Howard Lederer - "Working on my Poker Instincts"

[El Professor]

Is it just me, or is does that sentence sound like an oxymoron of a sort? Isn't an instinct something that's inate, and therefore uncontrollable?

I really hate how some of the tv stars claim to have ESP. They think they can "look into the soul" of a player. Sorry Howard, I don't think you can work on your "instincts".

I guess after reading Paul Phillips's blog entry about ESPN making up hands, and the whole thing about leaving out critical hands (especially Josh Arieh's critical one against Fossilman), has made me a little cynical about the whole "poker scene" that we're presented on TV.

[InfernoLL]

Is it really necessary to start a thread based on a semantic argument? Lederer obviously means something by what he is saying. Just because this doesn't fit into your strict definition of "instinct" doesn't mean you need to flip out. A better post would have raised this notion and then asked what he actually meant by it.

[PlanoPoker]

Dictionary.com says instinct can be "a powerful motivation or impulse". It isn't confined to inborn patterns. This is always the way I understood the word and I don't think I'm alone.

With that definition in mind, a person can in fact improve their instincts through practice. For example if you practice Judo it becomes instinctual to hip toss a stranger if they reach over your shoulder.

But I defer to the last poster who said it wasn't necessary to start a thread based on a semantic argument. We know what he meant.

[27offsuit]

YO...KO...ZUNA!

[77rules]

Most people seem to think that instinct is something more or less magic. It's not. The fact is that our senses collect lots of data, way more than we can consciously process. But the data is there, and sometimes our subconcious mind will recognize it and see a pattern.

This is how instinct has been explained to me, and I like it.

The tricky part is listening to what your gut tells you. I'm a great believer in instinct after a series of occasions when I have gone against my instincts and regretted it. Most of the time, outside of poker ;-)

So, instinct exists, there's nothing magic about it, and you can probably train yourself to listen to it more.

IMHO

[gergery]

There are two definitons of instinct, one of which is 'natural ability'. And that can certainly be trained and developed.

But really, you know what he meant and are just arguing over semantics.
--Greg

[ThePopinjay]

For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes.