Poker News

James McKenna, Ph.D.

The popular book, “Games People Play” by Eric Berne, MD contains many games seen at any poker table. Here’s a few fine whines served by players and the psychological games they represent.

“If It Weren’t for You” (IWFY) is a psychological game that’s useful for people who want to cover-up their own inadequacies. The one blamed for such playing inadequacies is the dealer or another player who “got my cards.” The lament is, “If it weren’t for the lousy cards that the dealer was dealing I could be a better player.” Another favorite whine when a player loses a hand on the river is, “Runner, runner!” This is like saying, “If it weren’t for you staying in for all seven cards, I could have won!”

Each of us has to experience our share of losses. The difference is that some lose and get ready for the next hand. Others use the loss to suffer and extract a payoff of sympathy or blaming others.

IWFY players seldom, if ever, give credit to the dealer or other players for their good hands. The main advantage to this psychological game is that it’s a way to hide from one’s self, to ignore one’s own inadequacies, and to blame the world for being a poor player. If another player stays and gets a better hand, the IWFY player will get upset not only because he or she was beat, but also because the other player stayed when (s)he “shouldn’t have.” It never seems to occur to such a player that the other player stayed because of skills in reading cards, people, and odds.

The game of “Look How Hard I’m Trying” occurs when players lament with these whines after a spell of receiving bad cards.

“I had you before the flop!’

“I never get good cards!”

“I get the same cards every hand!”

“If I’d stayed, I would have won!”

“I’m beat more with pocket Aces than I win!”

“I can’t win with good cards!”

This group, though, has many “non-whiners.” Some “Trying Hard Players” will suffer in silence until they collapse to prove how strong they are. Once it becomes known that they have a bleeding ulcer, they will look up and say, “Look how hard I’ve been trying!”

Such silent sufferers are trying hard to be strong. If they are pushed around, they’ll make foolish bets, just to say, “Look how hard I tried.” Often, these players are like a dog with a bone. They refuse to give up a losing hand. No one ever taught them to say, “Uncle,” or to give up before things got worse.

The psychological game of “Blemish” is evident with whines such as these:

“I can’t believe you’d play cards like that!”

“Don’t you ever check?!”

“I’ll believe you next time.”

“I only called [with a bad hand] because you were betting.”

“I can’t believe you stayed to the river with that hand.”

Poker is ripe for the game of “Now I’ve Got you, you SOB.” This game is usually identified by its acronym: NIGYSOB. The whines come from the “Kick Me” players who are the NIGYSOB players’ victims. Here’ some whines that usually mean that the player has just be cornered:

“Oh, hiding behind the bushes again, huh?!”

“I knew I shouldn’t have called that raise!”

“I didn’t think you’d have those Aces again!”

“Man! You’re sure are lucky!”

“If I would have gotten my card, you’d have been sorry!”

The common denominator of a lot of these games is “Ain’t it awful.” When we suffer misfortune, this presents opportunity for some to grow and others to suffer and extort sympathy. “Ain’t it awful” players seek the opportunity to suffer. They are the table-whiners.

These are just a few of the variety of fine whines served is any casino. If you have others, let me know by E-Mail and I’ll let you know what psychological game I think they represent.

Filed under: Poker News