Poker Psychology

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Damian Air

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Hello the players. I've got no books on poker. But, find myself increasingly drawn to the psychology of in particular the online game.
Has anyone got any book suggestions that may help my quest. I'm already aware of Annie Dukes book. Any others that you might know of?
Thanks in advance ☺
Damian.
 
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prizzy711

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Let me know if you find one! I don't think there are many, but there is a niche for someone to write one.
 
goaldriversv

goaldriversv

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i don't know about poker and psychology, but what about books or videos about what the cia goes through in training or similar?
 
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nameless1537

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I, too, am fascinated by this (especially as a mental health professional by day). Jared Tendler's books "The Mental Game of Poker" (2 volumes) could give you some insight, although it is more about how to "fix" the psychological issues that come up. If you want to understand the psychology behind it though, you can kind of read the books with the intention of determining causality (of tilt).
 
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KuprinMA

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In my opinion, the best books on this subject were written by Jared Tendler - Mind Games
 
BoyNamedSude

BoyNamedSude

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Books suck... just play play play... and remember this...
Poker is a game that is mostly composed of players who are psychotic and deranged, and have dreams of conquering the world...
If you try to use psychology against psycho's you will always fail.
Also, if you try to implement a game theory, and strategy against a player who knows nothing of game theory or strategy, you will always fail.
Staying in your lane while driving is only safe if the other driver stays in his...
These guys not only want to drive in your lane, they want to run you in the ditch if possible...
Z

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MishkaZL

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I read two books that were definitely helpful to me:
1. Andrew Seidman "The Easy Game".
2. Ed Miller "Texas Holdem for beginners".
 
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nameless1537

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Books suck... just play play play... and remember this...
Poker is a game that is mostly composed of players who are psychotic and deranged, and have dreams of conquering the world...
If you try to use psychology against psycho's you will always fail.
Also, if you try to implement a game theory, and strategy against a player who knows nothing of game theory or strategy, you will always fail.
Staying in your lane while driving is only safe if the other driver stays in his...
These guys not only want to drive in your lane, they want to run you in the ditch if possible...
Z

maxresdefault.jpg

I disagree. I do agree that if you do either of those things with any kind of a definitive conclusion, failure is a distinct possibility on a hand by hand basis. Your use of “always” is where I take issue with.

IMO, poker is as much about math as it is about psychology. Understanding and playing the odds correctly means that if you play them correctly, you will be a winning player in the long run... but on a hand by hand basis, you will endure your share of bad beats. Remember that even a broken clock is right 2x a day so someone who likes to limp in every hand will get a monster hand every now and then by long term, will be a losing player.

Books and videos are useful in that it helps you determine what the best plays are in different situations based on hole cards, betting patterns, hole cards, opponent player type, etc. It will help you develop a good strategy so that you may even know what you will do on the next street or two as the scenario evolves.

Understanding psychology helps you determine range of cards that someone could be playing and you adjust your play accordingly. Understanding your own psychological state (self awareness) helps you determine whether you have your “A” game or whether you are on tilt. Knowing when to stop is as much a part of a winning strategy as it is to play well.

So yes, playing more hands is key to success. But study in between will help you sharpen strategy and become a better player in the long term. I’m not there yet but in the balance of play and study, I am already seeing myself becoming a better player.
 
BoyNamedSude

BoyNamedSude

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I could easily take back my "always" and appreciate that there is some basic level of comparative evaluation or "range" as you put it, of players, and in hand strength. but when you reach the highest level of play..."Guru Level", you will forgo the addition and look inside the mind of each player... and see the whole picture...
Math will not let you do several key things...
1. spot a bluff... on any table with 9 or more...someone will be in a pot on a bluff... once more than 3 players are in...
2. Play Spoiler... If i see 3 guys call the BB, and I have something offish like 67 or 78, or even 34... i may call also, once my stack is saying its ok to do so... just in case low cards come... AND
if low cards come on the flop, and dudes have high cards, a good raise will win the hand... There is math for that... but not your math... its called odds...
3. Play fast. Doing math and running programs to give you direction takes a lot of time, and you lose focus on the people on the table.
4. Think critically... Doing math and making a decision stops you from using other parts of your brain which are more valuable in personaal interactions...which poker is.
 
