The Psychology of Poker & How To Use It to Your Advantage

Employing elements of skill, strategy, risk management, and tactical play, poker is truly one of the most intricate card games of all time. However, a perhaps underrated but incredibly important aspect is the psychology of poker — or how the mind of the player influences the behaviour and choices at the table. In other words, the game must first be mastered in the mind, and today we’ll explain how it’s done.

Why Is Psychology Important in Poker?

The inherent complexity of poker has led to industry experts and the most skilled players putting forward multiple approaches to winning the game. Some focus extensively on the logical side, on various strategies, mastering positions, or remembering the hand hierarchy.

However, even the most ruthless and calculating of players will have an emotional world buried underneath the surface that can be read and exploited to gain the upper hand. And that’s precisely why the psychology of poker is so important, as it aims to demystify what goes on beyond the rational thinking and cognition of the game.

Simultaneously, as you’ll be holding the cards close to your chest, there will also be an inner game happening. Just like in chess, you’ll have to become good at predicting all tactical moves of the other participants, understand emotions without letting them govern you, and see right through the bluffing.

There are no shortcuts to winning at poker, though; it’s all about playing the long game. How you fare in terms of attitude, discipline, competitive spirit, stress resistance, and swift decision-making can make you a fearful opponent or your own worst enemy.

Below, we break down the most important aspects involved in poker psychology.

Self-Awareness

Beating yourself up over tiny mistakes or, on the contrary, overvaluing your skills and experience levels, can backfire and lead to losses. Not to mention, a keen reader of body language will be able to spot the truth from a mile away, especially if your insecurities give you away. Beginners who are just learning how to play poker often fall prey to this error.

As such, it’s essential to first be able to evaluate yourself objectively: ask yourself what your strengths and weaknesses are, and look beyond surface-level flaws, like an incorrect early play or raising at the wrong moment. A winning player understands there’s always room for improvement and manages to leave their ego at the door. At the same time, they also analyse their own reactions in a calculated fashion.

Deep Understanding of Emotions & Self-Control

We’d never negate the importance of honing skills or choosing the right poker table and variation. It’s enough to look at the biggest players of all time to quickly note that almost all of them specialised in a particular game type, be that high-stakes poker or Caribbean stud poker. Finding your niche first is always a smart idea.

However, the psychology of poker places even more emphasis on self-control. You must look inward and understand how your own emotions affect your judgement and the way you play. For example, in theory, it doesn’t matter whether you know you shouldn’t exceed your bankroll if you still do it in the heat of the moment. The same goes for knowing you shouldn’t tilt, and then doing it anyway.

Simultaneously, you must be aware that your opponents are likely to be in the same boat, even if they hide it well, because not even the pros are immune to emotion. The better you get at understanding the other participants’ thoughts, the more likely you are to also read their cards.

It’s therefore paramount to mention that any “tells” adversaries show consciously or unconsciously should be taken with a grain of salt. They’re mere indications, not absolutes, and some pros can well and truly deceive you. For instance, twitches, micro expressions, and sudden pallor are much harder to fake, so they most definitely signal uncertainty or a weak hand.

The opposite is also true. Confident mannerisms, strong posture, movement, and gestures can either indicate a strong hand or a conscious effort to bluff. Other telltale signs of bluffing are verbal cues — it’s wise to be suspicious of a player who proudly boasts about the strength of their hand, as they are likely to be deceiving you.

Practical displays such as changes in bet size can also be instrumental in figuring out the adversary’s intentions. If they use large bets suddenly, they may have a strong hand, while a small bet can show a weak hand or an attempt to get you to call. Any deviations in bet size may also signify that the strength of the hand has changed.

Finally, timing and strength in decision-making can also speak volumes about the other participants. Fast actions may show strong hands and determined players, whereas hesitant ones taking longer pauses are either uncertain or have a weaker hand.

Playing the Long Game

Next on our list is discipline, which undoubtedly separates the beginners from the pros. As we’ve mentioned, in poker, you must play the long game. It’s also why we compared it to chess, because you'll need to set the groundwork and build your plays minutes before you act. Once you have a solid strategy set in place and a bankroll limit, stick to both to a tee, and never deviate — no matter what occurs in the game.

