Playing Poker as a Brain Benefit

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The society is of the opinion that poker is a sphere of gambling that is harmful to a person and brings only negative consequences for his psyche. But scientists disagree. In addition to the public importance of this profession, which Alexey Exan13 speaks about in one of the latest articles on the Poker University website. There is also a physical benefit of poker - according to scientific research from universities in America, playing poker has a beneficial effect on a person's brain activity. The study of the brain is an important part of research in science, which has been conducted for a long time and there are a number of scientifically proven studies on the effect of poker on human brain activity. These studies state the following:

1. Reducing poker stress

In 2010, a number of studies were conducted at Canadian University that proved that playing poker leads to a decrease in stress levels. 

The main stress hormone "cortisol" tends to minimal concentration during the game. And the stronger the player's involvement in the game, the lower the cortisol level. Scientists have linked this phenomenon to the fact that the game requires a high level of concentration and attention, so the brain, when processing a large amount of information, turns on the self-preservation mode and reduces stress. Of course, many will say that the game itself causes stress to many players, but, from a psychological point of view, the game itself is only a mirror that releases the existing stress. Alexey Exan13 writes a lot about the fact that poker is an excellent tool for indicating the psychologically weak points of an individual and working through them through the game in his articles. 

If you are interested in this topic, I recommend reading the following articles: What are emotions and how to increase poker income with their help, Tilt in poker: an introduction to the topic, 7 most common types of tilt 

2. Development of cognitive functions of the brain through poker

Also, in 2013, a group of scientists at Duke University investigated the effect of poker on the human brain, and revealed the relationship between individual parts of the brain during the game. In their experiments, scientists used the most advanced technologies - special microwave scanners with a narrow range of applications. The experiment consisted in the fact that players were offered a simplified version of the game of poker, and their brain reactions that occurred at different points in the game were tracked.

The results of this experiment were stunning - the most active area of the brain during the game with a real opponent was the parietal-temporal region of the brain. This fact struck researchers, since in classical neuropsychology the parietotemporal region is responsible for the integration of sensory information, including the relationship between tactile sensations and pain, and is responsible for object recognition and our auditory perception. 

That is, areas that in their main function are not the main ones when processing information and building an action program for poker players are involved at the maximum. 

This allowed scientists to substantiate the fact that poker players actively develop all the cognitive functions of the brain, which reduces the risk of intellectual impairment with age. 

1. In 2015-2017, studies of the cognitive functions of the brain in people living in nursing homes were conducted in the United States. And it was revealed that old people playing poker were 1.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's and had dementia. This is due to the fact that poker constantly requires a high development of concentration and memory and regular optimization of its mental processes, which slows down the aging of the brain and allows the formation of new neural connections.
2. Stephen Simpson, who works with top poker players, in his book “Poker Genius: The Mind Secret of Champions” devoted a whole chapter to the fact that during the game of poker, people have active mental work that allows them to form new neural connections. This has a positive effect on the brain and mental processes of the players. And it is the formation of new neural connections that allows players to grow and reach new heights, and also gives the ability to easily learn new things.

Playing poker has a large number of advantages not only as a profession, but also as a tool for brain development. By regularly improving your skills in this game, you will form new neural connections that will save your brain from early aging and help you live a bright and fulfilling life for many years. In addition to all of the above, the game of poker develops a surprisingly multifaceted multistage thinking, strategic and tactical, as well as the brain's ability to intensively process non-standard situations with getting out of the rut of stereotypical thinking. In the video course on postflop from Exan13, there are 2 types (schemes) of completely different mathematical parameters that are used in poker (briefly about this can be found in the equity and fold equity articles).

As well as excellent principles for developing thinking in poker, described in the fourth section of the course:

These principles reflect the multifaceted development of the brain, which begins to be actively used by the individual not only in the game, but also in everyday life, once again confirm the benefits of poker for the development of the brain. After all, all the intellectual capabilities developed during the game begin to be automatically unconsciously used by our psyche in everyday life. Playing poker is a great profession!