Games to Feed the Mind
What have mind games got to do with gambling online? Plenty! You just don't know it yet, but read this and you'll discover an untapped winning resource you can utilise to help you stack the odds more in your favour.
You may be forgiven for thinking that mind games are something of a departure from the ethos of a gambling focused site, but you'd be wrong in that assumption. Feeding the mind with puzzles and logic games to boost its effectiveness is akin to doing physical exercise to increase muscle strength, stamina and performance.
How Do You Feed the Brain?
Your brain is a marvel of complex, problem solving capability and potential. Most of us use barely ten percent of that potential that's locked up inside the grey matter and that's a waste! So how do to tap into that store of power?
Use it!
There is an apt little saying that goes, "use it or lose it." Most of us don't use our brains enough and waste all that potential for expansion and greater success in life. All the self help books in the bookstore will tell you that and so far as we are aware, it's perfectly true.
Time is Precious
We waste our valuable time sitting in front of the television allowing our brains to be filled with mostly nonsense entertainment and advertisements, none of which do anything to encourage mental growth. We while away the hours we consider to be free doing things that are not conducive to our betterment.
What if you decided one day to turn your life upside down and start using all of that wasted time for something more productive? Like improving your mental performance to help you solve problems faster and turn new skills into profit?
You'd be catapulted into a better style of life, that's for sure. But how does any of this relate to gambling on the Internet or at the race track?
The Power of Sound Decision
When your brain is working at a higher level, one of the massive advantages you will have over most people is an increased ability to reach sound decisions faster and with more conviction. Having that capability can increase your winning potential at any game you choose to engage in.
Being decisive is paramount in successful gambling because you need to make rapid decisions that are right more often than the odds expect you to.
While this capability may not be so important for playing games of pure chance, such as slots or roulette, it can be vital for playing games where an element of skill is involved. Games such as poker, blackjack, backgammon etc fall into this category.
One Step Ahead of your Opponent
Take poker as a classic example of how mental superiority can win you games that you would not otherwise have had any advantage in. Poker is as much about reading the intent of the other players around the table as it is about making the right bets or playing your cards in the right way.
If your brain is dulled through hours of watching soap operas and ads for washing powder on the TV, you are certainly going to be at disadvantage to the player at the table who spends all their free time exercising their brain with logic puzzles, concentration games and performance testing calculations.
That person will be more alert and be faster at reaching a decision whether to go up against another player based on the potential of their hand against what might have a greater chance of turning up in the flop at the turn or river (if playing the popular draw poker derivative, Texas Hold 'em). It will also mean their strategy on when to bet, raise, call or even fold, will be sharper and stand a better chance of throwing off their opponents.
Skill Games Need Better Brains to Win
There are other skill games that require a higher level of concentration and decision making that can ultimately result in not just winning the game, but also any bet associated with the game. People bet on all kinds of games, so don't presuppose the whole world of gambling is just limited to casino games and certain popular sports betting. It's not!
Chess and draughts (checkers) players have been known to have a side bet to sweeten the game and backgammon is traditionally a betting game. While more bets are generally placed on any game by those not partaking than those actually doing the playing, it is still important to be able to base a decision on which player or team to bet on based on a number of relevant criteria.
Using Your Brain to Win with Sports Betting
When it comes to sports betting, the same applies. You could simply take a chance and put your money on a football team winning a match without knowing anything about their current form and that would require little forethought. Or you can use your brain and study the form, the players on each team, the ground its being played at, the current situation with the team's manager, coaching staff and even player morale if you can get close enough to learn these things.
While any game can go either way, the chances of one team triumphing over the other will increase if certain criteria are met. Take the following scenario:
- The player morale is high
- The coaching staff and manager are all happy and respected by the players
- There are no financial difficulties at the club
- The team have won several of their most recent games including the last one played
- All the team's best players are fully match fit and starting
- The players are on a lucrative financial bonus for each game they win
- There are no transfer requests pending that might unsettle players
There are many other circumstances that might affect player and team performance and dozens of other factors that can influence the outcome of any game. But when harmony and a winning spirit is present in a team, they can be unstoppable. A savvy sports betting person in possession of all this knowledge would be able to make a highly informed decision to put their money on such a team.
It all adds up to going that extra mile to get even the slightest increase in advantage over what may otherwise be considered slim to non-existent odds in predicting a game's outcome. It takes that extra ingredient of enhanced brain factor that anyone can achieve when they work at it.
This will work in any sporting event you care to name, by the way!
What About the Brain Versus the Online Casino Game?
Getting back to online casinos and the games they provide players with, you might be tempted to believe that you don't really need any extra skill set or mental advantage to play and win online casino games. Simply hitting the start button on a 5 reel slots game doesn't take much thinking about, right?
To a point, that may be right, but there are certain instances where being alert, calculating and decisive can make a difference. And no matter how slight that difference may be, it can have a marked effect on the outcome of a gaming session over many games.
Blackjack, for instance is a classic example of how you need to be "on the ball" to increase your chances of winning. Sure you're playing against a computer based random number generator in essence, but the games are governed by odds, house edge and rules that the virtual dealer must adhere to and these are what you can use to your advantage.
Decisive Blackjack Betting
With blackjack, you might feel that the dealer is dealing itself better hands than you by design, but it's really random. Over a series of games, the odds will force the dealer to lose hands too, and you need to be alert to the times when you can improve your chances.
Take the "stand at soft 17" rule as a classic example.
The sensible player will be very much aware of this rule and will bet accordingly based on their hand and the chances of hitting a card that will produce 18 or better if you are not already holding that amount (in which case you'll automatically win anyway). The ill-informed player may not be aware of this and could waste a bet by making the wrong decision.
Staying Alert
Of all the factors that are important in gaming of any kind is the ability to stay alert and to remain observant (knowing what is going on around you) and decisive at the right time. A dull brain can cost you money when you miss an important event during a game that can affect its outcome, simply because you were not as alert as you could have been.
The actively exercised brain is far less likely to miss important events, meaning you can go on to win a game (or bet on a winning player depending on your perspective) thanks to picking up a certain signal or a small variant that can affect the outcome. That takes concentration and attention to detail and that comes with practice and regular exercise of the mind and literally playing mind games to improve it.
Conclusion
No matter what type of game you play personally (or observe and bet on as a bystander), when you are alert and able to concentrate for as long as it takes you can make more solid decisions and improve your winning chances. It therefore makes simple sense to do whatever you can to improve your mental function to enable to you produce that greater degree of concentration and alertness.
You do that by feeding your brain and keeping it healthy, active and ever working toward greater ability. And that is done by using it!
I hope you enjoyed this article, because it is a subject that is close to my heart in terms of how I like to play and to increase my own chances of winning wherever possible and in however minute increments so as to make thing possible that may not otherwise be so.
Suffice it to say, I don't waste time sat in front of the television during my "free" time. In fact, I don't have "free" time, because all my time is productive in one way or another! If you want to win, you need to develop that mindset too.
