How to Improve Your Poker EQ

It doesn’t take much reading to find someone equating poker success with intelligence, or the other way around. It seems relatively obvious that successful poker players are, at least as a population, of above average intelligence. What doesn’t get discussed, though, is the other side of the equation, and the extent to which being a successful poker player requires not only a high IQ, but a high EQ as well.

What is EQ?

EQ stands for Emotional Quotient (in contrast to IQ, Intelligence Quotient). EQ isn’t discussed as often as IQ outside of poker either, so don’t feel bad if you’re unfamiliar with the term. In many ways, the reason it isn’t as highly-valued in society is because it’s harder to brag about – while there does exist an established system of EQ measurement, paradoxically, the people with the highest EQs tend to veer away from wanting to measure themselves in comparison with others.

Your Emotional Quotient is your ‘emotional intelligence’ level. It’s your ability to recognize different emotions in yourself and others, to label them, identify them, and deal with them. People with low EQ tend to be very ‘caught in the moment’ – they might struggle with anger management issues, or depression, or anxiety. People with high EQ, on the other hand, tend to be more at ease with themselves, without the same kind of neurotic ‘inner struggle’ that plagues so many of us in today’s society.

It should be mentioned at this point that the concept of EQ is one that has come in for criticism within psychological research communities over the past 10-20 years. Without delving too far into the reasons for these criticisms, suffice it to say that while the concept may be flawed as a tool for analyzing the deeper reaches of the human mind, it is nevertheless a simple, useful concept that can help most of us understand ourselves a little better.

Developing Your Awareness of Others

You can probably already see the ways in which high-EQ individuals have a higher aptitude towards poker – they’re less prone to tilt, they’re more balanced in how they approach the game, and they’re more in tune with their opponents. Much has been written of how to reduce and combat tilt at the poker table (to the point where any discussion of the concept here would be moot), and work-life balance is a concept that would require an article of its own, so let’s focus on being more ‘in tune’ with our opponents.

How can we go from being completely ignorant of our opponents and their emotional state – which is how we are before we sit down at the table – to being as ‘in tune’ as we can be? It starts with what one might call, ‘active awareness’, and this in turn, starts away from the table. It begins with addressing the fact that most of us are so wrapped up in ourselves and our emotions on a daily basis that we forget to consider the emotional states of the people around us.

It’s hard to think about the idea of selflessness as a concept that applies to poker, but it does – if we want to learn to understand our opponents and how they play, we have to understand other people and how they think and feel, and if we want to do that, we have to turn our focus outward. If you, like many people, spend most of your time trapped in your own head without taking the time to consider other people’s feelings, you’ll find it harder and harder to understand their points of view, and almost impossible to figure out why they do the things they do at the poker table.

At-the-Table Applications

So how can we apply this concept in a practical way? How can we start behaving like high-EQ poker players at the table? Well, active awareness involves paying as much attention as possible to what’s going on around you. Look at your opponents’ mannerisms, the way they carry themselves, the way they talk – are they friendly? Do they look like they’re happy to be there, or are they frustrated that they’re now on their third tournament of the day with no cashes?

If you’re playing online, consider the background of the people you’re playing against. Are these recreational players? If so, how are they likely to feel about this low-stakes tournament? Could they be ‘scared money’ when you get deep? On the other hand, if they’re professionals, how big are their egos? Are they all the kind of players who hate giving up a pot to another pro, and can’t find the fold button? Those players certainly exist.

You might think all of this falls into the category of ‘getting a read’ on your opponent – that’s only half-true. In reality, ‘getting a read’ is all about making a judgment of an opponent’s emotional state and thought process, and figuring out how all of that might affect the way they actually play.

If you don’t think you have the EQ to understand how the ebb and flow of a poker game is going to affect your opponents’ feelings and the way they play as a result, good news! You’re a human being, which means you have the capacity to think and feel in a way which adapts to the emotional landscape of the world around you. Trust in that, and as your understanding of your own emotions and the emotions of others improves, your poker EQ will skyrocket.