Music and poker

[rkiray]

This may sound weird but I think one advantage to playing poker on the internet instead of in B&M cardrooms is that I can listen to whatever music I want. Right now I have B.B. King smokin' on the stero. The cardroom I play most frequently is The Lodge in Blackhawk CO, which is a really nice cardroom with bad music. They have quiet music pumped in over speakers. They used to have really horrible live bands playing that were way too loud and didn't know how to play. I'm a huge music fan, and hearing is my most important sense. I have played guitar and keyboards for years and have a CD collection with over 2000 CDs. I like Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical, anything played with intensity and soul. I think having great music playing helps relax me and I play better poker. Does this make any sense? I also believe there has been strong correlations proven between math ability and music ability. Would this imply that musicians would make better poker players? Another question, since poker is a visual game do players whose primary sense is visual instead of aural or tactial have an advantage? Any comments are welcome.

Rick

[AcesUp]

If you like music while you play, buy a portable CD player or MP3 player...

I am also a musician who plays poker and I believe that people who are aurally inclined or whatever can definitely be as good at poker as more visually inclined folks. I wear glasses but I can still play a mean game. When asked what my best poker attribute is I will answer that one uniquely strong element in my game is auditory tells, the ability to tell if they are weak or strong by the way they say "check" or "bet", even such subtle things as the way they are moving in their seat can give me auditory tells that change my decisions when it comes to folding, calling or raising from regular to high profit because I know they are weak even when there are no visual clues, and I think this all relates back to music and perhaps all musicians with good hearing can excel at reading auditory tells.

I think the most common auditory tell I have come accross is actually a reversal that many do quite often. When they are first to act and have a 2nd or 3rd rate made hand perhaps with a backdoor draw or something, and they know they can't really call a bet yet they still decide to check and hope for the free card, they say "check" kind of weaklike as if they are trying to give you the impression of being so ready to fold so that you will be scared to bet, fearing a monster hand and will decline the oppotunity to bet into them even though this is precisely the moment you should strike, with any two cards. If they decided to call, they will check it back if they do not improve and you can finish the job on fourth street, with any two cards. I have no live game experience in pot limit or no-limit but i am anxious to test my skills playing big bet holdem.

Also, tuning your mind to the auditory environment of the table eventually affords you the opportunity to present very convincing reversals in your sonic gestures that will cause your opponents to move the way you want them to without them ever understanding why they thought the things they did about you hand. When you show it down, they will say huh, not that strong, but why was I calling with this garbage, the very same garbage you can get them to release when you have nothing.

Also, people make some kind of readable noise when they are about to bet, because of this I often can sandbag on fourth street when I have the best of it getting more value for my good hands and making the check raise bluff a usuable weapon for me when conditions are ideal.

Booyah!

[Mike]

There has been a lot of recent research done about adult learning in the past decade. One of the biggest breakthrough is the fact, that playing while you are being taught does not hinder the process. IE, doodling, coloring, or other minor things. The feeling seems to be that it makes our brains more receptive ot what is being taught.

Along those lines, I think the same ideas apply. We aren't more receptive listening to music while playing, but less distracted about things that really do not matter.

At any rate I believe the process is called Accelerated Breakthrough Systems (?). I had a three day class from the company a few years back and I was amazed about what went on and how it works.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I've heard it postulated that listening to music while doing any intense visual activity stimulates the linking of the two hemispheres of the brain allowing a combination of logical and creative thought.

[rkiray]

I agree that auditory tells can be lethal so I try to do all my betting silently; hand signals for checking let the chips speak for betting. I only speak if I have to (if I have a $100 bill on the table, run out of chips and I want to raise instead of just calling is probably the primary example of having to speak).

[rkiray]

Great idea except that the Lodge doesn't allow the use of electronic devices while seated at the table.

Rick

[rkiray]

Cool. I think this was what I was trying to get at. Sometimes you hear athletes and other high performance professionals talk about being in a "zone". I've been playing serious poker for just less than three years. Always played an occasional home game since I was a kid, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I've never felt like I've been in a zone at the poker table, but I have ocasionlly felt that way SCUBA diving, playing volleyball, swing dancing, or playing live music with a band. These have been very rare occurances for me, maybe a dozen times total in 44 years of life. I think having good music playing helps relax me and puts me closer to the feeling of being in a zone. When I've felt I was in one it is truly amazing. Even though you are making really good decisions, if feels totally effortless. It doesn't seem like you are thinking at all, but you must be because you are performing at a level that you never had before. Hopefully I'll be able to reach this point at a poker table sometime.

Rick

[andyfox]

"I also believe there has been strong correlations proven between math ability and music ability."

Maybe, but Beethoven would be the exception (that proves the rule?) Many of his notebooks show him trying to multiply numbers, but he couldn't do it, so he has to add them to each other one at a time [8+8=16; 16+8=24; 24+8=32; ergo 8x4=32].

Also, it is my understanding the Einstein was a dreadful violinist.

I would prefer to listen to non-great music when I play. What makes great music great requires both listening and hearing, and I don't think I could do both of those and also play cards well.

[Mike]

Good classical music drags my game down. I think because it introduces moods and feelings because of the music that effects my play. Some of the better classical music was written to express feelings that would not be considered 'healthy', ie, abuse, neglect, adulty, etc. So the music is in general pretty powerful even if you don't know the background. Strauss is a good example he wrote a number of his waltz's to cap a conquest.

Top 40 pop works well 4 me, the mood is always up, and the music changes enough remain fresh until it falls off the charts.