subject: Do not reveal emotions - it is a weakness [print this page] A few days ago, I was playing an opponent who usually is a good competitor. Over the past several years he consistently keeps his focus and attention on the game. Our matches generally end up fairly even. This last time, every time he missed a difficult shot, he complained that he wasn't doing as well. He was very consistent with his regular, comfort zone shots. Because this was something in his routine that was out of the ordinary, he alerted me to a potential weakness that I could exploit.
I immediately changed my game strategy to test him. I concentrated on forcing him to play the type of shots that he first commented on as being difficult. I got a couple more complaints that confirmed the original assumption.
For the rest of the match, I backed off on my personal intent to win and concentrated on only giving him shots that were tough. As expected, his game fell apart and the win was one of the easiest I had over him in a year. After-wards, he gave a series of excuses for losing, which was OK with me.
He lost, not because his game was terrible we were playing even up until he made the mistake of exposing his emotional reactions, and thereby revealed a weakness I could take advantage of him. Through-out the rest of the match, every time he made some kind of complaint, I agreed wholeheartedly and adjusted my game plan to do more about it. Each time I followed up with "It just didn't look like your day."
If you are playing someone who is a master gamesman, making any comment or showing any emotion can reveal a chink in your competitive armor. And once this knowledge is known, your opponent can use it against you forever. He will use it in the current match, and apply it against you in every future face-off.
This is why you should remain as emotionless as possible throughout the competition. Even your victory celebration should be muted. To confirm this, watch the great players, coaches, and managers. The vast majority of them are as smooth faced as any poker player. (Remember how Bill Walsh of the 49ers handled himself during games? Talk about stone-faced, it was the same whether the team won or lost.)
If playing against people who don't have gamesmanship training or experience, they won't recognize these types of situations as opportunities. If so, you got lucky. If any of them spotted your emotional reaction, you would lose.
Gamesmanship (offensive and defensive) is going to become much more common and more widely used in competitive sports. Studying books on gamesmanship (like my "The Psychology of Losing Tricks, Traps & Sharks" and Sun Tsu's "The Art of War") will educate more coaches, referees and players. It will come to pass that revealing your reactions to situations will be an open invitation to lowering the percentage of wins in your future.
