Yesterday I talked about how many people dumb down their senses and their perceptions at the table focusing particularly on why a lot of players choose to wear sunglasses. The other side of the dumbing down the senses tirade is about the way in which many players like to have tunes cranking in there ears while playing poker.
Now similar to the sunglasses thing Ive tried this out too, mainly because I was bored and didn’t see myself doing much more in the tournament other than gradually blinding to the felt over the next several hours. So out come the tunes, something to keep me interested and motivated – a bit of Radiohead, Jimmy Eat World & Refused. However after 15 minutes and a few rounds, I cant hear a thing at the table and my focus is quickly shifting from the table to auditory explosions occurring in my ears. What I couldn’t get my head around was how a pro who was at the table was not just listening, but actually watching TV shows on his iPod.
What I couldn’t understand is is how on average two people were plugged in at every table. Maybe its just a part our continuing drive to be plugged in constantly. We need the whole experience enhanced. Soundtracks in our ears, and our lives played out in high definition 1080.
So call me pixelated but, I feel that my game is not enhanced by being plugged in and focused through accessorized media. What are your thoughts on the subject?
$5 for the most intuitive informative response.
I think the reason players wear headphones is to try to get into a zone with their game. I could never do it thinking I would be missing important information or even missing a little of the social aspect of the game. You have to admit, hours and hours without any social interaction at poker would be painful.
I think you should not be able to have headphones, you can never tell with electronics these days what they could actually be listening to. Use ear plugs if you want to zone people out.
Should you be able to listen to anything? How about poker tutorials while the game is being played? Is that fair?
I dont feel its the need to be constantly plugged in, some players like the music to keep thier attention and keep them awake while waiting for a hand worth playing, some players like to think that if theyre listening and focusing on the music it will disguise thier tells as something associated with the music like thier favourite song coming on or something like that.
I dont always listen to music while playing but sometimes if I feel myself slipping or distracted, or to get over a bad beat I will slip some music on.
What is suprising is the ammount of people who claim to play while drunk, i think thats just crazy if you want to win.
i understand the need to rant against things that seem alien to you, but you got to realize that some things work for some people, and some things don’t.
-poker peacenik
haha
I think people wear headphones for the sole reason of annoying you (not you specifically). As a matter of fact I think the reason most players do anything at the poker table is to annoy you. Like calling your pocket AA with 72 offsuit and winning!!!
Anyway i’m not a great player and I need to concentrate as much as possible. Headphones would drive me nuts!!
I play a lot of online poker, and I often turn the chat options off and let it just give me dealer information, and have Last.fm playing the entire time. I’m not interested in what other people have to say at the table, if I am playing poker, I am there to win, and I block everything else out. This said, I am playing with what I listen to. Metal is a no go for me, too distracting, and so is chillout, as it leaves me feeling tired whilst I fold hand after hand. I find dance music good, as it’s energising, although I do also want to try gregorian chant to see how that helps my focus.
As for poker tutorials, they’re going to be limited help at best, because unless you are listening to one based on position, starting hand, limit/no limit, your outs and your pot odds, then the information is going to be generalised at best.
Geee whiz what folks will do for 5 bucks these days