The psychology of gambling is something that most people would not want to wonder about. Even a majority of the gamblers at casino do not care much about the gambling psychology. However, there is lot to this psychology than a normal person would think of. Actually, there is much more to gambling psychology than just those things. You may end up thinking that certain aspects of gambling have nothing to do with its psychology. However, it is not actually true. Contrastingly, almost every aspect of gambling involves psychology in one way or the other. As they say “it’s all in your mind”.
Gambling psychology and luck
Gambling in general can be defined as risky action in the hope of a desired result. There is a winner of every game. You would generally term the winner as ‘lucky’. But then there are successful gamblers, who win games very frequently. Again, you would say them to be extremely lucky. But it is not everything about their luck. The successful gamblers have a good money management strategy, great game strategy and an extremely high level of skill required for the game. Psychology is also a huge reason for the success of these gamblers. Some successful gamblers also have the unique ability to psyche their opponents when necessary. Some aspects of successful or “lucky” gamblers include:
- They are highly skilled at creating opportunities. They also notice any opportunity and grab it with both their hands.
- They always follow their instinct and listen to their intuition
- They always have expectations which are positive. Thus, they create self-fulfilling prophecies.
- They do not have a negative approach to the game
- They have a resilient attitude. This attitude ultimately helps them in transforming bad luck to good luck.
On, the other hands, the players who lose in gambling do not have the required level of concentration. They do not completely focus on the game. They are most likely to have something else in their minds. They are easily distracted by other things. Because of their lack of focus, they tend to miss the chance opportunity. For example, some people look to make their luck as fast as possible. In doing so, they squander the opportunity of making good and steady income from the game. So, staying relaxed is the key to success in gambling. Keeping your mind cool is extremely essential. Your psychological level wins you the games, not luck. Just by changing your personal thinking pattern, you can achieve a lot more success in gambling. For example, you should not be looking at gambling as something which helps you to make fast money. Instead, you should be looking to make steady money from something that you love, gambling.
Visual aspects of gambling psychology
It is pretty interesting to know about the visible aspects of gambling psychology. These visible aspects are something that even the stony faced pokers tend to show. A great example of these visible aspects is the artery on the side of your neck. It has been seen that when a player has a great hand, this particular artery starts jumping very rapidly. This usually happens when a player finds a very exciting hand. This movement of the artery is involuntary action. So, even if you control your voluntary actions by acting, it is impossible for you to control such involuntary actions. It is a great illustration of the visible aspects of gambling psychology. A solution can be getting fully dressed up, so that other players do not take a note of your involuntary actions.
The psychological aspect of the betting amount
The amount of money that you bet is also related to the psychology of gambling. It is recommended to never gamble when you are short of cash. This is because you tend to lose more often than not if you gamble in such situation. Many people have experienced losing when short of cash. Hardly anyone wins in these situations. On the other hand, most of the winners of the gambling games are those who can easily afford the amount if they lose. This is directly related to psychology. When you are cashed up, you are much stress free. Also, when you short of money, you tend to play over cautiously. This harms you adversely, as you make even more mistakes. So, it is extremely essential to bet only the amount which you can afford to lose. You should rather give up the idea of gambling when you do not have enough cash in your pocket.
Overall, it is clearly understood that gambling is very much related to psychology. It has been seen that having a good knowledge of the psychological aspect of gambling helps gamblers in winning games. If you want to be a professional gambler, it is recommended that you have knowledge of the principles of gambling psychology. Having a good knowledge will give you an advantage over other players, which will help you in winning the game.
An addiction?
An article about gambling psychology would be incomplete without mentioning the danger of gambling addiction. Instead of writing the obvious about self-discipline and seeking help if gambling interferes with your life, I prefer to post this illuminating, exceptional documentary.
Poker tells
Poker ‘tells’ is something that almost everyone must have heard about. You might have heard about it even if you do not actually know what they are. Poker tells are directly related to the psychology of gambling. Tells are basically subtle signs that other players might pick up. These signs give other players a good idea about strength of the poker hand that you are having. Players who are aware of the psychological aspect of gambling can easily pick up these tells from other players. Picking up these tells is certainly very helpful. It can help you in winning the game, or at least losing by a small margin. On the other hand, hiding these tells from other players are also very important. It requires a lot of practice and acting skills to actually hide these tells from the other players. It can be even more difficult if you are sitting in a full house.