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nameless1537

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I could easily take back my "always" and appreciate that there is some basic level of comparative evaluation or "range" as you put it, of players, and in hand strength. but when you reach the highest level of play..."Guru Level", you will forgo the addition and look inside the mind of each player... and see the whole picture...
Math will not let you do several key things...
1. spot a bluff... on any table with 9 or more...someone will be in a pot on a bluff... once more than 3 players are in...
2. Play Spoiler... If i see 3 guys call the BB, and I have something offish like 67 or 78, or even 34... i may call also, once my stack is saying its ok to do so... just in case low cards come... AND
if low cards come on the flop, and dudes have high cards, a good raise will win the hand... There is math for that... but not your math... its called odds...
3. Play fast. Doing math and running programs to give you direction takes a lot of time, and you lose focus on the people on the table.
4. Think critically... Doing math and making a decision stops you from using other parts of your brain which are more valuable in personaal interactions...which poker is.
(1) It's true, math by itself will not help you spot bluffs, but this is why I also include player psychology as part of the equation too. The betting story will help you determine bluffs. I've posted hands for analysis and realized that people do try to determine what you have based on the story you tell based on your betting patterns.

(2) odds is still math. And the kind of math I'm talking about is a lot about odds. ;) Understanding probability is a branch of mathematics in itself (as much as I am a mental health professional, I also have an undergraduate math degree and I studied probability, combinatorics, etc too). Understanding how to use pot odds and implied odds is still math and needs to be part of your game if you want to play well.

(3) your original push to play more hands helps you play fast, but how does it do that (along with more study). As Jared Tendler puts it (and it's based on adult learning theory)... more experience helps move knowledge from conscious competence to unconscious competence -- the highest level of knowledge. to make sure you have the best knowledge to move into unconscious competence in the shortest amount of time is more study away from the table... books, videos and hand analysis at sites like these moves the process along way more quickly than if you simply played more without any study (which is what you were advocating earlier). Reading and consuming knowledge means you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Good decisions comes more quickly when you have more of your useful knowledge stored in your unconscious competence (and pushed out the less useful stuff) -- this is what many people call "your gut"

(4) As I said before, the goal of study and playing more is to move your mathematical processing into your unconscious competence in the most efficient way possible. Thought processes when playing hands happens so quickly that you have a lot of things going on in your mind at once, and you make a quick decision based on "feel". When you analyze a prior hand, you take all that stuff that is going through your mind and articulate it later and this is when the critical analysis of your play takes place. This is the process of refining the knowledge you have acquired in your unconscious competence -- the lessons you learn that you apply to future hands. What you are talking about is about mathematical processing happening in conscious competence -- and when that takes up too much of your brainspace, then it interferes with with the stuff you are talking about in your point -- being able to see the bigger picture. As I said before, your goal in poker (and in all areas of life you want to be proficient at) is to move knowledge into unconscious competence -- this is the highest level of knowledge and takes the most amount of time to do. When your mathematical processing takes place in unconscious competence, then you can really focus on playing the present situation while that stuff is computing in the background.

For more information about this, you can also read "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell, that talks about needing 10K repetitions of a skillset before becoming an expert at it. Which does speak to what you wrote about playing more hands, but study is so very important too. As an anecdote... my son plays competitive basketball. If someone didn't come along and correct his shooting form, he could get 1000s of reps in with bad form and not be any better than when he first started. Establishing good habits is key, and that's why study away from the table is important if your goal is to become a proficient poker player.

In short, books do not suck. It's one of many tools that one can use to help develop as a poker player.
 
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