Dec. 6, 2003

Sooner or later -- if it hasn't happened already -- you're going to receive an email message that purports to be a magic trick. You might be instructed to go to a Web site to find the trick, or the message itself will demonstrate it for you. Either way, you will see six cards and be asked to mentally select one of them.

After you've made your selection you're either instructed to click somewhere on the screen or scroll way down while the mentalist behind your monitor tries to guess which card you've chosen. Then, miracle of all miracles, five cards appear on your computer screen. The missing card is the one you selected.

Neat?

Several variations of the trick exist (google the words "card trick" for example) and as with all illusions, this one works because the participant follows instructions to the maximum. That is, he or she concentrates on a particular card without paying any attention to the other cards in the illustration.

This is how a lot of people play poker. They follow the rules. They read a book and think everything in the book is written in stone. They play only according to the hold'em starting-hand chart. They won't play anything but the most solid three-card starters in stud. They won't touch anything but the ace-high nut flush draw in Omaha.

But the player who knew how to detect the trick behind the illusion is the very player who will whip the pants off the robot who plays by the book.

Here's an example that will make this concept clear.

A fresh, Young Player (YP) told me recently he had been beating Noted Player (NP) regularly in one of the major cardrooms in Las Vegas. "Every time I showed my cards he would shake his head and ask me how I could play them."

YP continued to explain that he wasn't playing his cards as much as he was playing NP.

"NP plays exactly the same way he tells people in his writing. I can tell you what he has practically every time he's in a pot," he explained. "So what if my cards aren't the best to start with? They're the best when I beat him. And I'm pretty sure I can bet anyone who plays like that."

This, by the way, is not the first player who has ever related this scenario about an NP.

YP is probably right. If I were to show him the card trick I'll bet he could figure it out right away because he will look at the entire scenario and not just the card he's picking.

NP, on the other hand, accustomed to following the letter of the law, will probably have to get a hint or two before the "aha" factor materializes.

Unlike driving a car or performing surgery, playing poker doesn't require strict attention to the law. Certainly it requires knowledge of the game and attention to house rules but once you own those two items, you need to wear them like an expensive watch and move on. Then you put observation, adjustment and creativity into the game. The best of players might have you believe that playing by the book is the only way to succeed but if you act like a railbird and watch their play for a while, you'll see that they don't play as they say.

Remember, there's no place at the table for a robot.