Gambling demands quick thinking. Good gamblers are exquisite decision makers. Yes, it takes knowledge and skill to be able to assess the situation. However, there is apparently thinking without thinking. It happens in a split of a second. It can change the entire flow of the game. Do you trust your gut in gambling?
Should You Trust a Gut Feeling?
“You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down.” – Steve Jobs
Some of the greatest minds and achievers rely on a gut feeling. There is no reason why casino players could not do the same. Everyone who plays any kind of a game – a sports one, an entrepreneurial one, etc. – takes risk sometime. Trusting your gut is actually not risky at all. It is, in fact, a more reliable and safer way to go.
Many researchers have pondered on this subject and wrote about it. Nevertheless, the phenomenon is still not fully explored. Either way, it exists. We have all felt it at least once in our lives. When we face important decisions, we cannot do wrong if we follow our gut feeling.
How does Our Brain work?
The thing is that our brains work as super machines. We are usually not aware of this. People are using smaller part of a brain, while the larger part is still being explored. Regardless of this, that small part of a brain functions as a super-computer.
The problem is that regular persons like you and me, do not know how to use it to its full capacity. Essentially, the main task should be to interpret the signals that we receive on a cognitive level.
What Scientists Have Found?
You may have read Malcolm Gladwell’s best-seller “Blink”. It explores the same topic. It is in tune with scientific research that claims our brains actually make decisions several seconds before we become aware of it. That several seconds are crucial for a phenomenon we call “gut feeling”.
Gladwell talks about the impressions we get about a person we have just met and how that impression takes no more than 3 seconds to create. If this is true, and we now know that it is, imagine facing the decision whether to double down or not. Or, whether to fold or call. The research we mentioned above takes away any doubts or second thoughts. Trust your senses.
The Challenges of Gut Feeling Faces in Gambling
However, we should not forget that in order to make a subconscious decision, a person needs to have some kind of an input. Prior knowledge and skills someone gained through experience is always a good place to start building a foundation for decision making. Our brains would simply pick the data from that database and form a conclusion.
Whether everything is so easy as it sounds, we will see in years to come when research comes to a conclusion. Reportedly, the main interference in the process of decision making can come from our prejudices and biases.
Either way, as all thing related to gambling focus on choices, assessment of odds, making decisions, becoming a professional is a true achievement. It means that a player has managed to control the impulses when needed and let them scatter when possible. Or, as Gladwell said:
“I think that the task of figuring out how to combine the best of conscious deliberation and instinctive judgment is one of the great challenges of our time.”
So, do you trust your gut in gambling?