[CAPTION=100%]The way you talk about poker
Watch Your Language: Why Words Matter in Poker

There are many different ways in which we conceptualize poker in order to make it easier to talk about. We talk about it as a mathematical construct, we talk about it as a psychological battle between opponents, we increasingly talk about it as a sport, we talk about it as a gambling pastime. One way in which we almost never talk about it, however, is in meta-discussion – in other words, talking about the ways in which we talk about poker.

This article contends that the language we use in order to talk about poker, both to one another and to ourselves, is perhaps the most important aspect of the game, period. Indeed, the argument could reasonably be made that language is the most important aspect of any field, since it’s the only way we’re able to even acknowledge said field’s existence. Here’s an introduction to why this is the case.

Poker is a man-made creation

First and foremost, it’s important to acknowledge that just like most other aspects of modern culture, poker is entirely a man-made game that doesn’t exist in any kind of objective way. It only exists to the extent that we say it does, which means all the concepts associated with it also only exist if we say they do. Once you understand and embrace that fact, it becomes a little easier to recognize some of the biggest potential stumbling blocks in your poker learning.

In linguistics and semiotics, there exist concepts called the ‘signifier and signified’. Each word we use is defined as a ‘signifier’ for a thing that exists, while the thing itself is the ‘signified’. Changing the signifier, such as using the British word ‘pavement’ instead of the American word ‘sidewalk’, or using the French word for ‘chair’ (‘chaise’) instead of the English word, doesn’t physically change the landscape of our roads or render a chair invisible.

In poker, these concepts as true as well. There was a time back in the days of Wild Bill Hickok when re-raising someone in a hand of poker (presumably five-card draw poker) wasn’t called 3-betting – it wasn’t really called anything. But nowadays, when we say ‘3-bet’, we’re using a new signifier to describe a signified concept that has existed for centuries.

Translating the math

The modern era of poker, and the advent of Texas Hold’em as the most popular form of the game, has taught us the reality that poker is really just one giant, infinite, unsolvable math problem. A solution exists theoretically, if not in practicality. What we’re doing, therefore, is trying to figure out that solution in a way that we can understand – since complex math isn’t an appropriate form of human communication, we need to take what we can from it and turn it into language.

All we’re doing, in reality, is translating numbers into words. When we say “I think my opponent’s range is X, Y and Z”, we’re using language to express numerical denotations about our opponents’ ranges, and when we raise to 2.5 big blinds preflop we’re communicating something to our opponents about our range using a mathematical metric.

The only way to really bridge the gap between these two paradigms – the mathematical and the linguistic – is to take our interpretations of a situation and plug them into a GTO solver or a calculator, and then re-evaluate our original interpretations based on the results we get.

Essentially we’re translating from English (or whatever other language we speak) into math, and then back to English again. This process is the process by which we learn – over time, the mathematical reality of poker becomes more and more evident to us once our ability to ‘speak the language of poker’ improves, and we get a little bit closer to playing a mathematically perfect game.

Directing your mental game

With all of this in mind, we need to divert our attention towards how our language drives our own mental game. It could be said that our self-talk, or the language we use when we’re talking to ourselves internally, is the primary driver of almost all of our behaviours – the words we use to describe ourselves are highly determinant of what we believe about ourselves (and vice versa), and what we believe about ourselves shapes our reality.

It follows, therefore, that we must master our own internal language before we can hope to achieve a high-level mental game. We must recognize that the questions we ask ourselves will always be answered with something that makes sense to us according to the way we see the rest of the world – if we ask, “why I can’t I just win tournaments more often?”, the answer we get from ourselves won’t be, “because that’s not how variance works”, it’ll be “because I’m not good enough”, or “because I’m the unluckiest person in the world”.

When trying to achieve the ‘holy grail’ of poker performance and become entirely process-focused (as opposed to results-focused), this means that we must avoid discussing our results with ourselves internally if we want to avoid being focused on them. We shouldn’t dwell on them, or wonder why they’re different, or ruminate on what we can do to improve them. We should only strive to improve our processes, one step at a time, by directing our mental energy towards them.

Communicating inwardly and outwardly

Finally, our outward communication can be just as important as the things we say to ourselves. If we’re constantly telling bad beat stories, complaining to friends about our opponents, berating weaker players for mistakes, or otherwise talking or behaving in ways we never would outside of poker, we’re leading ourselves in entirely the wrong direction.

If we’re preoccupied with celebrating our victories and commiserating our defeats, we can’t also celebrate when we make a great decision but take a bad beat afterwards. If we’re preoccupied with receiving our friends’ sympathy for how unlucky we are, we can’t teach ourselves to embrace the reality of variance within the game. It’s crucial for all of us to look closely at the way we talk and communicate, and do whatever we can to use language that is helpful to both ourselves and those around us. It’s what’s best for us, and what’s best for poker.