Anatomy of Poker Emotions
What goes on inside us when poker emotions happen? If we understand the workings of the emotions, is it possible to control or put them to good use during poker games?
Emotions are reactions of the mind and will. Most people think emotions are exclusively the heart's forte, but they're not. A lot of mind factors are involved here. What the mind perceives triggers a feeling and conclusion that translates to a will of the heart. And there's our emotions. Thus, the quality of emotion is dependent so much on the maturity of the mind. If we understand these processes, we can better handle poker emotions.
It all starts with sense receptacles---eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and sometimes the sixth sense, the gut feelings. With poker it usually begins with the eyes. But don't ignore the sense of touch. That's why poker cards are best crisp and brand new to have a good feel on the finger tips. This improves the mood for the game and a feel for winning. Even poker table and table tops and chips are important considerations to evoke the right poker emotions.
So the senses receive stimulants. Stimulants are a combination of cards, bet amount, and what is observed in general in the game and among the players. We see them, hear them, touch and have gut feelings about them. All these stimulants are taken to the brain for analysis. Some information are screened, some are retained. Anything retained is sent to the body organs, like the heart. The heart, together with the mind, relates the information or brain signal with the memory where stored reactions are kept.
A stored reaction is a lesson learned from the past. So when a brain signal is processed by the heart and mind, the memory helps the will in producing a reaction. So when a player sees a weak poker hand recognized by the memory, the will tells the heart to pound more and the lungs to work double because, from memory, the nervous system sees that a weak poker hand can lose.
A mature mind is key to a good use of poker emotions. Maturity starts when the brain analyzes and screens what it stores in the memory. If what is stored are positive reactions, positive emotions can be drawn out---garbage in garbage out.
Understanding emotion processes can put poker emotions to good use. What emotions we store and focus on, we draw out the same. We reap what we sow.