Irrational behavior in pool and gambling

[BillPorter]

If I learned anything from my years of teaching psychology classes, it was that human beings behave irrationally in many, many situations. The evidence for this is overwhelming and need not be referenced in this post. Rather, I'd like to mention just two instances of irrational behavior in pool and gambling and invite others to come up with their own examples.

Todd Barker, a good friend of mine and a better pool player than I at all games, once pointed out to me that I appeared to be "giving up" on difficult pool shots rather than giving them my best effort. After hearing him say this, I started watching myself more closely as I addressed extra tough pool shots and found that he was right on the money. It was as though I thought to myself, "Heck, I'm not going to make this shot anyway, so why put much time or effort into it." It seems to me that a rational approach would be to spend MORE time/effort on more difficult shots, right? Wouldn't it make sense from a ratinal perspective to take s little extra care with a more difficult shot by sizing the shot up from a couple of angles, and maybe taking an additional warm up stroke or two? But I'd be willing to bet, if there were any way to gather some good evidence, that many of us pool players actually take LESS time on very difficult shots rather than more time. OK, this is probably not true for the better players out there, but it was true for me and probably some of you who are reading this. When I catch myself doing this (giving up on a hard shot) and force myself to give extra effort, it has definitely paid off.

In gambling, the list of irrational behaviors is too long for one post! Maybe the most famous is the "gambler's fallacy." The gambler's fallacy, in simple terms, is the idea that that previous failures indicate an increased probability of success on subsequent attempts. So, for example, if you witness a coin coming up heads six times in a row, you might think that tails is now more likely on the next flip. Of course, coin tosses are independent events and no string of heads, no matter how long, makes tails any more likely on a subsequent toss.

So what are your favorite "irrational behaviors" in the world of pool and gambling?

 

[Catahula]

For me...

The psychology of pool is one of the most fascinating aspects of the sport.
For me, one single hurdle I had to work hard to grasp was:
"I am playing the table, not my opponent".
Getting my head around that concept freed my game up immensely. I was no longer hamstrung by the self-imposed, self-fulfilling prophesy of the "he/she is better than I am, I always lose to this person therefore I am going to lose again.
That little thought never goes away but I am now able to recognized it for what it is and deal with it accordingly.
As always, a very insightful post Bill.
Tommy

 

[jcommie]

The only psychology concerning pool I know all have to do with how to hook a fish.

For example, the consistency principle, the norm of reciprocity, the similarity principle, are all great and subtle ways to get someone to play a money game.

 

[Jal]

....When I catch myself doing this (giving up on a hard shot) and force myself to give extra effort, it has definitely paid off.

Great advice! It might be argued though that we have a good reason, or at least some reason, for actually hurrying through the shot: we don't want to do a "Norton" (Art Carney) and appear all the more comedic by taking extra time.

So what are your favorite "irrational behaviors" in the world of pool and gambling?

1. This not my favorite, since it's on me. As far as I can remember, and aside from a few choice words, I never punished inanimate objects for my frustrations, except for one, my cue, which received the knee guillotine.

2. Body english.

3. Practicing tough shots and practicing in general. (Yes, I might be the only one who thinks these are "irrational." )

4. That it makes any difference whether I play well, poorly, or at all.

If no one lists them, I hope you might provide a few more examples of what you have in mind.

Jim

 

[JPB]

One thing that applies to any form of gambling requiring skill is the rationality and self-control required to quit before going totally on tilt, nose open, going on a suicide mission, whatever you want to call it. Poker players see this a lot, players trying to "get even" who just dig deeper. The thing is that you may really have to be an expert to see that a game is worthwhile to continue. If you KNOW you can play your best and figure to win in the long run, you can keep playing. But most people aren't at that level and most people can let their emotions cloud their assessment of how they are really playing. So they end up playing long hours and losing a lot of money when they are playing their worst. The flip side is quitting with a small win when they are playing well to guarantee a win. Both are irrational. If you play longer and win more when you are winning, and pack it in with a manageable loss when you aren't, guess what? You stand to end up a winner.

Also, many times people may not really know why they are winning one day and losing another. It could be due just to luck/standard deviation, or it could have something to do with how you are playing or the fact that a given game is above your skill level. In a poker game, many times players do not know why they aren't as good as another player; they don't have the skill to evaluate a game well enough. So while winning and losing can be based on short term luck, there may be a real factor that is leading to it that the player can't recognize. So while using short term results as a barometer is faulty in some ways, it can protect your long term results. In any event, if players simply didn't go to the ATM when they hadn't planned to, they might be better off.:wink:

As for games requiring no skill that have a house advantage, it doesn't matter. The only possible way to justify it is by thinking of marginal worth, i.e. the dollar I spend on a lottery ticket means so little to me and the $50 million prize is so valuable, it doesn't matter much if I lose a small amount. but people carry this idea too far and lose too much at things they have no rational reason to gamble at. I know there can be some entertainment value, but to me gambling at things with a house advantage isn't that fun and has little entertainment value. I do it occasionally, I am not saying never gamble, but losing any serious money at it seems strange to me. I guess if somebody really likes that form of entertainment there is some justification, but finding losing money long term to be entertaining strikes me as irrational.

 

[BillPorter]

It might be argued though that we have a good reason, or at least some reason, for actually hurrying through the shot: we don't want to do a "Norton" (Art Carney) and appear all the more comedic by taking extra time.
Jim

Yes, I understand what you are saying here for sure. In fact, I have voiced this out loud on many occasions by saying, "Man, I take all that time on the shot and miss it by 6 inches!!" It might be fair to say that when we "rush" a shot, difficult shot or not, anxiety is the root cause in most instances. We are feeling anxious even as we drop down on the shot and rush the shot to get it over with as soon as possible. I have found that if I can sort of "push through" that couple of seconds of anxiety, stay down on the shot (or get up and then back down), and take an extra warm up stroke or two, I can sometimes beat this problem. Unfortunately, my batting average on this is pretty low.

 

[1on1pooltournys]

So what are your favorite "irrational behaviors" in the world of pool and gambling?

Saying things in the heat of battle when you feel like somebody has put a move on you while gambling. I have seen a lot of people lose good action over this, including me probably. But it just seems like if you don't be a man and let people know you think it is BS then you have no dignity, at least for me. The "moves" are too long to list, but can range from a guy quitting winner to flat out cheating or something.

 

[BillPorter]

2. Body english.
Jim

I have to plead guilty on this one. I am famous in my pool hall for extreme leaning and back twisting as I try to "steer" the object ball into the pocket. Of course we have all seen field goal kickers in football who try to "lean" the ball through the uprights. Great example of irrational behavior that will surely persist as long as these games are played.