[ArtK78]

Lately, I have been playing a great deal of poker and, as a result, much less bridge.

I find that when I return to bridge, I do much better. Since I have to think about a different game, I find my thinking is much clearer and less on autopilot than it might be if I were playing bridge exclusively.

And when I return to poker I find the same thing is true - I have to apply myself to thinking about the odds differently, so I am less automatic about my plays and more analytical.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? Or is this a bridge-only crowd?

[Apollo81]

For me the less bridge I play the more rusty I am, and the harder I have to work at routine things. Other games don't seem to help.

[jdonn]

Art I think this shows you don't generally have good focus.

[gwnn]

I got one boost out of playing poker, and that is that I do not stare at my 13 cards as much as I used to and nowadays I am more alert to what happens at the table. This does not include unethical stuff like looking for clues from partner or looking endlessly at an opponent to make them uncomfortable, but realising that there are 52 cards out there so to speak. Phil made a post about this a year or two ago, playing with your head raised and not sunk in my cards.

After that helping boost, I found that poker didn't help my bridge at all. Instead it made me more of a gambler and less of a thinker.

[ArtK78]

jdonn, on Apr 16 2009, 02:38 PM, said:

Art I think this shows you don't generally have good focus.

That may be true, but that also comes from doing well at bridge without having to think about things too hard.

The time spent playing poker results in a readjustment period when returning to playing bridge. Playing bridge is no longer automatic, requiring that I concentrate more than I typically do.

[gwnn]

Here's Phil's post BTW:

http://forums.bridge...showtopic=24619

[Fluffy]

I found my bridge skills to drop when I played a lot of chess. I wasn't completelly sure it was related, but I quited chess just in case.

I play a lot of web games (strategy, card, team management...), appart form the fact that I don't sleep enough because I play them untill laet they don't seem to affect me on bridge.

About poker.... well you had to see my 2nd position preempts before I learnt the difference on position and what they are now lol.

[zenko]

Please do not badmouth 2nd seat preempts, you will kill my main IMPs generator

[brianshark]

I should have taken up Poker instead of bridge because there's a lot more money in it. Having said that, I'm probably well up in terms of prize money versus entry fees over the last year or two.

[ggwhiz]

At any tourament with access to a casino. I've often played a couple of hours of blackjack and ressurected an old card counting system. I'm much more focused and quick when I get to the Bridge table after that.

[gwnn]

I found this quote interesting from Barry Greenstein

Quote

The biggest egos: bridge players or poker players?

Bridge players. It's not even close. Bridge is a much more ego-involved game than poker. You can see it in how the players view each other's games. Poker players don't think they can be good at bridge, but bridge players think they can be good at poker. They assume that because they've learned the ultimate card game, they'll be able to play any other card game at an expert level. During the NABCs, I used to play after-hours poker with some big-name bridge champions, and I have to tell you, they were pretty awful.

Do you think he's right?

the link is: http://home.comcast....idge/barryg.htm

[jdonn]

It makes sense that the game which is much harder to initially learn and has much lower variance (although still very high) would have players with bigger egos. Although I would think a ton of money flying around would also have the same effect, so who knows.

It's probably not particular to bridge players that people think they are way better at poker than they are though.

[Jlall]

In my experience with both worlds it's definitely bridge players.

[qwery_hi]

Jlall, on Oct 31 2009, 10:45 AM, said:

In my experience with both worlds it's definitely bridge players.

With the exception possibly of phil hellmuth and a few others.

[Cyberyeti]

Fluffy, on Apr 16 2009, 04:37 PM, said:

I found my bridge skills to drop when I played a lot of chess. I wasn't completelly sure it was related, but I quited chess just in case.

I play a lot of web games (strategy, card, team management...), appart form the fact that I don't sleep enough because I play them untill laet they don't seem to affect me on bridge.

About poker.... well you had to see my 2nd position preempts before I learnt the difference on position and what they are now lol.

I found I could play bridge and chess at about the same standard at university. To do that I could play bridge once every 3 weeks, but needed several hours a night at chess. Guess which one I gave up.

That said, I don't find other games make any difference to my bridge.

[benlessard]

The reason is fairly simple.

Having a big big ego in poker = losing money.
-- Either because you stay in the hands too long (im going to outplay him later),
-- because you play at limit too high for yours skills and bankroll.
-- You want to play against every players to prove yourself nstead of always looking for the worse players or the best ROI.
-- Its also a part of the deception that your skill level is unrecognized. Forget poker tournament, forget poker tv show & online poker with known names. The biggest cash is mostly made into real high stakes private tables (everywhere in the world where there is oil and finances). Big winners dont want to be known like big winners and same thing for the big losers.

[Phil]

In my experience, bridge players have bigger egos at the table, but poker players have bigger egos away from the table.

Easy to see how a bridge player could think he could rule a poker game but how a poker player would feel completely over his head at the bridge table.

[nigel_k]

It's a strange but true feature of poker that people think they are better than they are. This is also the reason that poker is played much more for money - people who lose are willing to keep playing and losing again because they don't accept that other players are better and will beat them again.

Bridge is not like that. Weaker players learn fairly quickly that they are inevitably going to going to lose. I wish they didn't because it would make playing bridge for money a much more practical option.

I think the observation says more about the nature of bridge vs poker than necessarily the people who play them.

[Fluffy]

I have been suking at poker latelly, but last night I finally stayed for a long tourney to the last 30/600

I was running in the top10 all the time, but then I losed 40% my chips to a maniac with J8 who went all in preflop against my AQ. Losing by getting an 8 on the river made it even worse.

I tried to remain focused, but 5 hands later I was giving away the rest of my average stack on a hopeless bluff against a set O_o

This also happens to me at bridge. I get on tilt after "badbeats" like opponents passing a reverse and scoring +110. And I cannot help it.

Anyone knows of techniques to control yourself on this circumstances?

[Jlall]

Fluffy, on Nov 1 2009, 05:55 PM, said:

Anyone knows of techniques to control yourself on this circumstances?

Man up.