The new poker ego

You may have noticed that the poker player’s stereotype is changing. No longer is the moodily quiet man in a suit, preferably smoking cigarettes, the iconic card player, but ever younger tracksuit-clad guys line up to compare whose play is more aggressive, who can chat the best game, or whose ego (for want of a euphemism) is the biggest.

So why is this character type so prevalent among the “new breed” of young, hyper-aggressive (usually Scandinavian) poker prodigies? There must be something to that combination of relentless self-belief and unwavering eyes-on-the-prize fearlessness which is on the right lines for tournament poker.

For a start, the kinds of money being regularly played for, especially online, have seen a dramatic increase. Kids for whom a $200 buy-in holds no trepidation can sit down to play one from home every weekend, on a choice of sites, possibly on a parent’s credit card (obviously not advised). What some lack in experience, they make up for in confidence, and to start off with the fearless aggression of the top players can’t hurt. Well, when they discover the joys of cash games or even open the Omaha trap door for the first time, it can, but we’re concerned with tournament play in particular, and sitting huddled around your precious chips worried about them (or the buy-in) is a recipe for never winning one. These new players just go for it, taking the big risks which can pay the big money.

When combined with experience, this is the kind of player others want to watch on TV or avoid being sat next to – a Gus Hansen or a Josh Arieh. When it’s not, these players are just dangerous wind-up merchants, who annoy you into submission or build and destroy huge stacks early on in high stakes tournaments, seeking to emulate their televised Poker Stars. An ex-professional player friend of mine calls them “random number generators,” and there is definitely something more worrying about being sat next to one of them than the traditionally cautious new player.

The standard of online play has risen, but with it the number of bandwagon-jumpers who fill sites to bursting with money the young guns can practise on, and then with. The learning curve of new players is distinctly sharper than it used to be, and computer literacy brings tools like PokerTracker to the forefront of the self-improvement battle. The literature has become more focused on tournament play, and writers like Dan Harrington can give a bit of a boost to someone who kind of knows what’s going on, but could do with the insights of experience without getting them the long way.

That might explain the double-time rise to the big leagues for the young, aggressive players, but not why this character-type in general is so suited to poker. It’s pretty obvious, though – a game like No Limit Hold’em requires a steady risk-taking without nervousness which might dampen an otherwise brilliant game. A little bit of self-confidence is absolutely necessary, while if you have to go the whole hog, way too much is better than way too little.

This is because poker can be a steadily losing prospect, no matter how good a player you are. To keep going back once you’ve gone broke or just had a succession of defeats takes a strong sense of self-belief, either that you are Learning the Hard Way and it’ll be worth it in the long run, or that you’re just Unlucky and things will even out. It’s a big danger, however, that overrating yourself may convince you that you’re the latter rather than the former. The “new breed” players have so much confidence that some of them lose objectivity. The poker ego needs to withstand sometimes excruciatingly long periods of bad luck, mathematically improbable outdraws, and being outplayed without losing hope, or the desire to improve. But problems arise if players think that they might just know it all.

At the other extreme is the set of players who have little or no self-belief, and are cautious to the point of being intimidated by others. It’s nearly impossible to run a successful bluff if you are positive that everyone else is better than you are and can practically read your mind. Being worried about the embarrassment of being caught doing something risky or a bit dumb is a great hindrance – this is where not caring what your opponents think of you, and having enough of an ego-blanket to laugh off such situations is of great benefit.

The new stereotype of young talkative poker pro shows its appeal in the sheer number of players who turn up for the local £5 rebuy tournament every week (over 100) both wearing Ipods and prepared to talk a mile a minute about pot odds and stop-and-gos and whether their 18 year old opponent is making a move on them. It’s quite a hard act to keep up, especially if the actual details of the patter are a little less than accurate. It looks like it takes a lot of energy to copy this type of player if one is not naturally a bit hyperactive and blessed with that natural ability to read people and cards – all credit to the pretenders.

Perhaps by copying the playing style and mannerisms of the tournament world’s stars, the new guys might actually be doing themselves a favour in the long run. With an armour-plated ego and healthy disrespect for money, when their experience catches up to their sense of self-worth, they will be dangerous too.