Intuition

Too many overvalue their small pp or ace rag. But of late I have been faced more and more with the ones that have small pp and ignore the flop - chasing to the river. If I am unlucky they will catch the one outer... and that is the reason I find myself ignoring my intuition when at a table with unknowns.

Playing with people I have notes on I always depend on my first instinct and find the majority of the time I am correct.

I never actually said that one could become a good poker player using intuition alone, as opposed to practice and experience, but some assumed that I meant this for some reason. We all use a combination of logic and intuition when we make all decisions, poker included. We all have our own personal ratio I suppose. Poker is one of those activities where intuition may prove to be very helpful. for some. Imagine someone trying to council others using science alone, and with little intuition that would help them see what others are going through, particular if they can't articulate it.

I would say intuiton plays a big role in being a successful poker player but combing it it with other tools, such as math, experience, picking up on tells, is what makes a you a much better then avg player. Many people may have perfected one or another aspect but those that excel in all are the ones that more then likely have great results long term.

Yes its very important however I quite often ignore it although, or second guess it... I mean shit today I had QQ someone reraised an uber donk, I had a feeling he had aces yet I shoved him all in anyways.. and bam there they were. I can also sense if I raised in MP or whatever if I was gonna get reraised by what player and such its like I know its coming.

This happened to be last game I had avg stack, I raised A-8 in EP 5 times BB.. this person rerasied 12bb.. I know he didn't have an ace or a made hand pf for that matter, and was just trying to shove me off, I called... he showed K-Q I hit he didn't, can't complain.. I also have a feeling when my cards are gonna hit or not half the time.. weird huh.

NCfoldem said:

I never actually said that one could become a good poker player using intuition alone, as opposed to practice and experience, ....

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I don't think that makes sense, since intuition has to be a function of practice and experience. Else it's just blind gambling.

Grinder101 said:

I don't think that makes sense, since intuition has to be a function of practice and experience. Else it's just blind gambling.

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Right and wrong...A gut feel is when you call a bluff without having a read on the guy just because you "feel" that he's downright bluffing this one! no reasonning behind it you just felt it! Or sometimes when you make that 35% call against the 65% favorite because even though you are unfavored and you might even know what he has, you just "feel" as though this Ace is going to hit on the river! No science or reason behind it you just feel it and it does happen! And to more people than you would think! Heck that's what Doyle Brunson means when he talks about the gut-feel! Figure you have equal odds how would you chose to call or fold?

However some people mistake between the intuition they get and the illusion they give themselves when they want a card to hit and doesn't...And some people, less experienced and less intuitive than others miss far more in their intuition then others.
That's why everyone must have all the experience they can get but in the end, the more naturally intuitive will always have an edge against an equal level player. And I believe that's the way it is...

One more thing... We have to learn to balance between reason and intuition and to me reason will and should always have the edge. Intuition is for some picky moments of hesitation only or that occasional moment where for whatever reason you figure that you're gonna call that uncallable hand ...

Grinder101 said:

I don't think that makes sense, since intuition has to be a function of practice and experience. Else it's just blind gambling.

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I don't think that intuition can be learned. You can learn how to make the best possible decisions in poker, or anything else through practice and experience. However, you cannot develop more intuition through practice and experience.
For those who are intuitive, one can learn how to "read" their own intuition better; so that it may have more practical application. Intuition is not a function of reason - two completely different parts of the brain. Using logic and intuition together can be a powerful tool, however, most of us will have "misreads" of our intuition (not to be confused with "misreads" of our opponents hands), that reduces the amount that we can comfortably rely on it.

NCfoldem said:

I don't think that intuition can be learned. You can learn how to make the best possible decisions in poker, or anything else through practice and experience. However, you cannot develop more intuition through practice and experience.
For those who are intuitive, one can learn how to "read" their own intuition better; so that it may have more practical application. Intuition is not a function of reason - two completely different parts of the brain. Using logic and intuition together can be a powerful tool, however, most of us will have "misreads" of our intuition (not to be confused with "misreads" of our opponents hands), that reduces the amount that we can comfortably rely on it.

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+1!