Most human beings dislike uncertainty intensely, and winning poker players are no different. They prefer to be sure they’re ahead before committing their precious chips to the pot.

As you might expect, uncertainty creates stress, which in turn disrupts thought processes and stops players from performing to the best of their abilities. Lack of information, or conflicting information, are the main causes of such uncertainty, and when faced with a big decision at the poker table one thing you want to avoid is doubt.

Psychologically speaking, we, as humans, have mental representations (referred to as ‘scripts’) stored in our memory for all anticipated situations that we find ourselves in, and this helps to reduce our feelings of uncertainty.