On top of this, you must also have the discipline to know when to walk away — experts recommend spending as much time at the poker table as you can play optimally. If you spot hints of deterioration, such as making obvious mistakes over and over, increased fatigue or poor results, it’s much better to start afresh another day.

Decision-Making

A study published in 2011 that analysed the decision-making and thought processes among poker players has proven that there are massive differences between how players act depending on skill level. These findings definitely explain more about the psychology of poker and can help you significantly on your next session.

In short, the study involved expert, intermediate, and novice poker players, who were put through a computer simulation of 60 No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em hands and were asked to “think out loud” through each hand. Experts processed more thoughts than intermediate players, while both experts and intermediaries picked up on situational cues where beginners failed to do so. Instead, the latter focused on the poker basics or irrelevant cues.

Decision-making is extremely important, and it’s on par with discipline, as the two are closely entangled. At the very least, you should keep in mind that you should only play aggressively when you have reasonable odds to get the pot, or not to tilt at the slightest loss. At the same time, situational analysis should be your forte.

For example, if you see another player get caught bluffing, you can observe what they did, what their mistakes were, and how to avoid them for a more favourable outcome. In these instances, it’s highly likely that they gave off some hints of bluffing beforehand, which anyone versed in poker psychology would be able to pick up on, while the other participants are left in the dark.

We’re not saying you should be a mind-reader here, but gathering data and constantly adapting to new situations and picking up on cues will help you in the long run. Anticipation is just as important as action, similarly to how a football or baseball player analyses the pitch in preparation for the next move before the ball is even thrown.

In poker, the key to winning is predicting the opponent’s next moves based on the nonverbal cues they display. Understanding of positions is also crucial here, because it’s much harder to have a favourable outcome when you’re the first to act and therefore, have no information about the other participants.

However, still be on guard, because the others — particularly those in middle and late positions — will definitely analyse you, so you'll want to control your reactions and give them as little as possible to go off on.

The Main Poker Playing Styles & How To Spot Them

Depending on your risk tolerance and personality, you might resonate more with a particular poker-playing style over another. In addition, the most skilled gamblers at the table might be able to pick up on your style from a mile away, maybe even from the first hands, and prepare in advance for your next moves.

The main types of characterisations coined by poker experts are tight and loose play styles. A tight poker player only utilises a small number of the best cards available, while a loose poker player uses a wide and diverse range of cards.

Another distinction you should remember pertains to how the player moves at the table, namely passive or aggressive. Usually, aggressive players resort to more bluffing overall, so they’re very likely to bet with subpar hands. On the contrary, passive players are more cautious; some might not even bet with their best hand, and instead check or call.

Based on these distinctions, several hybrid or combination playing styles have emerged as well:

• Tight Passive — Also known as the “Nit” or “Rock” poker style, this refers to a typology that rarely plays any hands; instead sitting at the table and mainly observing. You can think of them as the most conservative of all participants. They usually only play a narrow range of hands and may fold pre-flop in anticipation of a perfect hand. Because they have low-risk tolerance, even if they get a good hand, they might simply check or call. It’s quite easy to steal the pot from them, especially if you have a more aggressive approach. They are also not likely to initiate big bluffs.
• Tight Aggressive — The TAG is the typology of the professional poker player and the hardest to defeat at the table. They have a strategic and selective approach, usually only playing the best starting hands. You may even find them making some bluffs before the pot. They don’t mind waiting patiently for the right hand and, when they get it, they will bet or raise aggressively. It’s why the TAGs are also called “Sharks”, because, like this fierce predator, they circle around the pot until they get the perfect opportunity to strike.
• Loose Passive — You may also find this style under the name “Calling Station” and it’s usually how beginners act at the table. Generally, they play many hands, limp into several pots, and they rarely risk or get aggressive. They’d rather sit on the side and watch others get down to business, while they only call repeatedly when it’s their turn to act. These are incredibly easy to spot and defeat by the more skilled adversaries. To defeat them, bet for value when you have a strong hand and don’t bother bluffing against them.
• Loose Aggressive —The most famous LAG of all is actually a Danish professional poker player by the name of Gus Hansen, who popularised this style in order to put increased pressure on opponents in organised tournaments. Loose aggressive players are incredibly hard to read because they play a wide range of hands. In fact, most open with more than 30% of all hands and play aggressively on the flop, turn, and river. It’s a challenging style to maintain long-term because you could be making mistakes if you can’t handle the pressure, but it’s also more profitable than the tight-aggressive.

