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10.13.06
Why
posted by Absinthe | 2:57 AM
I haven’t played much poker in the last two weeks. I haven’t done much of anything, really, owing to a strained muscle that’s caused me discomfort in most positions, agonizing pain in a few, and recently some kind of nasty sinus-drainage thing that is presumably filling up my lungs with something I can’t expel because every time I cough my strained muscle teaches me the meaning of pain.
I went to see a doctor, which was comical in that it was essentially a re-enactment of the old “Doctor, it hurts when I do this” gag. Naturally this made me laugh, which, again, the meaning of pain. But I’m on the mend1 and thinking of diving back into poker again, maybe tackling a mess of SNGs because that’s mostly unexplored territory to me, and I hear there’s good money in ‘em.
While I’ve been away from the tables I’ve been thinking about the importance of self-examination to a poker player – not just a triangulated analysis of your own strengths and weaknesses (“I’m folding hands that are likely good on the turn, I need to commit more often”), but real self-awareness – “I made that play because my head wasn’t really in the game, and I need to know why.”
It’s by examining our own intentions that we learn to divine others’. You have no hope of understanding why your opponent acts in a certain way if you don’t understand the reasons behind your own actions. You can still win, through experience-derived intuition (poker’s version of muscle memory) and luck, but your faith in your skills will be misplaced, which is exactly the sort of self-deception you’re hoping your opponents practice.
Even online, where timing and betting patterns are all you have to go on, you should be building a mental profile of your opponent. From an opponent’s actions you derive intention. From intention you derive motivation. From motivation you derive something as close to a root behavioral cause as you’re likely to get without having to speculatively integrate off into the realms of possibility.
This seems more complex than it is. Pattern recognition is what humans do. We’re built for it. Predator animals’ poor pattern recognition is why prey animals develop complex, seemingly insensible behaviors – playing dead, puffing out their chests, bouncing like a superball. They’re bizarre to us because we’re not fooled by them often enough. A lizard is not a stick and a hedgehog is not a rock, except to someone who can’t see the forest for the trees.
Cutting straight to the first principles of something allows you to quickly separate what’s important from what isn’t; it allows you to focus more on likely consequences. The better you recognize why you do the things you do, the greater the chance you can eliminate mistakes that don’t have anything to do with your game.
You shouldn’t be checkraising on the turn because you’re still angry over being sent to your room twenty years ago for taking a machete to your neighbor’s dog2 or embarrassed at having once been taken to the emergency room because you shoved raisins up your nose3. You should be checkraising on the turn because it’s the right play. You should only ever be doing something because it’s the right play.
You are fallible.4 You’re not going to be able to keep your game and your life from interfering with one another. But if you’re playing against someone with an identical set of technical skills, your ability to compartmentalize may be where you find your edge. In the short run, your goal might be to more accurately determine the areas in which you’re weak5 and devise ways to keep yourself out of those situations you can’t handle profitably.6 But in the long run, you want to eliminate those weaknesses, and learn to exploit your opponents’.
- Yesterday I managed three sit-ups. No pain, no gain. [back]
- This is obviously something that I have never, never done. [back]
- This is less obviously something that I have never done. [back]
- Note that I don’t say “We are fallible.” You would be correct in assuming that a delusional belief in my own infallibility is a significant weakness of mine… or would you? [back]
- “Doctor, it hurts when I do this!” [back]
- “Then don’t do that.” [back]
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Topics: Poker | 4 Comments »
October 13, 2006 at 4:04 AM
Great post!
October 13, 2006 at 6:50 AM
didn’t i have a tiny piece of you in the main event? what the hell ever happened with that, damnit?
just curious.
October 13, 2006 at 9:55 AM
Um, I transferred your money back plus profits via Stars cashier nearly two months ago?
October 17, 2006 at 7:29 AM
Great post! Thanks!