|
|
 |
|
|
|
Attitudes of Success
Power Poker Psychology
by James A McKenna, Ph. D.
Winners know that baseball, as with slots, roulette, other casino games, and yes, even poker are essentially games of failure! For example, Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams are familiar names in baseball. Each had incredible single-season batting averages: Hornsby’s best was in 1924 with an average of .424 and Williams’ best was .406 in 1941. That means that the best-of-the-best could only get a hit a little better than four out of every ten times at bat. Today, a really good batting average would be three out of ten hits (or a .300 batting average). No one has ever officially hit .500 in this game. Yet in baseball winning three out of ten “pots” is considered great.
Good blackjack players know that they can ordinarily expect to win 4 hands out of 10 hands. The house has the edge against all but the best players. However, skill, experience, and the right attitudes can improve your batting (or betting) average and increase the amount of enjoyment you get from playing.
1. Accept responsibility for how you play. Life and bad hands happen to losers! However, a winner will seek solutions and learn something from his mistakes. A winner takes these losses in daily stride and moves on. A loser prefers to blame the world, the dealer, or the guy across the table. Just as some people wait for success to come to them, others will sit, lose, and complain. They fail to say “no” to losing.
2. Know that it’s okay to lose. Losers hide it, lie to others as well as themselves about their losses, and keep playing to make up their deficits: attitudes of defeat that are all too often self- fulfilling. Winners accept the realities of the game and play accordingly.
3. Set reasonable expectations. Recognize that losing is as much a part of the game as winning. Losers seem to gauge their worth by how close to perfect they are. A loser seldom settles for 4 out of ten wins while winners are happy with decent betting averages.
4. Refuse to play catch-up. This is a loser’s favorite game to play. They lose and keep playing, hoping to win back their losses. Players who play what they can afford and stop when they reach that limit are being responsible. True, both may be losing at the time but a winner knows when to stop, conserving his capital for another session or another day. Losers generally feel shame, guilt, anger, and remorse, throwing caution and judgment to the winds. Responsible players may be disappointed but understand the vagaries of the game and will monitor themselves. There is, however, a difference between the players who stay when losing because they have an hourly average win rate. They know that a bad run can change and allow them to recoup. Losers, though, seem to enjoy an unspecified hourly loss rate.
5. Choose to make things happen. There are players who watch things happen, players who make things happen, and then there are players who say, “What happened?” In a typical 7-card stud game, it’s not unusual to hear the lament, “You took my card!” It’s often a high card and, if the complainer would have raised, he or she may have gotten the player to fold before he or she got the desired card. Letting things happen or not knowing what’s happening are attitudes that add to the game of failure. Making things happen, paying attention to cards that are played, and playing the odds are attitudes that increase your batting average and enjoyment at the tables.
Back to Wisdom | More James McKenna Columns | Mail this Article to a Friend
|
|
|
|
|
© 1977 - 2004 Gambling Times Inc. & Green Room Media Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
|
|
