To Headphone or Not to Headphone, that is the question!

Posted on December 4, 2008 
Filed Under General

I received an email recently asking me if I listened to music while playing poker, and if doing so actually helps my game or detracts from it. Much like the sunglasses phenomenon, the trend of wearing headphones and listening to music at the card tables is definitely a result of the poker boom and the insurgence of millions of young players into the game.

Typically when asked such a “yes or no” type question, my go-to answer is to just say “do what the pros do.” Now what do I mean by that? Look at it this way, the top flight professional poker players have been playing cards for money for decades. They’ve tried literally everything to try to give them an edge at the table, from superstitious artifacts to funky wardrobes. In most cases, such as wearing sunglasses at the table, the results are universal, as most poker pros have gathered that wearing them at the table can’t influence their results enough to warrant wearing them, which is why in general you don’t see many full time pro poker players wearing sunglasses at the tables.

Music on the other hand is a different beast altogether. While sunglasses are a physical change to your poker persona, listening to music can often induce an emotional or mental change to a players mindset, myself included, which is why I do in fact listen to music at the table more often than not.

Grinding away at a table for hours on end can get very taxing on ones state of mind, and really the only kind of breaks we can take at a casino without physically leaving for the day is to go outside for some fresh air or stop to eat. I actually don’t like to take breaks that involve me leaving the game, which is the reason I listen to music. If I find myself starting to lose focus and not following the action as intently as I should, I’ll pop in one or both earbuds and put on some mellow mood music. The sounds keep my mind active, and helps remove some of the staleness from the game.

Now the question becomes, what about being able to hear the other players, who may be giving away important information while they play? It really all depends on the scenario. If I’m playing a very loose game and am simply just waiting for the right moments to strike based on tight card selection, then my listening habits can be a little more accommodating and I might have both my earbuds in. But if I’m playing with very experienced players, such as in a tournament, then I’ll either just have one earbud in, or none at all, and even if I’m still listening to music, the volume is very low as to not allow me to miss a important comment from a opposing player.

But as always, it comes down to preference. Can you listen to music and focus on another task at the same time? Some people can’t. How do you know what kind of person you are? Look at other areas of your life. Can you listen to music while you work and stay focused? If so then you can probably do the same at the table. But if you need to turn off the stereo whenever you’re trying concentrate on something, then maybe you need to leave the iPod in your car.

As usual, practice makes perfect, so experiment with some different types of music in different poker settings and see if you can find a combination that works for you.

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