A lot of you will know Sir Isaac ‘the fruit bruiser’ Newton as some clever dude who did a lot of sums back in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. You may have even heard of his three, often misunderstood, laws of motion.The first two were about ….
“stuff moving about, stuff stopping and the forces that makes stuff do stuff like that.”
(Quotation taken from ‘A Brief History of Stuff‘ with the kind permission of the author. It’s a science textbook by Thomas ‘the tank’ Stott, available from all, quite bad, bookshops)
A lot of renowned physicists/educated types/sane people believe the 3rd one was too. They are sadly mistaken. When the bruiser said…
“For every reaction, there is an equal an opposite reaction”
…he was actually talking about poker!
What he meant, was that the sum total of your positive emotions you feel when you win, are countered by the destructive negative emotions you experience when your 9 of a kind on the flop is beaten by runner-runner-runner-runner-runner 10 of a kind by the river.
I’m going to expand upon this 3rd law now, and talk a little about how it can be a good idea to condition yourself to the point whereby poker is a less stressful game. In essence dumbing down the aaayyyaaaarrrrrs when you win to reduce the risk of you jumping out of high windows when you don‘t.
Gambler’s Anonymous has a list of 20 questions that should be answered honestly. Most compulsive gamblers will answer 'yes' to at least seven of the questions. Getting overly angry at a losing poker session or a bad beat will probably make you answer yes to three of those questions right off the bat. Only four more and you may have a serious problem.
How many of you have had a row from your partner or spouse for over-reacting to your poker exploits? How about poker putting you in a bad mood which consequently creates a row over another matter entirely? I think we’re all agreed that this is a bad thing. Anything that can be done to prevent it would be well worth the effort. Man lives not be breed alone, he needs plenty of norkage too.
Infuriation experienced after the wrong card falling, can also accelerate the onset of tilt. Tilt is the major cause of leaks from most players bankroll. I ain’t going to say any more about it, you all know what tilt is, and have been there many times.
The disadvantages to feeling good when you win are perhaps a little less obvious. In live poker, when you win a hand, someone else has lost one. They are going through the opposite of your elation, so out of respect and consideration, it might be an idea to not run a lap of honour around the felt with your t-shirt stretched over your head.
Another argument on why it’s good to de-sensitive yourself from your results is to help you conceal the strength of your hand. Those who wear their hearts on their sleeves are more likely to project some sort of 'tell' to experienced players. If your money card hits or if you’ve been counterfeited, you’d usually prefer to keep this a secret.
Winning is always going to feel good. Some might argue that celebrating is the best part of poker. I would say that it’s possible to dull things up a little, without spoiling your overall enjoyment of the game too much. If cutting down helps you keep the tilt wolf from the door at the other end of the spectrum, then your results will improve. You may dance less, but you’ll get to dance more.
If you want to work on feeling less inclined to shooting bunny wabbits when you’re losing, it might help to also put some effort into reducing the overly enthusiastic fist pumping when you’re winning.
Although very knowledgeable on the subject of Poker Psychology, Sir Isaac ‘the fruit bruiser’ Newton was a very over-rated man. It might be true that by the vigour of his mind almost divine, he demonstrated the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets and the tides of the seas. What good is that to anyone though?
Did he bring us an electric shaver, or flight socks or any kind of useful gizmo whatsoever? No he did not ladies and gentlemen. This is why I’ve a lot more respect for Victor Kiam instead.
Thomas ‘the tank’ Stott