How to Prep Your Brain to Win at Casino Games - Relatively Interesting

How to Prep Your Brain to Win at Casino Games

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Many people who play at online casinos depend solely on luck in order to win. If they feel lucky, they will feel it’s the right time to play. But the secret trick to giving yourself a greater chance to win in games of chance brain power. If you want to start winning, you need to train your brain to be able to calculate the odds, spot patterns, tally up how much to bet, and being able to focus all throughout the game.

So, how exactly do you train your brain so you can start winning more at roulette, scratchcards and slots? If you have been playing for a while now, then you have already started. Yes, without you knowing it, playing casino games online improves your mental skills. Aside from the entertainment value, various brain skills are also honed, including your memory capacity, mathematical skills, mental speed and agility, and even social skills as you chat with other players. In fact, a 2011 study titled Brains on Video Games, concluded that there is direct connection between gaming and improvements in cognitive function. 

In essence, the more you play, the better you get at playing and winning. The old saying, “practice makes perfect” may not be completely accurate, but a 2014 study from Rice University, Princeton University, and Michigan State University proves that “practice will usually make you better at what you’re practicing.” However, it is important to remember that, just like any other training, the routines you perform will determine how well you will improve. If you want to level up your brain training, try doing these brain-boosting exercises.

Use Your Less-Dominant Hand

Use your “other” hand, the less-dominant hand, to control your mouse. This will feel weird at first and it might be a bit difficult but, as you do this more often, your brain will get accustomed to it and you will also be able to do this at other tasks, like writing, brushing your teeth, or combing your hair. This exercise challenges your brain and brings about the growth of new nerve pathways.

Make Memorizing a Habit

Perform exercises that will help boost your memory powers, such as memorizing your grocery list instead of writing everything down on paper or your smartphone. Solve crossword puzzles, try to recall the details of past events or even try to memorize phone numbers. Popular online casino games for Canadians like poker and blackjack can be quite complex and will require players to be able to remember odds, card suits, as well as the actions of the other players. For poker alone, there are several variants, including Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Joker Wild, All American, Tens or Better, and Supajax, and you need to be able to remember the slight differences of each of these variants if you want to succeed in the game.

Vary Your Daily Routine

Having the same routine each and every day will cause your brain to become “lazy” because it experiences the same things over and over. When you add variations to your routine, you keep your brain engaged and force it to remember new activities. Instead of taking the same route to work, try a different route. And if you usually drive, walk on certain days. Learn a new recipe or take up a new hobby like a musical instrument.  Try new things.

Brain Training (but take it with a grain of salt)

We’ve all seen the commercials…

“Play for only minutes a day and train your brain online or on your mobile device and you’ll become sharper, smarter, and altogether happier”. Lumosity, Fit Brains, Brain Age, Brain Challenge, Clockwork Games, and Mind Games are among a list of many brain training services available.

But do the games and exercises on these websites, apps, and services actually make your smarter? What about more classic games like crossword puzzles, word finds, and Sudoku?  Does brain training actually work?

The studies performed to test their efficacy are often conducted by the companies making the claims about their services, so there is a conflict of interest from the get-go.  External evidence is lacking, and some studies contradict each other.  Therefore, it seems like more careful, independent studies are necessary before we can conclusively say that brain training actually works.

A 2013 review and meta-analysis of studies involving healthy children and adults concluded:

…that memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize. Possible limitations of the review (including age differences in the samples and the variety of different clinical conditions included) are noted. However, current findings cast doubt on both the clinical relevance of working memory training programs and their utility as methods of enhancing cognitive functioning in typically developing children and healthy adults.

Brain-training does not seem to make you smarter, but will make you better at whatever task you perform. This can be simply a training effect – you will get better at anything you do repetitively. This is no more an effect of brain plasticity than any generic learning. Suggestions that such brain-training makes your brain function better in any way other than simply learning the task that is being practiced is simply not evidence-based.

Whatever you do, stay mentally sharp by engaging your brain with the tactics above.  You might just give yourself an extra edge at the casino!