what to do about premonitions

Often when I was dealt a marginal hand, I had a feeling I would win big. Since I am suposed to be tight, I mucked. Sure enough, I would have won big. Other times, I was dealt a strong hand, but I had a nagging feeling this was going to be trouble. I played it because S and M said so. Sure enough, I got my ass kicked. How much credit should we give to hunches?

[Dynasty]

If your hunches are correct a high enough % of the time, you should leave the poker table and sit at the roulette wheel. You'll make more money there.

Or, you could come back to reality. Whatever is more fun.

[Jimbo]

WOW! Now this is truly amazing! I had a "hunch" Dynasty would say something like that! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif Roulette here I come.

Jimbo

[Mike]

Why don't you start keeping track of them and see what happens?

One down side to premonitions is it can lead to all kinds of silly things. I know, because when I drive to the poker room, and I see two street lights go out I always lose. Also when my wife tells me I am going to have a bad night I usually do. LOL

[angelo alba]

Premonitions?

Well, the advice to keep an accurate record might help.

For example: I've had many premonitions that I would lose if I played the the lotto, and to this day I
haven't won once!

This is nothing compared to a psychic friend of mine who was able to tell the exact week her car would be re-possesed. How she did it I'll never know.

Seriously , you may want to explore if you premonitions are, in fact, the ability to pick up tells.

If they are, and you get to play the same opponets on a regular basis, then you too will one day be able to boast how you amazed your friends when you laid down a full house against quads.

If it's not then please keep in mind that over the long run, it's all about skill, not hunches.
Besides, it's bad luck to be superstitious /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Al Schoonmaker]

There is only one intelligent reaction to premonitions: IGNORE THEM.

I'm now writing an article for Cardplayer titled "ESP=BS." It means exactly what it says. There is NO scientifically acceptable evidence that ESP exists. ALL of the "evidence" is BS.

My article will summarize the reasons that people persist in believing in ESP and the destrutive effects of that belief. It won't appear until about February because other articles are in the pipeline.

Regards,

Al

I agree completely with previous posts. I play in a few different home games, and much of the time, after someone makes a fold, they will ask to see the last card. I mean, would it really make them feel better if they saw they would nailed there inside straight on the river if they paid for the last card? I had a conversation with a freind over the weekend about that relates to your post. I was in a 30-60 game at foxwoods this weekend, and a strong player open raised UTG+1. I was one to his left, and found pocket 8s. I thought for a second, looked left, noticed that the weak player to my direct left had a hand full of chips, and mucked. I rarely make a call with this hand in this spot, but may at sometimes call if game was loose passive, or reraise to isolate. At any rate, player to my left reraises, and flop comes 8 J A rainbow. Now Im pissed. It goes bet, raise, reraise, reraise and call. OK, up agaist a bigger set, good thing I didnt play. Turn is an 8 giving me 4 of a kind, river is a blank. It was AK VS JJ and after it was all said and done it was about a 700 dollar pot. If I had played who knows how big it would have gotten. Even know this is frustrating, I still feel I made the right play here, and thats all you can concentrate on is making the correct play every time the action gets to you or its impossible to walk away a winner.

I agree and disagree. First of all, most people do have some sort of psychic ability, however small it might be. Have you ever had Deja Vu? I can vividly remember dreams, and have run into situations which have occurred exactly as they had in my dreams. You can say what you want about scientific proof, but I know this type of thing happens regularly to tons of people. Call it ESP, or whatever, but it exists. Whether somebody can actually aim that ability towards a specific event, such as playing poker, is another story. In addition, whether somebody can separate these "premonitions" from gut feelings or hunches is also very debatable. That is why I play according to the statistics I know and the tells I pick up. But to say that nobody in the world has ANY psychic ability is ridiculous.

[Dwayne]

[Dwayne]

[Al Schoonmaker]

You wrote: "First of all, most people do have some sort of psychic ability, however small it might be...to say that nobody in the world has ANY psychic ability is ridiculous."

If you seriously believe that you or anyone else has psychic abilities, you can make an easy $1,000,000.

A magician, Randi, has offered over $1,000,000 to anyone who can produce any scientifically acceptable evidence that ESP or other psychic abilities exist. The offer has been open for many years, and he has never had to pay.

Casinos love people who believe in ESP. They ignore the odds, believe their premonitions, and throw away their money.

Some of the reasons that people believe in ESP, premonitions, omens, etc. can be found in the textbook I use to teach college freshman, "Psychology in action," by Dr. Karen Huffman. There are lots of other sources for proof that ESP, etc. don't exist.

