This blog will talk about players’ styles among other things related to gambling. The primary topics of interest that we have are poker strategy and poker psychology.

There is a strong relationship between players’ styles and players’ motives. If you know how someone plays, you also know a good deal about why he plays (and vice versa). In addition, players with extreme styles are so dominated by their primary motives that they are rigid and predictable. They act in a certain way even when it is self-defeating.

For example, maniacs are so addicted to action that they cannot keep themselves from jacking it up, even when a little voice in them says, “Slow down.” Calling stations have such a strong need to get along with others and such a strong aversion to acting aggressively that they just call, call, call, even when they know they should raise or fold. Rocks are so conservative and timid that they let aggressive players run over them.

However, many extreme players have selective memories or kid themselves about why they play the way they do. They essentially make excuses for yielding to their impulses. For example, maniacs tend to remember the times they had a huge win or pulled off an outrageous bluff, while ignoring their losses. Or they say silly things such as, “You have to be in to win.”

Maniacs are usually extremely optimistic; they keep thinking they are going to get lucky. Rocks have the exact opposite attitude. They are pessimists who always fear the worst. If you asked a rock why he did not raise with a king high flush, he would not say, “Because I’m a wimp.” He would probably say, “I thought he might have the ace.”

We will focus on the extreme players because it is easier to see the pattern – in yourself or other people – but all loose-aggressive players have a strong need for action, and so on. In general, the more extreme a player’s style is, the more his primary motives overwhelm his other drives – including the desire to win.

Conversely, the more balanced a person’s motives are, the more flexible, rational and effective he will be – at the poker table and everywhere else. The relationship between styles, motives, and fears is especially important when you are trying to develop yourself as a player. If you do not understand why you play the way you do, you cannot overcome the inner forces that cause you to beat yourself.

Always ask yourself whether your ratings on motives are consistent with the way you play. Any inconsistencies suggest that something is wrong. For example, if you rate making money as your primary motive, but you lose regularly because you can’t resist tough games, you should recognize and try to resolve this contradiction.

Try to find out what is really happening inside your head and at the table and you will become a better poker player.

In any game, it is very evident that hard work rewards the dedicated players. Luck does affect your emerging as a player, but hard work rewards much more. In some games but not all, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Good luck results from deliberate and strategic hard work and planning. People do not get lucky on their own. They turn lucky when they put in hard work, and that is how they need to be if they want luck to favor them. The scenario is pretty much the same in poker also. This is very similar to the situations in other games as well. But in poker, luck is not all that you need. It is believed that the luckier you get, the worse you tend to play in fact.

Every player appreciates poker luck, and would want to save it for a rainy day as well. But, luck is actually the opponent of a poker play. A weaker player wins a pot and we believe that he has the luck to get it. A bad player does not open up, always comes from behind most often, make perfect catches, and so on. A bad player can seek to become lucky at any time. So, they are considered to be much lucky when compared to others. They have several ways of obtaining lucky.

Good players are sometimes showered with luck, as can be seen at the WSOP. But actually they choose the mathematically correct action. Sometimes certain players are accused of having poker luck. Sometimes a player feels like what his instincts tell him. The luck of the good player is actually due to his preparation. The good player often obtains luck because of the mistakes of his opponents.

Good players may also be accused of being with a player who overbets his hand and gives them five or four extra bets. You are also lucky that the other rivals would have given you extra bets. But the point is that a good player will induce and extract extra bets from rival more frequently than a bad player.

When playing poker you would also want to obtain luck from your opponents and it will be like receiving it on a silver plate. Poker luck is very essential especially when you are holding a very high hand and you would want your opponents to increase the pot size for you. This is the normal poker luck that is obtainable by the good poker players, but luck would never come upon you if you are expecting to beat your opponents while you are holding a very low hand.