How Egonomics and The Youniverse Can Inform Neuroeconomics

Does money play a role in Poker? This seems so obvious, why even ask the question? But, for some, the thrill is in the doing — not in the having. All the energy drinks in the world can't produce the rush of catching a one outter on the river. Just ask Corey Zeidman.

Do we really have only one goal in mind: to kick ass. You have to also be asking yourself this one question all the time --‘What is the right thing to do next in my game?"

An Aggressive game is a game of strategy and deception. A passive game is one where money flows from bad to good players. A loose game is a game of money and odds; a tight one is a battle for the antes...and then there are just crazy delicious games.....

It's A Beautiful Day For A Night of Poker

Crazy Delicious NLH poker is not a "A-ha" experience, it is more of a "holy-shit" experience. Most playahs are experience rich and technique poor. Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. Someday, this post will start to read like one long typographical error, and you come away thinking, “From now on, I'll connect the dots my own way”.

License To Thrill-Pure GENEius

Early windfall in your poker career— can be pathological—The neurological high---doing something dangerous and still survive, is thrill seeking; but risk taking is different, the part that craves the excitement—D4DR is the thrill seeking gene. A lot of risk tolerance is genetic. and it's very hard to unlearn an inate lesson.

Nothing fails like success, after all, how many back-to-back champions do we really know of? You simply can’t rely on early successes in gambling; it instills false confidence. If your game is not broken, break it...before someone else does.

The pain and pleasure of "Maybe" and "Getting It Over With"-WILDING
Going for broke and the threat of it is so much a part of No-Limit Holdem. Going "ALL-In" is more poetic than crunching number and calculating pot odds.

Witness Ashley Revell, the poster boy for thrill gambling. I like to call Ashley's style WILDING. In 2004, he sold all of his possessions including his clothes and placed a double or nothing bet of $135,300—all of his money—on one spin of the roulette wheel. Choosing red, he came away with $270,600. After seeing this video, you might regard "Double or Nothing" risk strategy as a benign thing. The fear of losing money,however, often trumps the desire to make money in poker. Minimizing risks rather than maximizing returns is actually a style of play to fail in poker. You can't play a safe-tight-is-right game, and wait for the deck to hit you. Too much respect for money makes you a bad NLH player. Yet so does wilding.

It’s desire to not lose money that is at the heart of risk behavior. Poker players are actually loss averse.



Make The Right Mistakes

Doing things right the first time, however is an obsenity. We learn very little from the things we do right. We learn a lot from the things they do wrong. Making mistakes will help you refine your ability to more effectively calculate risks.

If you are a good player and you get it in good, bad players are going to draw out on you more than your hands are going to hold up because they are more often than not putting their money in with the worst of it.. Shuffle up and deal with it.

Extraverts are more susceptible to taking excessive risk ("greed" and overconfidence) Neurotics are more likely to irrationally avoid risk (sensitive to "fear")

Egonomics and neuroeconomics
Managing our own ability—separate emotions from the experience— Emotional leverage—it’s informative and natural, but it can’t grab the wheel and drive the bus---Our healthy ego should remain stable and strong n the face of setbacks and failures---That is why we hold onto losers too long, and cut our winners short. It’s purely emotional decision making, Great poker players lay down great hands—you have to learn how to love lose. The winning is the easy part, any one can do that. Getting out of a position, “being stuck” with QQ , when you just know this guy is playing Ace Rag, as opposing to holding them too long is cognitive reframing.

Why do we play this way? because we can’t admit failure-egonomics- Learning to take the loss early and apply it to another hand. That frame of reference is essential---introjections, self statements we say---conversations we say—If I lose I am a loser. Separate yourself from the lose. You are not your mistakes. You are never now how you have been. Allow yourself to recognize that you’re going to have these scary moments, and lots of chip swings in cash games.


A smart poker player, however, doesn’t have to be world class—just be better than the people he is playing against. It's his YOUniverse, and his opponets just live in it. Unfortunately, this is where the analogy ends. In the real world, there are no special tables for beginners, hobbyists, and suckers. There is just one table, and, every time you sit down at it, you will be competing against the best players in the world, the best trained, most well-informed out there.

If you sit down at a poker table at which you are better than six of the nine players, do you think the best two players, the ones who are better than all nine of you, are happy or sad that you showed up? Happy. Your playing just means more money for them to win.


Risk perception, appetite-goals and personality . We are really lose averse than risk averse— we take greater risks if we are down, losing money than if they were up—knee jerk double down stuff.. So how you frame your day at the table, where you mentally classify yourself as having either won in the W column or L, lost column is how you will approach risk.

Personal risk perception, and risk tolerance. When it comes to risk tolerance---how much emotional and psychological pain can you take. We like to function much below our risk tolerance. The risk of any NLHat an game on "any given sunday" is stable or assessable. Perception of the risk can fluctuate according to your whim, bias, and environment, and environment does create mood! Letting your emotions cloud your jedgement--euphoria or despair is the in to your sane game.

Poker rewards aggression . Poker also rewards infinite patience. Don't fret when you lose money, have patience. Find that comfortable balance between aggression and patience, between risk and security.

Our level of greed and the need for speed (rush,bluffing off/maniac with chips) is increased when one or more of the following conditions is met:

Your buddies just won a ton of cash, owning the table.

Comparison with others who are successful "Your dopamine system plays off my dopamine system,")
Learning of a large potential payoff.

Learning of a high probability ("almost certain") payoff from a school of fish

Expecting a quick payoff.

Wanting badly to make money.

Our level of fear (hemorrhaging/bleeding chips)is increased when one or more of the following conditions is met:

A losing streak.

Being around low vibrational people, stories and situations.

The possibility of a dramatic negative event in RL (Real Life)(E.g., bankruptcy, accounting scandal,job, marriage break up, death.

Low probability threats are overweighted if they are dramatic or potentially catastrophic.

Expecting to lose soon.

Having a prior negative experience with similar players or casinos.

A Recent bad beat or suckout by a donkey.

Hotel @nyware- The dawning age of ubiquitous poker playing.

Egonomics Neuroeconomics Risk averse lose averse behavioral finance Ashley Revell