Can Playing Poker Make You Smarter?

Poker is considered to be the most played and popular card game in the world, with millions of people playing it daily.

It is a card game that requires not only knowing its basic rules and how betting works but also great mental and cognitive effort entwined with the knowledge of psychology and how emotions impact people.

All these prerequisites entail exceeding mental intensity, which can have the most beneficial effects on your brain. Understanding what happens to your mind at each stage of the game can help you harness those powers that come with playing poker and which can help you not only with your game but with life in general.

We need to view poker as a game that involves making a lot of decisions at an incredibly fast rate, and these decisions are hopefully based on the problem-solving and critical thinking skills of the player, resulting in that player winning the hand. The ability to understand and analyse the situations that arise throughout the game is fundamental for every poker player, and it belongs to the group of those mental abilities where concentration and good memory are of paramount importance.

Some Ways Your Brain Adapts To The Game Of Poker

# Playing Poker Affects the Prefrontal Cortex and the Thinking Processes

During a poker game, as pointed out earlier, you need to include a lot of critical, logical, and strategic thinking at all times. Virtually no other activity demands such high levels of different thinking at the same time, which speaks volumes on how poker impacts the brain. The part of the brain that manages this critical thinking and reasoning is the prefrontal cortex.

Anticipating player’s next move, or trying to read their facial expression stimulates the brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, which fosters their growth and, consequently, your cognitive capabilities.

What also leads to cognitive improvement is the unyielding focus and concentration when playing a game of poker. Concentration is one of the skills most commonly related to playing poker as, without the focus and concentration, one can’t hope to win the hand.

With being able to maintain your focus throughout the hand, you will train your mind to pay close attention to the dealer, what cards are on the table, what bets have been called, who folded, and what the opponents might hold in their hands. This will ultimately lead to a greater attention span and the ability to acquire new information much faster.

# Poker Can Safeguard Your Mental Health

The benefits of poker on a player’s mental health have been at the core of many research papers, like this one from Yale University. Namely, diseases like Alzheimer’s belong to a group of disorders that cause huge problems with thinking, memory, and behaviour. The symptoms start slow and might finally lead to a complete loss of memory and the ability to function in everyday life. The aforementioned research, and many other similar ones, most notably the one conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, have found a link between playing card games and the perseverance of mental health.

Patients who play card games have a 50% less chance of suffering from brain-related diseases. Playing poker and other card games stimulate the brain, and when the mind is forced to work, the blood vessels are active and functional and the brain cells get the oxygen and nourishing they need to stay alive. These conditions are predominantly related to the elderly, but with such prevention that comes with playing poker, younger players can hope to avoid these issues as they grow older.