You and other people believe in this nonsense because randomness is profoundly frightening. You want to believe that you can predict or control the cards you'll catch because that belief protects you from a frightening reality. But that protective delusion comes at a very high cost.

As long as you believe in this nonsense, you will be distracted from the only thing that counts, playing your cards well.

Regards,

Al

[Jimbo]

C'mon Al tell him how you really feel! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif Well said!

Jimbo

So you've never had Deja Vu? First of all, I'm not a person that believes there are people who can clearly see the future and predict exactly what will happen. And randomness is something I truly love. And prove there is a God, there is life on other planets, or the idea that the universe is neverending and I will pay you $1,000,000. Those are ideas that the majority of the world believe in (except for maybe life on other planets). Just because something cannot be scientifically proven does not mean you can discount its existence. In fact, just tell me what Deja Vu is in scientific terms and I'll shut up. In my post, I never said psychic power, ESP, or whatever is something that can be controlled, aimed or even identified when it occurs, I'm just saying I've dreamt about certain things, maybe a second or two in length of time, that have occurred exactly the way they ended up happening in my dream. The fact that there is a term for it means that others have as well. I'm not really arguing its relevance, or lack there of, to poker, which I guess makes this post not relevant to this forum, but if you actually read my original post, I play according to the stats and the tells I pick up...... and I win, so I guess my beliefs don't hinder me all that much do they?

[Al Schoonmaker]

Thanks for making me laugh.

Al

[Al Schoonmaker]

Of course, I've had hunches and other "visions," and I have even let them influence me. But, when I do so, I usually realize that I'm acting foolishly, that I'm responding to my hopes and fears, not to evidence with any validity.
The mere fact that many people have had inexplicable "visions" that have come true means nothing at all about the validity. It's called "coincidence" plus selective memories. We remember when our "dreams" come true, ignore it when they don't.
The mere fact that millions of people believe in ESP is equally irrelevant. Once EVERYBODY believed the earth was flat and the universe revolved around it.
Incidentally, ESP (extra-sensory perception) includes what you call "Deja Vu."
The fact that you're a winner clearly suggests that you do not let these beliefs have too much influence on your play. However, you would do even better if you ignored them completely. I must also add that the same principle is true for me and nearly everyone else. We all want to believe that we can predict or control the cards and other events, but we can't. That is an extremely well validated FACT, and poker is a ruthlessly fact-dominated game. If we let our erroneous beliefs influence our play, it will cost us..

Regards,

Alan

[brad]

last time i straddled i made four Kings.

i straddle about once every year or so (in non-low limit games). (last straddle i beat 3 bet brett's KK when i caught an Ace)

[andyfox]

I dreamt Dave Righetti, when he was pitching for the Yankees, would pitch a no-hitter the next day. He did. He has been pitching well, had pitched some very low hit games in his previous starts, and was at the top of his game. So there was some factual basis for thinking he might pitch a no hitter.

I've also dreamt a million things that haven't come true. We tend to remember the one in a million that does come true and forget about the 999,999 that don't.

So while I imagine we all experience a sense of deja vu from time to time, and dream about something that does come true, those that claim to have special or extra-sensory abilities are usual fakirs, extricating money our of people hopeful to find some peace from their problems. To insist that these types of people are real, that they do have extrasensory abilities, is to give credence to frauds.

[bomblade]

The best explanation about deja vu is simply that your brain is not in sync with itself. Basically, one part of your brain is receiving information before another part. It takes a couple seconds to catch itself up.
Ever notice that when you are having deja vu, the deja vu changes, but seems like it's exactly how it should have gone?
As for the amazing Randi and his mil, he has and will never give that money to anyone. Its a bs offer. There have been many people over the years that have done some pretty amazing things with ESP and he always finds something, no matter if what he finds has validity or not. It's his offer and he often just says "that's a trick" and that's it.
There has been a lot more evidence in ESP that the vast majority of people do not know about. Most of the people who even show signs of ESP are completely insane, thus giving people like al another argument against it. "Oh, he's insane, he can't read someone's mind or predict a future or tell a past." I say to that, "oh, he's autistic, he can't do a 1000 piece puzzle, cardboard side up, pieces the same, in 2 minutes." Exactly. We use 8-10 percent of our brain capacity. There's 90 percent of unused ability.
Someone made a very good point about the belief in God, or the infinite universe. Where's the proof on either?
About premonitions at a poker table though, I'd say no. We remember the hands that, had we played, would have won us a big pot. How bout all the hands that wouldn't? We also remember the hands where we say "I just know this AKo isn't going to win" and then you get hammered. How often do you remember when you had the same feeling, and won with that AKo? We don't remember that, because in our heads, we should win that hand.