Poker and Intuition

[Running Nose II]

Intuition: Is the power or ability of grasping a fact or idea without thinking it out. It therefore has no place in poker, where a sound grasp of odds and thinking situations through will stand you in better stead.The reason good poker players are good is that they have put in the hard graft and hours of playing to fine tune their ability to read their opponents in live games.

 

[titiduru]

This is a topic that has been intriguing me for a while...
In het past I have been on spiritual happenings often, and I know out of expierence that intuition and telepathy are no myth, and things that really exist... I know people whom you can give a picture of someone in their hands, being blindfolded, and they are able to tell a lot about that person or what that picture is about, without having a look at it with their eyes. There is also the phenomen of telepathy, where you can "read someone's thoughts". I know when I was a little boy I was able to guess how much fingers my mom was holding (invisibly). It must be said that kids often have a more clear mind, and are not as much influenced by their own thoughts or environment...

Now I was thinking in relation to poker, there are certainly some players that are great at "reading hands" etc, like Daniel Negreanu... Do you think this is what makes him or other players that great and succesful as a poker player? Do you have a strong intuition and have you been able to use it while playing poker (mostly live I guess)? Like knowing the cards of your opponent or if he or she is bluffing or not... I know there are also signs and tells you can interpret on your opponents, however I have less belief in those for helping you, I think it's not always clear what it means (the same with bet-sizes for example), and I guess most good players will make sure they aren't revealing much (in Live games)...

Do you believe in intuition when playing (live) poker? Do you think some players are able or have been to guess opponents cards, or if they are bluffing or example, purely by intuition? Do you think a lot of pros have this and did this bring them to the big successes? I think this would be the perfect tool anyway to become the best poker player in the world . Offcourse even when you do know certain important information, you still have to process and use it in the best way, to get the most profit out of it.

I'm curious to hear other players thoughts about this...

Edit: Sorry I see I spelled "intuition" wrong in the topic title

You mentioned Daniel Negreanu as example, but how many times have you seen Daniel actually acting according to his reads? I haven't seen him doing that too many times, most often he calls his opponent's hand, and than loses money by acting in the exact opposite way. So what he does is making an educated guess, based on his opponent's playing tendencies and the way that particular hand had been played out, but he knows he is just guessing so he does not act on it.

 

[John Bor]

I think that poker and intuition. This inseparable concepts.
Sometimes intuition helps you win, sometimes not doing unnecessary actions.
In fact, some truth in this available, Thus, the question will always be relevant
It is my opinion

 

[EvE2K]

If you play live game, ofcourse intuition is very important. It can be very dangerious weapon against your poker opponents. You need to take attention and watch for other people. You know, sometimes it can help you to make a good decision or to understand when someone are bluffing, or maybe he has a really strong hand. Very important thing in live poker.