2. Accepting Cheaters

The good player quietly accepts cheaters if they are losers. In fact, he often welcomes their cheating because they generally lose more money when cheating, particularly when cheating in complex games involving split pots and twists… A player usually increases his losses when cheating because he—

• dilutes his attention toward the game by worrying about and concentrating on his cheating
• overestimates the benefits of cheating and thus plays looser and poorer poker
• makes his cards more readable.

Why does a player cheat if his cheating increases his losses? Some players cheat to satisfy emotional needs. Other players cheat out of financial desperation.

Sid cheats for emotional rather than financial reasons. His cheating costs him thousands of extra dollars every year, as shown by the data below. The data include a three-month period when Sid stopped his cheating because he was worried about getting caught.