Why It’s Important To Understand Your Personality & Style in Poker

Maria Konnikova is one of the best-known professional poker players in the world, amassing an impressive $500,000 in total career earnings. We’re bringing her into discussion here because, by her own admission, she has learned more about people playing poker than while getting a PhD in psychology.

She’s further mentioned that our true personality emerges in high-pressure, high-uncertainty situations, such as a poker tournament, where we’re forced to think hard and make difficult decisions. This state of increased stress reveals how we are at our core, our strengths and weaknesses, how we evaluate risks, and how we react to wins and losses.

In poker, emotions can get in the way of decision-making, but only if players take things personally or don’t practise patience. In this regard, the game can be a lesson in control and handling the unexpected.

While poker has some moments of certainty, like when you know you hold the best hand, in most situations, you’ll be stepping into the unknown. Innate or acquired personality factors such as ego and risk-adversity will dictate your response to the various situations that may arise when playing online poker.

You must make decisions based on a limited amount of data. Beginners sometimes fail because they go with their gut instinct or intuition, leading to bold moves; while pros exercise caution and know how to handle themselves in risky situations. As such, poker success is influenced and even determined by a variety of personality factors, in addition to pure knowledge of the game and acquired experience.

And we could go even further on the topic of poker and the psychology of uncertainty. A paper published in 2014 in the Journal of Gambling Studies has broken down the emotional and social factors, and how they influence poker decision-making accuracy.

When subjects were primed with different negative emotions, such as anger, or their movements were tracked by a pair of human eyes to induce performance anxiety, there was a clear reduction in the mathematical accuracy of some of their poker decisions.

Interestingly enough, despite these changes in social variables or emotions, experienced players still made mathematically-sound moves, while inexperienced ones folded under the pressure.

What Makes a Good Poker Player? Key Scientific Findings

Another study published in the Journal of Gambling Issues in 2015 sought to find the defining characteristics of good poker players, and how they compare against the general population. It was the first paper of its kind, and it also tried to track the differences between skilled poker players and regular players, plus what other factors contribute to playing skill. For this purpose, they used a sample of 100 undergraduate students and community members.

Several aspects that have strong correlations with poker success were also considered, such as demographics, experience, intelligence/social skills, personality, and risk taking.

Evidence showed that all good poker players were likely to be male, not believe in/be susceptible to gambling fallacies, have a high tolerance for financial risk, and above-average social information processing skills, among other traits.

Furthermore, according to the study, for long-term poker success, it’s more important for players to fare well in all categories, instead of being exceptional in just one or two of them.

Why You Should Never Tilt in Poker

We can’t grasp the intricacies of poker psychology without talking about tilting. This is a highly unpleasant psychological phenomenon that can occur with beginners in particular, but also with anyone who has inadequate impulse control.

Tilting describes an unstable mental and emotional state, characterised by confusion and frustration. If it’s not managed properly, players can act irrationally, either adopting suboptimal strategies or becoming overly aggressive.

As you’ve probably gathered, you should never tilt or, if you do, you should do your best to handle the situation calmly. If you don’t, you could risk major financial losses, being overcome by negative emotions and, in extreme cases, even experience a complete avoidance of the game in the future.

Depending on the situation, you may inadvertently or intentionally place an opponent on tilt, or become a victim to this state yourself, especially if you’ve run into a streak of bad luck.

The important aspect is to handle it efficiently in order to avoid bankroll depletion and psychological distress. Tilting is also prevalent in other organised competitions, like chess and esports.

What Causes Poker Tilt & the Core Tilt Triggers To Avoid

The main cause of tilting is losing a poker game, because it causes an instant ego bruise, particularly if the player is defeated on a public scene, such as a tournament.

This can be perceived as deeply humiliating, especially by more experienced players who have high expectations placed on themselves. The inadequacy can cloud your judgment, that then causes a vicious cycle, which could see you getting stuck making self-sabotaging decisions on your next hands.

Another frequent cause of tilting is other players, who may not practise proper game etiquette and display poor manners. This can once again make you accumulate feelings of frustration. If they’re not kept under check, they can boil over into full-on tilting.

