2:15am: This might seem like a totally wacky question, but it’s actually totally legit. Hear me out.

One thing I’ve noticed that is probably the achilles heel of most of the players I play is that they have a complete lack of trust towards me. It doesn’t matter how many quality hands I show down, there’s always some fool willing to call me down with ace high. Granted, if I see someone doing this early on, I’ll probably throw them a bone (false information) to make them believe that ace high will continue to be “good” throughout the match. If they feel like their call is rewarded, they will probably continue to try and make hero calls throughout the match. It’s pretty sad, but most of the time it’s true.

Anyways, why does this happen? Why are so many people so untrusting now a days? Personally, I think it has to do with their personality. People either trust people or they don’t. It’s almost hard wired into our blood, which is influenced by past life experiences, both good and bad. Those with good life experiences probably trust people (poker players included) a lot more, and those with bad life experiences are probably a little bit more skeptical of everything they are told or shown; not to mention the countless amount of times people have been burned by folding a pretty good hand, only to have their opponent show them nine high. All of these experiences can permanently re-wire a poker player’s way of thinking, and not for the better.

Consequently, the untrusting person finds himself “curious” way more often than he should, resulting in some pretty non profitable sessions. We refer to these kinds of players as “calling stations”, however my friend and I like to call them “the police” because they’re always patrolling your bets.

Whether or not you agree with me that life issues have anything to do with one’s play at the poker table, what cannot be denied is that many people need to re-evaluate the frequency at which they call to fold. I once heard a guy at a poker table say as he called off the last of his stack on a very big losing night, “I might go home broke, but I’m not going home curious”.

It is because of guys like this that poker will continue to be profitable to those of us who know how to lay a hand down.