When poker players discuss the mental game, they often focus on obvious emotional pitfalls like fear or excitement. Fear can stop you from making a huge, game-winning bluff, and excitement might cause you to make a reckless gamble. But there’s another, more subtle force at play that could be doing more damage to your win rate: comfort. Comfort is a significant “leak creator” because it pushes you toward easy, comfortable decisions that are frequently suboptimal.
RunitOnce poker pro Phil Galfond compares this to choosing an escalator over the stairs. You know the stairs are better for your health, but the escalator is the easier, more comfortable choice. At the poker table, players constantly make similar choices, opting for the comfortable play without a second thought.
The Sneaky Influence of Comfort
Unlike the blaring alarms of fear and excitement, comfort is described as “really sneaky”. Most players can recognize when they are about to make a terrible play driven by extreme emotion, but comfortable decisions often go completely unquestioned. These plays can even feel like good decisions because they are so much easier to make, all while they “torch” your Expected Value (EV).
Common ‘Comfortable’ Mistakes at the Table
Comfort can manifest in numerous ways, guiding players toward less profitable lines of play. Here are some common examples of comfortable decisions that may be costing you money:
- Checking instead of bluff-shoving the river: Even if a bluff-shove is the mathematically correct play, it can feel much more comfortable to simply check, particularly if the plays are close enough to justify in your mind.
- Shoving the turn with a strong hand instead of calling: On a draw-heavy board, a player might shove the turn to avoid having to face a scary river card. However, the optimal (GTO) play might be to call, which keeps your opponent’s bluffs in their range and could capture more value. This type of comfortable shove “torches EV”.
- Betting the turn with a weak top pair: Instead of checking back and potentially facing a difficult decision on the river, some players will fire a “comfort bet” to avoid a tough spot later on.
- Raising on the flop to “find out where you’re at”: This is often a comfortable way to reduce uncertainty in a hand, but it is not always the best strategic move.
How Comfort Creates Exploitable Leaks
The single biggest problem with seeking comfort is that it causes players to make the same types of plays over and over again. These repeated patterns, or tendencies, create “leaks” in your game that sharp opponents can easily spot and exploit. For instance, if you consistently check back on the turn in certain spots or always bet in others because it feels good, observant players will notice these patterns and profit from them.
Turning Discomfort into an Advantage
To grow as a player, it is crucial to recognize and address your own discomfort. By developing self-awareness about the situations that make you uncomfortable and lead to leaks, you can start to correct these issues in your game.
Furthermore, understanding how discomfort impacts your opponents’ decisions can be a powerful tool. When you can identify what makes an opponent uncomfortable, you can exploit their resulting leaks and make more profitable decisions against them. This level of play requires introspection, self-awareness, and empathy to understand not just general emotions, but an opponent’s specific emotional reactions and the tendencies they create.