Integrity in Poker
If you've been reading PokerMark articles about how to play poker, you know that we never try to act like poker is the squeaky clean activity that some people would have you believe. Poker is like Las Vegas: there may be kids and strollers now, but that don't mean this place ain't shady.
At the same time as we don't shy away from the seedier side of poker, we also feel it our duty to point out why learning integrity is such an important part of learning poker.
"Integrity," did we say?
Yes, integrity is the word, and yes the word integrity is closely related to words like morality, ethics, and honesty.
"Honesty," did we say?
To explain:
Integrity Increases Your Bluffing Credibility
The most obvious demonstration of why integrity matters in poker is because poker players who are regarded as having integrity have more credibility when they bluff.
If you're known as a stand up guy who likes making his wife dinner and seeing friends become successful, your bluff is going to be regarded with a degree of respect by your peers. Unless, of course, you live life with integrity but play poker immorally and unwisely. In that case, your bluff may be regarded as the desperate act of a weak and worthless man.
But in any event, you're still playing with integrity whenever you're bluffing. And if you've got
Poker players who have not figured out how to incorporate integrity into their games are always terrible bluffers and often they are self-sabotagers who aren't really ready to win.
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Integrity Reduces Unpleasant Interactions with Other Players
In the Bible, the apostle Paul instructed the early Christians to be "gentle as doves, wise as serpents." This duality can well be applied to the behavior of a successful poker player. You want to maintain the moral high ground if possible, but you're completely not naïve.
On a basic level, being a halfway good person while playing poker can be a good choice to make. Playing poker with integrity can help you avoid stuff like:
- Being hated by everyone who plays with you
- Never getting invited to play poker because you're a dick
- Getting accused of cheating
- Getting beat up
- Getting banned from casinos
You may get away with cheating, playing undisciplined poker, and other very bad things for a while, but if you play enough poker, what goes around comes around pretty quickly.
Everybody likes to play poker in good company.
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In Poker, Integrity and Deception Are One Concept
On a philosophical level, every successful poker player must examine his or her "style of integrity" if only because poker players who haven't figured out how to deal with integrity can never deceive other human beings as fully as a player that do have integrity in mind.
In fact, the truth-telling part of integrity, and your manipulation of it, may be the number one factor in how consistently and how profitably you can deceive your opponents.
Some players address the issue of integrity by making it startlingly clear that they don't have any and don't plan to get any anytime soon. And that's fine. Answering the question with a resounding no is one legitimate way to handle the integrity issue.
To put it quite bluntly, all philosophy aside, your success as a poker player depends on your ability to make other people believe what you are saying--what one quality inspires that kind of belief more consistently and more profitably than any other quality?
If you're betting it's integrity, the odds are stacked in your favor.
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