Alan Schoonmaker has had one of the best poker books on the market for years now called The Psychology of Poker. Given the nature of it’s title it’s a book which barely touches on hand to hand game scenarios and thus may have been thought of as reading without the fanfare from writing peers such as Doyle Brunson, David Sklansky and Mike Caro. It simply didn’t have the “meaty” poker strategy, or did it?

I have had that very book on my top ten list since I read it for the very reason others chose not to read it. It is deep level thinking that goes to the core of every poker player’s fundamental strategy and profiling skill building. Those who did not read it and think they can do without it are either super skilled (top 10 – 20 players in the world) or simply ignoring costly realities.

Here now introducing Dr. Alan Schoonmaker’s latest addition to the collective poker psyche, a new book called “Your Worst Poker Enemy”. Yes, you guessed it - for the very reason you didn’t read his first book, YOU are your own worst enemy at poker and between these thoughtful pages you may just discover exactly why that is and what to do about it.

Recently I was in a sit and go tournament where during the early stages I noticed a player generously handing out the usual “nh” – nice hand comments while he was (by no skill of his own) the early chip leader. Later as the tournament narrowed and his competition increased he got less friendly and eventually as I took the lead from him, downright belligerent. Just before I won the tournament and eliminated him in third place, he actually chatted that he would kill me if he saw me. Oh brother.

Here is a typical low limit player that just has no clue that he too was his own worst enemy, and thus is preventing his own growth in the game. Schoonmaker brings to light in this book how players often play over their skill level feeling they can beat the game, without considering that there are easier levels to select and improve your own likelihood of profitability. He also makes it quite clear that there are very few players on this planet who can pull off some of the stuff you Brunson, Hansen, Ivey and Negreanu doing with regularity. Neither is it a simple matter of calculating poker odds.

In fact, Schoonmaker even claims it nonsense to be following some of the advice these pros put out for amateurs, referring to a particular Doyle Brunson recommendation from Super System for relying on your intuition to decide your strategy. Since you and I are not those players, and likely do not have those type of intuitive skills a more scientific, logical approach to the game is needed.

Once you accept this premise, the rest of the book makes complete sense and can be used as a layered set of psychological tools for your next game. Dr. Alan Schoonmaker has a values perspective to this game as he outright admits his skill levels are not world class but he makes a profit because he knows which games he can beat and doesn’t let his pride or arrogance make decisions for him. If this sounds like you, (and how could it not, really?) maybe it’s time to think a bit deeper about your game and confront your worst enemy.

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Poker Book Review: The Psychology of Poker by Alan Schoonmaker Ph, D.

It was hard for me to know whether to give this one four stars or five because it is not the best of the poker books out there, yet reading it definitely enhanced my game. All I can say though is that if you're a beginning or intermediate level player, the volume has much to offer.

A crucial aspect of psychology is understanding why we do what we do. Dr. Schoonmaker considers it of the greatest importance to determine what our internal motivations are for playing poker in the first place. Is it all about the money? Well, for me it is, but, for others, there may be numerous factors such as the need for socialization, and a need for competition. He introduces concepts like the eight principles of poker, a series of questions to help ascertain whether you have "the right stuff" for the game, the law of subjective rationality, and the egoistic fallacy. Yet, all of these ideas are presented in layman's term and not in sentences filled with psychoactive mumbo-jumbo.

The key section of The Psychology of Poker concerns The Styles Grid, in which we answer some basic questions about ourselves in order to figure out our style at the table. Of course, the most common style is one somewhere in between the four presented. I will mention them now and give their nicknames within brackets: Loose-Passive (Calling Station), Loose-Aggressive (Maniac), Tight-Aggressive (Stone Killer), and Tight-Passive (Rock). Out of these four, the optimal mode is that of Tight-Aggressive. I believe that Dr. Schoonmaker's perceptions and descriptions are clearly on target in regards to cash ring games, but, should one be tempted to apply his advice to tournaments, you'd be in big trouble.


The book was written in 2000 just before the big poker craze began, so the author could not have anticipated just how much the gigantic freeze outs would predominate the way in which we play poker online. If one sits around and waits for great cards then, even if they plan on acting with focused, intense aggression should those cards ever arrive, they'll lose because it is probable that the blinds will eat you alive before you see those big pairs or big slick. You can't play conservatively and expect to make it past the first 90 minutes of a multi-table event (at least online as some of the blinds change at five minute intervals).

There was one aspect of The Psychology of Poker that immediately helped my game, which was Dr. Schoonmaker's analysis of playing with Loose Passive Players (LAPs) at the lower limits in what he labels, "No Fold `Em Hold `Em." He points out that this game is actually very good for the better players as discipline prevails. However, due to so many players sticking around until the river, the overall hand strength is so high that what can win in a regular game is a big loser if five people go to the river. Until I read his view, I could not figure out why I was losing so often with straights and trips. The moral of the story is that you just have to be patient when you play, and, also, to know thyself.

Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!"


Related Titles
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Slansky
Hold'em Poker Theory by David Slansky
Killer Poker by JohnVorhaus

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