To be good at poker "psychology" - to effectively predict your opponent's likely thought processes - there is no need to take a seminar on Card Games and their Relation to the Unconscious. Your opponent is not your patient, and even if he/she is, no matter how well you apply Jacques Lacan to their neurosis, you are still not guaranteed to win.
When thinking of poker, one would think of it as a game of strategy rather than one of psychoanalysis. Strategy is only one of the components of winning play, however. Getting into your opponent's head is the essence of smart play. This does not mean that you must suffer while he goes over the details of his life story ad nauseum.
Outstanding players, like outstanding artists, don't get that way from reading a manual. They progress intuitively, summoning their powers of observation, diligently practiced and enhanced over a period of many years.
You have probably noticed a dearth of technical manuals dealing with the psychology of poker. That brings us right to the crux of this issue. Whatever tips and advice may be out there for you to read up on, you cannot put them to practical use without your own sense of intuition that is achieved by putting your own thought processes to work beyond the grasp of your opponent.
If everyone played according to strict principles, the games would be no different than relatively complex computer simulations and prediction would be relatively simple, depending on the number of variables. This is in fact more or less how novices and people without much gift for games generally play, and it is why they generally loose more than they win.
Such schematics are disdained by the professional player, who makes their own observations regarding others methods of play as well as their own. Using their well-developed intuition, they take those observations and mix them into principles according to their own thought processes. This results in a strategy known only to themselves. The most talented players use these complex (or deceptively simple) secret strategies to make them less vulnerable than their opponents.
Artists and good poker players do not reveal their secrets. They may give advice or even write books on their art, but they will never reveal what really sets them apart. Remember this, they did not achieve their lofty peaks by relying on someone else's tips.
It would seem that the most vital element in becoming a master artist in any genre is commitment to study and practice to develop one's own observational skills and imagination by engaging in the activity in which you want to become great. In this way you will be independent in your thoughts and actions and master the ability to do your thing in a way that is uniquely your own. Only you are privy to the minute details of your "thing."
By far the best bluffers of the game are those who do it with regularity in a manner that prohibits anyone at the table from deciphering the bluff. This requires a strong intuition developed by lots of practice and known only to them.
You will have to work hard to develop your unique manner of play. Even more difficult though is to have the courage and independence to use your carefully developed imagination in successful ways while sometimes appearing idiotic. This personal quirk will lead to a spirit of discovery and innovation that will set you ahead of the pack.
One could now proceed to elaborate on the processes of intuition, or suggest where to start or what not to neglect, but even that would be too much. Everyone is blessed with intuition; not everyone has the drive to aggressively hone and use it. If the results of your unique intuition are to be unique, you had better start on your own.
What I have written about here calls for a lifetime commitment. Nobody who was ever considered a master at his craft, whatever that may be, was given that title. They worked long and hard and on their own and they earned it.
When thinking of poker, one would think of it as a game of strategy rather than one of psychoanalysis. Strategy is only one of the components of winning play, however. Getting into your opponent's head is the essence of smart play. This does not mean that you must suffer while he goes over the details of his life story ad nauseum.
Outstanding players, like outstanding artists, don't get that way from reading a manual. They progress intuitively, summoning their powers of observation, diligently practiced and enhanced over a period of many years.
You have probably noticed a dearth of technical manuals dealing with the psychology of poker. That brings us right to the crux of this issue. Whatever tips and advice may be out there for you to read up on, you cannot put them to practical use without your own sense of intuition that is achieved by putting your own thought processes to work beyond the grasp of your opponent.
If everyone played according to strict principles, the games would be no different than relatively complex computer simulations and prediction would be relatively simple, depending on the number of variables. This is in fact more or less how novices and people without much gift for games generally play, and it is why they generally loose more than they win.
Such schematics are disdained by the professional player, who makes their own observations regarding others methods of play as well as their own. Using their well-developed intuition, they take those observations and mix them into principles according to their own thought processes. This results in a strategy known only to themselves. The most talented players use these complex (or deceptively simple) secret strategies to make them less vulnerable than their opponents.
Artists and good poker players do not reveal their secrets. They may give advice or even write books on their art, but they will never reveal what really sets them apart. Remember this, they did not achieve their lofty peaks by relying on someone else's tips.
It would seem that the most vital element in becoming a master artist in any genre is commitment to study and practice to develop one's own observational skills and imagination by engaging in the activity in which you want to become great. In this way you will be independent in your thoughts and actions and master the ability to do your thing in a way that is uniquely your own. Only you are privy to the minute details of your "thing."
By far the best bluffers of the game are those who do it with regularity in a manner that prohibits anyone at the table from deciphering the bluff. This requires a strong intuition developed by lots of practice and known only to them.
You will have to work hard to develop your unique manner of play. Even more difficult though is to have the courage and independence to use your carefully developed imagination in successful ways while sometimes appearing idiotic. This personal quirk will lead to a spirit of discovery and innovation that will set you ahead of the pack.
One could now proceed to elaborate on the processes of intuition, or suggest where to start or what not to neglect, but even that would be too much. Everyone is blessed with intuition; not everyone has the drive to aggressively hone and use it. If the results of your unique intuition are to be unique, you had better start on your own.
What I have written about here calls for a lifetime commitment. Nobody who was ever considered a master at his craft, whatever that may be, was given that title. They worked long and hard and on their own and they earned it.
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