In regular poker when you're going head to head with a human opponent, it is not difficult to understand how easy it is for a player to be "psyched out." The other player's supposedly superior skill, his panache, his past playing decisions can all lead an opponent to Ihe edge of the abyss—thus becoming "psyched out." "Psyched out" can be defined by a whole host of phrases and cliches (all of them right on the button). Being "psyched out" is the losing of one's rhythm, confidence, judgment, or optimism in the face of a seemingly superior opponent. It's been alternately called "freezing" in sports contests and "going on tilt" in gambling games. For college students (or any students), being "psyched out" means being "out of it" on a test. ("Damn, Professor, I knew the answers, I just couldn't remember them. I was out of it.") To some degree, all of us have probably experienced the phenomena of being "psyched out" at one time or another in our lives. Some of us have also experienced, and perhaps enjoyed, the phenomenon of psyching someone else out. When-you're psyched out, you are the deer in the headlights of a car—frozen and doomed. When you're doing the psyching, however, you are an eighteen-wheeler barrelling down on Bambi.

Can one be psyched out by a machine? Definitely yes. I'd call this situation self-psyching out, because the player would do it to himself. Since I love inventing psychobabble, let's call this the Self-Psyching-Out Syndrome! (Or SOS—we'll drop the "P.")

How would the SOS manifest itself? I believe that if a player is psyched out it will usually show in how he manages his money and the types of bets he makes. However, a player could play perfectly and still be psyched out. There comes a time in every losing session where you have to say to yourself: "Am I done for the day? Have I lost all I can afford or want to lose for this session?" No matter how often an individual gambles, it feels bad to lose. But a person who is psyched out almost wants to lose—that's the strange thing. It's almost as if at a certain point the object of the player's desire is no longer beating the casino but beating himself. Suddenly the player takes a perverse joy in inflicting more punishment upon himself, like the boxer who punches himself in the face because his opponent just got through his guard and punched him in his face. It's a double dose of indignity.

And video poker can certainly set up the necessary conditions for a player to be psyched out. Most video-poker games have long losing streaks and most sessions will be losers. That fact should not make you believe that you are doomed to lose—that you deserve to lose; that somehow or other you have been a bad little boy or girl and must be punished for it. Yet I've seen people behave this way. Remember that you are playing the best video-poker games because you want to win money. Why else would you have bought this book? The fact that you intellectually know that more often than not you will lose should not predispose you to taking those losses lightly or, conversely, to heart. Never get to the point where you say to yourself: "Screw it! I'll keep playing until I lose all the money I brought." Get into that frame of mind and you could lose your entire stake in one unlucky session. On some nights Lady Luck is no lady but a cheap whore who will give her favors to the house. Walk away from her.

I have mentioned it on numerous occasions in this book but it bears repeating once more: video poker is volatile. You will have explosive winning sessions and many grinding losing sessions. So you must play a contained game and stay on top of yourself. Although your opponent is only a machine, it is a machine that is incapable of psyching itself out or of being psyched out. The dealer-in-the-machine will deal, collect, and deal some more—deal, collect, and deal some more—until the edge of doom. Just don't let that doom be yours.

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