Psychology & ‘kidology’ in poker?
Introduction.
To be a successful poker player requires two things; one to know your own limits and two to know your opponents. Whilst your own Poker playing limits should be innately known to you, you will have to make judgments about your opponent’s limits - judgments that will be influenced by both you as an observer and your opponent by their actions. Of course, at the same time you’re making judgments about your opponent; he or she will be doing exactly the same back at you. So, it can be possible to get caught in an endless ‘Catch-22’ situation, where each of you are trying to judge the others character and abilities - rather than just concentrating on your own game and winning. Subsequently as well as playing a game of cards, you also find yourself playing ‘mind games’ and possibly think you need to figure out the psychology or your opponent.
What is meant by the psychology of Poker?
It is a fact that some people can both read and understand other people’s body language intuitively and others can quickly assimilate and augment that knowledge from books and other learning resources. Poker players often pride themselves on their ability to read other peoples body language in order to judge what their next move, or play, will be. Of course it’s not just an opponents’ body language that could indicate to another player what the other person might do next. A player might detect in an opponent certain predictable behavior(s) in their actual play that always precede a certain action. All of these observable facets are collectively known as the ‘psychology of Poker’.
Which is most important - body language or predictable behavior?
This really is a ‘chicken and egg’ problem, whose answer is really dependant on the person you’re observing. Whilst some players can maintain a highly neutral body language or not play with predictable patterns of behavior - leaving aside highly experienced and professional poker players, who really are in a league of their own in this matter - it is very rare to be playing a game of poker in which at least one of those traits can’t be seen in your opponents. Whilst body language signs might be the easiest to see and read - perspiring under pressure, flushing when successful, fidgeting when not sure etc; looking for predictable patterns of behavior can be more rewarding. Altering your own physiological condition (having a hot drink so your temperature rises) can actually be quite easy to ‘bluff’ someone else with; compared to trying to go against your own mental limits, or put in laymen’s terms - move out of your comfort zone. Also, some people seem to spend that much time trying to ‘psyche’ out their opponent and keep track of their opponents playing behavior that they completely lose all their concentration on their own game - only to wonder why, despite being ‘ice-cool’ themselves and knowing all their opponents moves, they’re still losing!
Psychology or ‘kidology’?
In all honesty I do wonder how big a part the science of psychology plays in a game of Poker? We’ve all heard the expression - “You must be kidding me”. These are familiar words to use when we think someone is ‘having us on’ ‘spoofing’ or even ‘duping’ us. One way or another we’re on our guard against being fooled by something or someone. Poker is often said to be a game of bluff as much as one of skill and chance; so is it fair to say that in a game of Poker it is simply ‘kidology’ at work - rather than psychology? I would say that; as a psychologist needs to spend hours and even months to understand the workings of someone else’s mind - it is almost certain that Poker players are actually just applying a bit of ‘kidology’ in their game.