The Main Types of Poker Tilt

In poker, tilt usually manifests in an explosive or self-destructive fashion, depending on the exact range of emotions that triggered it. Here are some common examples:

Steam Tilt

This is an anger-based tilt and the most dangerous of all, because it literally comes across as a full-on meltdown. It’s the hardest to overcome, given that these intense emotions can make the player lose control and not make logical choices. They may bet or raise with no discernment in hopes of recovering a loss, which can unfortunately lead to even more losses along the way.

Many players continue to bet until they exhaust the entire bankroll, and they leave the table even more defeated. Very rarely do they get a lucky break, so the tilt marks the beginning of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you find yourself in this situation, we urge you to take the advice of one of the world’s biggest poker players, Daniel Negreanu — “vent your frustration internally”. According to him, you shouldn’t deny the emotion. Instead, let yourself feel it, but only on the inside, then let go, release it, take yourself back to the present moment, and re-evaluate your poker strategy for the future.

Injustice Tilt

In this situation, the player gathers a sense of injustice from the outcome of a hand or an entire game. For example, the player could have a losing streak and be left with the feeling that they were entitled to winning the pot.

There can be a lot of bargaining in the mind of the player, such as “if only I hadn’t been dealt X card, I would’ve been at the showdown”. The important thing here is to restore calmness and understand you’ve done everything you could with the hands you were dealt.

Winner’s Tilt

This one is a bit of an exception because, as opposed to the others, it’s triggered by a positive, rather than a negative, emotion. Even so, winners can sometimes be overwhelmed by their own success and become arrogant and careless.

Once they start feeling invincible, they may play too aggressively or invest too much money. If this euphoric player starts losing all of a sudden, they could develop immense frustration. To resolve this, remember our previous point: a good poker player also knows when to leave the table to “lock” their earnings, and always keep their ego in check.

Mistake Tilt

Unfortunately, if you’re a pro, this could turn out to be the bane of your existence, because there’s a higher chance you’ll beat yourself up for mistakes. This tilt can leave one feeling hopeless, because they knowingly made a mistake by being inattentive or missing their cue to act.

Sadly, this can lead to blaming oneself for having missed a valuable shot. Remember that mistakes are made even by the best of players, and they’re an essential part of your journey towards learning and improving.

What To Do If You’ve Tilted — Practical Tips To Regain Control

Because tilting involves raw, unfiltered emotions and high levels of impulsivity, it’s much wiser to try to prevent them than recover from them. However, if it happened to you, there are steps you can take to regain your equilibrium.

Experts advise detaching yourself from the situation. So, take a step back from the table, give space for your emotions, and try to relax by going outside, eating, or engaging in a pleasant activity. It’s also advised to practise proper bankroll management so you’re not tempted to win back any losses by playing aggressively.

Another tip is to assess your hands objectively and to ask for advice from poker experts and the community as a whole. There’s a high chance you’re not the only one who’s dealt with such situations. Finding out how the pros used them as learning opportunities and what they improved exactly in their strategy can definitely help you as well.

Finally, our advice is to take tilting very seriously. A 2020 study published in the National Library of Medicine found a clear link between online poker tilt and loss of control and gambling disorder. According to the findings, the frequency of these tilting episodes and cognitive distortion are significant predictors of excessive online gambling.

How To Read Your Opponents in Poker: Tells To Look Out For

Published in 2022, The Psychology of Poker by Alan Schoonmaker is one of the most famous books detailing the connection between the mind of the player and the outcome of the game. It can be considered the Holy Grail of all resources if you’re interested in the link between psychology and poker.

In short, the author underscores the importance of skill, proper hand selection, and bluffing, as well as how to understand tells in others. The key takeaway is that there are many psychological factors that affect your ability to play properly, and the same applies to the other participants. It also explains why some players are drawn to aggressive styles, while others are passive, and why some techniques may come naturally to you but be a true struggle for another person.

Whether you play Bitcoin poker, live poker, or any other variation of the game, you should pay attention to a series of signals, ranging from the body language of the opponent to facial expressions, timing, bet patterns, and verbal cues.

Do remember that skilled players will be a lot more subtle and controlled in expressing all of the above, so reading between the lines will be much harder, but not impossible. Conversely, beginners tend to display more open body language and be less aware of their ticks, micro-expressions, and pure displays of emotion, making them easier to defeat.

