While most casinos have now shut their doors, some people are continuing to play live poker, even after they have been warned about the risks. As a psychologist and poker player, it is interesting to consider why people would risk their lives and the lives of others in order to play poker during the time of the pandemic. There are many reasons for this lack of good judgment: some players are risk takers, some have nothing else to do, some need to earn, and some are addicted to playing.
Poker and Black Swans
Humans have a difficult time dealing with extreme events that rarely occur. Nassim Taleb calls these events Black Swans because people have a hard time dealing with things that they do not expect to happen. Like someone hitting a two-outer on the river, extreme, unexpected events often leave us in a state of panic and anxiety since we are not prepared for their occurrence. Like the financial panic of 2008, no one expected all of the markets to go down at the same time, and once this happened, everyone panicked and made the downturn worse.
As I argued in my book Bad Beat Therapy, one possible benefit of playing poker is that one becomes exposed to Black Swans on a regular basis, and so one can become what Taleb calls anti-fragile. In other words, the best way to build up a strong defense against panic and anxiety is to be exposed in small doses to extreme, unexpected events. Moreover, we often learn best through painful experiences that break through our defensive minds, and yet, some people never learn from these negative occurrences.
One reason why people do not confront extreme, unpredictable risks is that they prefer to live in a state of denial. In fact, I have written about the way addictions, including the addiction to playing poker, are a way of escaping from harsh reality by using a substance or activity that directs our attention to another reality. Since we are driven to avoid conflict and tension, we do not want to look directly at painful experiences and potential risks. On the other hand, a lot of poker players are risk takers, and they may actually feed off of the threat of doing harm to themselves.
Another reason why some poker players may keep on going to casinos during the time of a pandemic is that they do not believe what the government and public officials are saying about the risks. Many poker players are libertarians, which often means that they do not trust the government, and they do not want to be told what to do. After all, many people become professional poker players because they want to work for themselves and set their own schedules. This lifestyle choice is sometimes driven by the desire to reject any authority telling them how to live their lives.
While some poker players are concerned about their physical and mental health, many players neglect the need to take care of themselves, and so they may not be receptive to the advice of experts concerning the health risks due to a pandemic. There is also the related problem that many poker establishments rely on people risking their money, and so they do not want players acting in a rational and thoughtful way. For instance, on the day before the U.S. declared a national emergency regarding COVID-19, the Commerce Casino sent the following email to its customers:
As a valued guest at The Commerce Casino & Hotel, we want to assure you that The Commerce is taking all appropriate steps to support the safety and well-being of our visitors, players and employees:
Increased frequency of cleaning of cards, chips, menus and other frequently exchanged items
Increased frequency of cleaning and sanitization of surfaces with hospital grade disinfectants
Increased availability of hand sanitizer stations as well as individual/mini hand sanitizers for guests, as supplies become available
Frequent employee education on the facts of COVID-19 and proper hygiene to reduce risk of infection from respiratory illnesses
Review of employee absences against CDC travel advisories and encouragement to stay home if ill
It should be clear that the casino was torn between keeping its business healthy and keeping its players safe. Although they suspended operations the following day, their actions acted as a form of denial since the safe practices they presented were not actually safe.
It is a simple fact that casinos are businesses that are most concerned about making money, and the health of their customers always comes secondary. If this was not true, they would not serve free alcohol or allow people to smoke in their establishments. The sad fact of the matter is that the poker economy and casinos rely on people not acting on their own best self-interests. Since most players are long-term losers, it should be evident that they are not guided by rational motivations, and this is one reason why understanding psychology is so important for poker players.
We like to think that we are rational people who are good at assessing risk and dealing with imperfect information, but the truth is that we have a hard time controlling our emotions and confronting our cognitive biases. Evolution has shaped our minds to only focus on immediate, short-term risks, and so we are prone to ignoring long-term threats and unpredictable, extreme events. In fact, our minds are prediction machines, which enable us to move around the world without using too much mental energy. However, when we encounter a novel event, like a novel virus, we often react with either panic or denial.
It is also important to realize that some people will try to take advantage of this situation by seducing people to play on risky online sites. Since online poker is still illegal in most parts of the United States, it is vital to make sure that you are playing on a site that is safe and secure. It also might be a good idea not to keep too much money on any online casino because we never know when the financial crisis will affect the ability of these sites to pay back their players. Overall, we must be careful and aware of the risks without panic or denial.
