Hope Has No Place In Poker

What is hope?

In the context of poker, hope is wishing for an event to occur that is beyond your power. It means that you are not in control of your own destiny.

While it's true that in the short-run you are subject to the luck of the cards, we know that to play poker optimally the cards are only one factor of the decision making process. By hoping, it is limiting your focus on the cards, making it difficult to process all the information on the table. What this means is that if you are busy hoping, your state of mind is not proactive, it is reactive. You are subjecting yourself to simply dealing with what the poker gods are dishing out instead of making things happen for yourself.

If you find yourself hoping for something to happen at the poker table, it should be a sign that you are not playing your best. In fact, if you are hoping, you are probably bleeding chips away. Since hope is reactive in nature, it usually manifests itself into speculative or passive play. Here are a few examples of hoping you may have done at the table.

Speculations:

• I hope I hit this flop with my suited connectors
• I hope he doesn't bet the turn
• I hope I make my draw
• I hope I hit a monster by completing the small blind

Passive or Scared Play:

• I hope I get good cards
• I hope he doesn't have Aces (or a set or whatever monster is under the bed)
• I hope he didn't just make his flush
• I hope the big blind doesn't go all in if I raise the button
• I hope I cash in this tournament

So what should we do about hope? Vanquish it from our minds. Instead of waiting for things to happen at the table, make them happen. Take in all the information you can and use it to your advantage. If the button is raising every orbit, don't hope for AA to re-pop him. J5os will do just fine.