In Poker: It’s Just Emotion That’s Taking Me Over

An emotional team wins the impossible medal!

“Caught up in sorrow, lost in the song.”

These are the words of those immortal poker players – uhhhh, musical group, the Bee Gees. But they have a strong poker point that they are making. Emotion is no good in poker.

A moment as Faldo returns to the confessional. Anyone who has been involved in Faldo’s athletic endeavors in any way, shape or form – has seen Faldo used emotion to motivate himself to do well. Having not been blessed with God-given athletic ability or size, emotion was used (anger, fear and pride mostly) to motivate Faldo to do things Faldo didn’t think Faldo could do in the first place. Playing at a level you don’t really think you belong to be playing at does that to you.

Obviously, Faldo’s whole premise was flawed because Faldo did achieve some athletic achievements, so the ability was there in the first place. But Faldo digresses. The point is, in Faldo’s younger days playing sports and yes, even golf in later years – emotion was used as the motivator to do well. And Faldo ignorantly believed that it did make him perform better. And the fact that it was an illusion was not easy to see. A few times, in athletics, if talent is close, emotion works. A few times anyway.

But when you use emotion in poker, the illusion that it helps disintegrates faster than a beach sand castle hit with a tidal wave.

It is essential to remove emotion from all your poker decisions. Getting negatively emotional on any level will only cloud your judgment and make you think of things that have no bearing on poker outcomes.

Anger will make you strike back at the dealer, card deck or opponents that ‘have done you wrong’. Well, two of the three don’t care and will not be affected at all. And being mad at your opponent will only make them defensive and therefore have their guard up for you. In other words, they will play better against you. Is that what you want?

Frustration will make you act rashly and push decisions and hands that you normally would not do. It’s ok to do it as a planned strategy in a given situation, but ‘tilt’ decisions are rarely successful.

Being depressed is the wrong mindset at the poker table. You will either tighten up to the point you lose value on the hands you do hit, or you will desensitize yourself to losses and the value of your chips. Kind of like a Democrat with tax dollars. This is the sure road to Broke-ville.

Fear of players will cause you to avoid confrontations and miss value bets and profitable raises. Seeing ‘ghosts’ like “that guy always has a hand against me” or “they always hit (the turn, river) on me” or “I never hit”, will shrink your stack.

Pride always comes before the fall. Ego has no place in poker, contrary to the TV images you see. Remember, that is TV! The people making steady money at the card tables are the quiet ones you never even notice. The exception is that you may remember fondly “that person was fun to be around.” Sure, they are nice. They have your money.

To a lesser extent, happiness, pity or nervousness can also hurt you. Being on a roll will sometimes cause a tilt of “I am unbeatable” and cause a leak of profit.

Pity of a particular opponent may seem nice on the surface. But so, you ‘give’ some chips away to them, only to see your tough opponent win them two hands later. Good thinkin’.

Nervousness you should grow out of over time. So, if you know you are going to be nervous be sure to start play rested and in a good frame of mind. Then, get over it and play some cards! They get the same cards you do and if you practice what Faldo is preaching, they will be emotional cripples compared to you!

So, never play when you know you are in an emotional state. Or acknowledge your emotion and dismiss it as the anchor to your game that it is – and drop it! And if you can’t drop it, stop playing and go chill out.

Poker is an emotional roller coaster, but you don’t have to ride the big ride if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.

Yes Faldo, Faldo is talking to you!