Superstitions

[Carnite]

Hi guys, thanks in advance for any comments.

I'm a postgraduate psychology student (also and avid poker player, PLO and MTTs are my thing) and I'm currently preparing a paper on superstition and gambling.

Gambling is one area in which superstition is rife, simply by the very nture of superstitious behaviour as something that develops originally by inferring cause and effect between two events simply because they are followed closely in time.

What I'd most like, in a purely selfish way, is some great examples of specific superstitious behaviours that you might have seen at poker tables/casinos in general. The literature on general superstition has some fairly colourful examples, but the gambling related literature is pretty tame, blowing on dice, spinning a seat three times, not picking up cards with the left hand, etc etc. The weirdest things you have seen would be great, to compete with Farha's cigarette and Chan's orange.

If you do have anything to add about the superstitious beliefs, as opposed to behaviours, I'd be very interested to listen as well. Of course the age old 'gamblers fallacy' - the idea that if something has happened several times in a row it's less likely to happen again, despite unchanging odds, and a number of other probability related errors are well documented. Any other ideas that you have heard people spout off about how they believe things to work would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Carnite.

I don't know if these qualify, but I always find it interesting how people can think that something of absolutely no value to the outcome can be important.

The first example is the deck change in poker - when someone is losing and they call for a deck change - as though the actual physical cards that are in play are the reason they are losing.

The second one, which I find much more interesting, is at blackjack, when someone complains about a player making a bad play. For example, someone holding a 14 against a dealer's 6 and taking a card. People get so angry, especially if the dealer then gets the winning hand - never realizing that it was just as likely that the player taking the card would give the dealer a worse card.

I saw this happen once - and I got no end of pleasure out of pointing it out - situation as above - 14 vs. dealer's 6 - player takes a card - turns out to be a 10 - so he busts - the guy next to him tells him how stupid he was because that was the dealer's bust card. That guy stands on his 16 and I stand on my 18 - dealer turns over a 4, then a 10 and busts. I say to the guy next to me "I think you owe that guy an apology - his stupid play just won you a hand"

[Carnite]

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The first example is the deck change in poker - when someone is losing and they call for a deck change - as though the actual physical cards that are in play are the reason they are losing.

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This is the essence of a superstitious action, something that has no causal connection to the outcome. The way that they start (other than being transmitted from person to person) is for a player to notice after a deck change a hot run of cards. Result? Next time they're cards are going REALLY bad they request a new deck. If you've just had some of the worst cards of the night, what's the chances that your next few rounds of cards are gonna be better? Pretty good, they're not necessarily great but they are likely to be better than a sample of truly awful cards. The result is a reinforcement of the superstitious behviour/belief - the changing of the deck.

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The second one, which I find much more interesting, is at blackjack, when someone complains about a player making a bad play. For example, someone holding a 14 against a dealer's 6 and taking a card. People get so angry, especially if the dealer then gets the winning hand - never realizing that it was just as likely that the player taking the card would give the dealer a worse card.

I saw this happen once - and I got no end of pleasure out of pointing it out - situation as above - 14 vs. dealer's 6 - player takes a card - turns out to be a 10 - so he busts - the guy next to him tells him how stupid he was because that was the dealer's bust card. That guy stands on his 16 and I stand on my 18 - dealer turns over a 4, then a 10 and busts. I say to the guy next to me "I think you owe that guy an apology - his stupid play just won you a hand"

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Yeah, getting angry is a bit stupid. I know what you mean though. Personally I'm either truly worried for the guy and want to help them out (sort of an us vs the house type mentality) or I just feel sad for the loss of the money (when the person is beyond hope).

My feeling is that you are much more likely to find examples of superstitious behavior among people playing house-edge games, rather than at the poker table. Sure, people will have their talismans or their habits and such, but most of these are pretty harmless. I have rarely ever seen anyone engage in any truly superstitious behavior at the poker table.

If you really want to see superstition in action, hang around the slot machines - that's where the action is.

In general, I think you will find that the larger the house edge in the game, the more prevalent is superstitious behavior.

[vexvelour]

I never look at my hole cards until I have both of them. Especially if I'm on BB. If I do that I'm freakin doomed.

[Carnite]

Yeah, the complete lack of skill leads people to search for other things to "influence" the outcome. I know there are still some examples, and I'm keen on hearing any house edge superstitions as well.

[vexvelour]

I dont think it has anything to do with skill. It's just a thing.

Aligning cards a specific way, placing bets in a specific spot, eating a certain food, ordering a certain drink, tipping the dealers more, etc.
I think it all comes down to re-creating the environment in which the player had previously won. It's human nature to look for patterns, even where no such patterns exist.

[onegymrat]

My friend needs to wear a collared shirt before playing, or he thinks he'll lose. I've maintained on several occasions that with the way he plays, his luck would not change even if he went shirtless.

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My friend needs to wear a collared shirt before playing, or he thinks he'll lose. I've maintained on several occasions that with the way he plays, his luck would not change even if he went shirtless.

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Actually, it probably would - since he would get thrown out of the casino, he would not lose as much.