starting-hand selection or your ability to get away from the second-best hand.
Emotions do not understand pot odds or how to put your opponent on a hand. For example, a football coach may try to motivate his players by stirring up emotions of anger, hatred, or team spirit, which may arouse them into working a bit harder or giving a bit extra.Įmotion can do little to help a poker player. In some sports, emotion can be an advantage. One of these attitudes is to “remove all emotion from decisions.” Many players let emotions affect their poker decisions, yet emotions should have no impact whatsoever on the decision-making process. The Poker Mindset discusses seven essential attitudes for achieving poker success. Editor’s note: This column contains excerpts from the book The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success, by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger.