As I watch the action around a poker table in the card rooms in California, in the casinos in Nevada, and the play here in Colorado, I am amazed at the level of ego displayed. This ego is usually confined to males. It seems to me that the "other sex," fair and beautiful as they are, has more sense than to place their bankroll in jeopardy by taking a firm stand in the face of adversity and almost certain defeat. That good old male ego can cost a player a bunch of money over the course of a year or so. The message in this chapter is to take a close look at our own egos and try to evaluate what effect that ego has on our play at the table.

Ego gets involved with our play when we take a modest hand or even a poor one and try to power it through some tough opponents. Let me illustrate what I mean. Say this guy calls before the flop with the ace-three of spades. The flop comes with an ace in it, say, and ace-nine-four of different suits. The guy bets and gets raised and another guy calls. Now what would you do? What could they have that you could beat? You found out what you wanted to know. Get out. Oh, no. Not this guy. He has an ace and he will show the hand down. That is ego. Dumb.

Lots of online poker players think they have the courage of a pirate. They don't flinch when looking into the business end of a cannon or blink when a bully snarls. But give them a poor hand and all the evidence in the world that they are beat, and they will still call the hand down.

They must think that is bravery.

The other night Carole was sitting next to me and her check-raised a guy. The game was Texas Hold 'Em. The flop came ten-ten-six. Carole was in third position. She checked, everyone checked except the dealer. He threw in a bet in a defiant manner. She check-raised. Everyone folded except our hero. He groused but threw in his money. The next card was nothing. Carole bet again. The champion again called with an angry gesture. The last card was an ace and I figured it gave Carole a full house. She bet and, of course, the guy called. She showed him her boat and asked to see his hand. He had the king-seven of hearts and there was only one heart on the board. Guess what? His ego made him do it. He just refused to believe she had him beat. I guess he could not believe that a woman could beat him.

THE MESSAGE WAS NOT IN CODE!

Carole told him exactly what she had with her check-raise. What more information could the guy expect? Carole was a solid player who played solid cards. Knowing that it usually is a bad practice in low-limit poker, she seldom bluffed. Yet that entire guy could beat would be a stone bluff.

This game of poker seems to bring out the ego in all of us. If you see yourself in these stories, have a little talk with yourself. You are costing yourself some money.

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