What Is a Tell & How To Identify It in Poker

A tell in poker is a change in behaviour or demeanour that could provide a valuable clue about your opponent’s hand. Spotting these tells requires a thorough understanding of nonverbal communication and outstanding observational skills. As such, you need to practise for a long time, especially if you’re aiming to spot unconscious or very subtle cues.

These may include a twitch, avoidance of eye contact, or changes in movement, posture, or breathing patterns. In some cases, especially if you’re matched with a novice, they are a lot more obvious.

Remember that discernment and decoding are no easy tasks, especially because pros often fake these tells. Similar to bluffing, their ultimate goal is to influence their opponents into making poor judgements.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some people display a controlled facial expression to not give any information about their hand. In fact, this is where the term “poker face” originated from. It’s a clever way to avoid giving a tell, though maintaining a poker face in pressure-packed situations is easier said than done.

Another final point to mention is that it’s much easier to identify tells in a physical game format, because you can see each other up close. When playing online poker, these tells are rather difficult to spot, but they include things like changes in speed of play, betting patterns, how many chips are used, and, in critical moments, how the player communicates in the live chat.

At the end of the day, a tell is only useful if it helps you gather accurate information about the player’s confidence in their own hand and what they believe about the opponents’ hands.

Even the most experienced players can sometimes attribute meaning to accidental instances. For example, a beginner may drop chips out of clumsiness or make other obvious mistakes because they have no confidence in their experience, not because they’re genuinely trying to deceive anyone.

How To Bluff Your Way to Poker Victory

Bluffing is one of the core principles of poker psychology, considered both a precise science and an art. It involves betting or raising with a suboptimal hand. The aim is to cause at least one of the other players to fold a better hand in response.

How often you can bluff and how profitable those efforts are ultimately depend on your skills, such as choosing the right moment to act, and even the poker variation being played. For instance, Omaha Poker rather encourages semi-bluffs, while traditional poker offers more leeway in this regard.

In essence, bluffing is a mind game that’s further enforced by convincing body language and deceptive actions. Through the creation of a false narrative, the other players are manipulated into acting in a particular, often irrational way. The bluffer can win a pot even without holding the best hand, mislead opponents, and prevent them from reading his/her cards.

A fantastic bluffer is versed in psychology, as they can accurately read the participants’ behaviours and betting patterns, spot elements of weakness in decision-making, and even grasp their play style (e.g. aggressive vs. passive).

Types of Bluffing

There are two main types of bluffing you should know about: the semi-bluff and the pure-bluff. Applying either depends on the situation and the variation you’re playing. In general, you have the strongest bluffing range pre-flop. You should also factor in your odds of winning the pot and what kind of opponents you’re up against before deciding to bluff.

It’s always better to bluff against a single opponent, because you have a higher chance of getting them to fold, as opposed to convincing and battling an entire line-up of players. Bluffing against stronger opponents is also recommended as opposed to weaker ones.

Furthermore, consider your image at the table. If you project a strong visage and maintain tight play, your bets are more likely to be taken at face value and your opponents less likely to ‘call your bluff'.

The Psychology of Poker: Our Final Say

Understanding human behaviour is a powerful resource that can provide invaluable insights as a poker player. Applied effectively, your grasp of poker psychology can help you manage your emotions, enable you to better read your opponents, and potentially drive you to victory in your next match.

Ultimately, there are numerous social, personality, and even physiological factors that affect decision-making in this complex game. Putting the pieces together in a cohesive narrative will help you hone your skills and respond calmly to unpredictable game situations. Where others lose control, you can do an uno-reverse and come out on top, even with a weaker hand.

The Psychology of Poker Sources

1. Decision-making and thought processes among poker players — This study by St. Germain and Tenenbaum aimed to settle how external factors like time restrictions affect the decisions of novice, intermediate, and advanced poker players.
2. Characteristics of Good Poker Players — This study by Carrie A. Leonard and Robert J. Williams looked at what personality and demographic factors are common among the best poker players.
3. Tilt in Online Poker: Loss of Control and Gambling Disorder — In this paper by Moreau A, Chauchard É, Sévigny S, and Giroux I, it was proven that a connection exists between frequent tilting in poker and the chance to develop excessive gambling habits.
4. The Psychology of Poker — This book by Alan N. Schoonmaker breaks down the main poker-playing styles and other key strategic and psychological elements involved in gameplay.