Poker in Emotion
With so much time devoted to improving the mental game of poker by professionals, many people have suggested recently that fun is something we need to retain as a priority. But how much emotion is right in poker?
From celebrating winning a hand to performing at a peak level, emotion has always been one of the variations in poker. Some players are an open book, enjoying every hand on an emotional level. Others are closed books, only cracking a smile at the finish line, whenever it may arrive.
We took time out from the intensity of the closing stages of the Opening Event here at 888Poker's London Live festival to ask a few of our players which emotions are good in poker or whether they try to leave them at the registration desk.
Andy Wool: Poker is a game best played without emotion, feelings or bias. Although it's something I work hard at I'm naturally an excitable, outgoing guy, and poker is such a great game it's pretty easy to get excited by it - I guess that's what I love about it.
Arron Fletcher: I’m an emotional guy, but it’s a flaw in poker. I wouldn’t advocate it. I work on it a lot. I'm into the mental side of the game because I need to be.
So, should a player try to strip away the weakness of betraying emotions when playing poker? It would certainly help with bad beats. This reporter once filmed a television pilot for a series about players who lived in a house where all the players were online poker professionals.
It was noticeable how one player who had built up an incredible resistance to taking bad beats emotionally dealt with the business end of tournaments so much better than the others. Is a temperament that is without emotion one of the biggest skills a poker player can develop?
AF: I have many weaknesses in poker and work hard on improving them. You can train your brain to do anything, I definitely believe that.
Charles Chattha: I took a break after having a really bad Vegas. My mind wasn’t on the game. I let a few past events dwell on my mind, but I needed to take time out.
Time away from poker certainly helps the management of emotion, but whether the excitement and passion associated with poker will ever truly be removed from gameplay is doubtful.
AW: One of the most emotional tournaments I played in was a one €1,000 buy-in [taking place in] Cannes. I enjoyed every second, played with some top pros and even got some airtime on the stream. On the flip side of the emotional scale, there's nothing worse than the short sharp stab an ace on the river can provide in a big pot deep in a big multi-table tournament.
However much a bad beat can hurt, or how exhilarating it can be to win a vital pot in dramatic fashion, keeping control of your own emotions at the table is +EV. The greatest poker players would agree. Calmly.