4 Compelling Reasons to Be Antisocial While Gambling

Gambling is an inherently social activity. Many gamblers love gambling for precisely this reason. It can be so much fun to make new friends or gamble with old ones.

That being said, for the serious gambler, being a social butterfly can have serious consequences. If your goal is to make money at the tables and walk away with cash in your pocket, then you need to consider being antisocial.

Here’s why it can help you to avoid talking to people or making friends at the tables.

1- You’re Going to Be Able to Concentrate on the Game Better

I think this is the number one reason to avoid talking to people and making friends while gambling—it destroys your concentration.

Gambling for real money is all about paying attention—close attention. It’s critical that you know what’s going on at all times and that you’re thinking critically, just like your English teachers always told you to do.

They want to become your new best friend. They want to talk about the cards. They want to talk about politics. They want to talk about life.


You want to make some money.

You’re trying to do several things at once. You’re trying to remember your blackjack tables so that you’re always making the right bet. You’re trying to remember when to double when to get insurance when to hit when to stay when to split.

And all the while you’ve got someone blabbering on next to you. Do you think you’ll be able to count cards effectively if you engage with this person?

Ignoring them might make them angry, but who cares? If you’re a professional, you’re in it to win it. You’re not here to make friends. You didn’t come into the casino looking for a buddy or a partner.

You’re here to make money. That means you need to ignore people like this and do your best to concentrate on the game.

Let’s think about another example.

2- In Poker, You’re Going to Throw Your Opponents Off

Poker is a game of skill, probably more so than any other game in the gambling world. Poker requires so much mental gymnastics that it might as well be called a game of psychology than a game of chance.

The problems that you run into with poker are nothing like the problems you run into in any other game. Take blackjack, for example. It’s just you against the dealer, and the dealer isn’t trying to psych you out.

Take roulette. It’s again just you against the house. It’s a game of pure chance. There’s nothing you can do to win by outthinking your opponent because you don’t have one.

Poker is so different. No matter what your hand is, you’re trying to figure out if the other person has a better one. Most people are looking for distinct and not-so-obvious tells, which are just actions or expressions that each player has to show if they’ve got a good hand or a bad one.

Depending on your strategy, you might be inclined to try to throw your opponents off by engaging in conversation and talking to them in an effort to distract them from the task at hand.

This is definitely a viable strategy, which is why you’ll see so many players implement it at the tables.

There’s always someone annoying who wants to talk to you about where you’re from, what you do, why you do it, and a million other things that have nothing to do with their interest in you and everything to do with trying to throw you off.

A good poker face isn’t enough. You need to ignore these people entirely. It’s the perfect counter to their attack. Their goal is to distract. They know this strategy works because most people are inherently social and happy to talk someone’s ear off who’s interested in them.

Being antisocial throws these people off completely. They never quite know how to respond to someone who isn’t picking up what they’re laying down. A poker face is good for not showing people what you have in your hand, but you need to be able to concentrate solely on them and their reactions.

If someone tries to talk to you and ignore them completely, not saying a word, it tends to be unnerving. Most people will be offended, which is to your benefit. Someone who is offended is more likely to be on tilt. They’re trying to figure out why you’re such a jerk and not focusing on the cards.

This allows you to study them and try to figure out what’s in their hand. If you’re focusing on the cards and not on the conversation, you’ve got a leg up on the competition.

Did you walk into the casino to make friends? If so, that’s totally fine, but I realize that most people at the poker table aren’t interested in making friends. They’re interested in your money. Period.

This might be tough, especially if you’re the kind of person who loves to be chatty, but believe me when I say this strategy will help you in the long run, especially if you’re trying to become a professional poker player.

3- You’ll Be Able to Play Faster

Concentration is key to a successful gambling career, especially with certain games. Blackjack is a perfect example. The goal in blackjack, if you want to make money that is, is to play a ton of hands.

You need to be playing in the range of a 200–300 hands an hour, which might sound crazy, but it’s actually totally doable.

First of all, it requires you to only be playing against the dealer, but it also requires you to be fast—lightning fast.

To be that fast, you need a lot of practice, but you need more than that—you need the ability to knock those hands out without anything distracting you.

Now there are certain dealers out there who are happy to be quiet and antisocial themselves, but if you’re playing hour after hour, they’re probably going to get pretty bored. They’ll want to socialize a little.

Don’t fall for it. This is the perfect way to slow down your hands per hour and lose your concentration. You need to avoid being chatty as much as you can.

You need to be antisocial.

The same can be said for many other games in the casino, but blackjack is one of the few games where you can actually make money. Another good example is video poker.

When you’re playing real money video poker, you’re trying to do the same thing you’re doing with blackjack. You’re concentrating, trying to remember your strategy, and trying to be quick about it.

If you’re sitting next to a Chatty Kathy, you’re going to slow down. You’re going to struggle to concentrate. You’re going to find your winnings suffer, or you’re going to see your money earned per hour suffer.

4- You’ll Have Better Success at Craps

Craps is one of the most social games that you can play in a casino because most people are playing together. There’s a lot of excitement and fun happening at the table, and because most people are betting on pass line, everyone is winning at the same time.

But what about the guy who’s going against the crowd? That person is going to be the enemy in the eyes of everyone else. When you win, they lose, and there’s bound to be resentment.

That being said, you need to not care about what these people think. They’re not your friends. They’re not anyone you care about. They’re just people playing a game. The don’t pass bet is the superior bet.

You should always play the superior bet. If you’re antisocial and bet against the crowd, you’re going to win more often, and you can ignore what they want. They may even try to convince you to change how you’re betting.

Ignore them. Focus on why you came into the casino in the first place—to make some money.

Conclusion

Being antisocial isn’t for everyone. Are you a social butterfly? Do you think it serves you better than being antisocial? Let me know in the comments.