Psychology and poker - the real thread

El Stuntman

the real thread...don't know what happened there..anyways...

Anyone read 'The Psychology of Poker' by Dr Al Schoonmaker? Is it codswallop or worth a buy? Any recommendations in the poker & psychology or general gambling & psychology fields would be much appreciated.

On a side note, I did play a few orbits with Dr Al himself in Vegas and found him to be a grumpy old nit - not a bit like Frasier or Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting!! Another illusion shattered...:(

wd Ian btw on chopping the SE DC btw - you'll no doubt be delighted to hear that everyone at Buddha's table had taken out a second mortgage by the time I departed!!

ianmc38

El Stuntman wrote:

wd Ian btw on chopping the SE DC btw - you'll no doubt be delighted to hear that everyone at Buddha's table had taken out a second mortgage by the time I departed!!

Oh god. That A4 hand when he hit the miracle 2-outer on the river was sickening.

sikes

i have read it, kind of drifted in and out of it. if you want i can bring it along to a touney next week.

what books have you got? perhaps we can swap,

El Stuntman

ianmc38 wrote:

Oh god. That A4 hand when he hit the miracle 2-outer on the river was sickening.

it got better...I may write up another Spiritual Enlightenment post if I don't throw myself out the window first

El Stuntman

sikes wrote:

i have read it, kind of drifted in and out of it. if you want i can bring it along to a touney next week.

what books have you got? perhaps we can swap,

that's hardly a ringing endorsement!! Is it worth a read (be honest)?

I've got harrington 1 and 2, caro, sklansky, SS (despite all this I am still really bad)

some good non-theory stuff - Al Alvarez, Bellin, Holden, Stun Ungar bio etc

sikes

he goes through the various styles LAG TAG TAP LAP and says how to play against and how to play like them. getting into their head etc. He introduces a grid and you give each player a score (X,Y) depending on their tightness etc and then refers to the grid throughout the book.

i will flick through it again to remember what else he talks about. i honestly cant remember!

ecksor

I started reading it a while ago and found it interesting. I keep meaning to get back to it, especially since I've been clearly playing a loose impatient game in cash games lately and it helped me break out of a funk like that before. Hardly a ringing endorsement either, but I'm not sure what exactly you're looking for from the book?

kincsem

El Stuntman wrote:

Anyone read 'The Psychology of Poker' by Dr Al Schoonmaker? Is it codswallop or worth a buy? Any recommendations in the poker & psychology or general gambling & psychology fields would be much appreciated.

I though it was repetative, and what was being repeated was not brilliant. I didn't finish it. I hope the killer message wasn't in the last chapter.

Recommendation: Any book on trapping dumb animals would be good.

Lafortezza

I've read it and thought it was a decent read. It's not going to help you with strategy much, though it should give you a bit of an insight into the types of players at your table, what motivates them and why they do what they do.

pokypoky

I read that book its pretty good if your into putting people in boxes which i suppose is what poker is all about...quickly getting a profile of people.

Schoonmaker has no time for buddhism though so beware El Stuntman, I know cause I emailed him about it and he said you sir are delusional...he hates freud also but wrote an interesting article about him and poky if you havent seen it before

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/?a_id=13276&m_id=63

El Stuntman

pokypoky wrote:

I read that book its pretty good if your into putting people in boxes which i suppose is what poker is all about...quickly getting a profile of people.

Schoonmaker has no time for buddhism though so beware El Stuntman, I know cause I emailed him about it and he said you sir are delusional...he hates freud also but wrote an interesting article about him and poky if you havent seen it before

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/?a_id=13276&m_id=63

ha! that photo of him in cardplayer is at least 20 years old!!

good article though - I think my Id is dominant over my Ego when I see that big 'ol Buddha sitting down at the tables....

jtsuited

good to see Freudian psychoanalysis isn't seen by everyone as a ridiculously outdated and flawed concept of the human mind.
Because that's what it is.

Some interesting issues raised in that article though.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Am reading "Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction" by Mark L. Knapp (1972).

It's the seminal / classic book on how people communicate using body language (or kenesics, as it is known).

Talks about things like "micro gestures" that people subconsciously use to portray their emotions. Very difficult to hide, as they are not obvious things.

Makes Mike Caro look like a bit of a fool tbh

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

El Stuntman wrote:

Anyone read 'The Psychology of Poker' by Dr Al Schoonmaker? Is it codswallop or worth a buy? Any recommendations in the poker & psychology or general gambling & psychology fields would be much appreciated.

have a look at this link firstly, gives all his articles writen for Cardplayer magazine: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/writers/view/name/Alan_Schoonmaker