Hoss TBF - part of Think Tank?

[sobefuddled]

Actually, there is no such thing as instinctual reasoning. Instincts are. Period.They cannot be trained. They can be used or buried but not trained.
Eating whatever is at hand when we are on the brink of starvation is instinctual. Defending ourselves when someone is trying to harm us is instinctual If we were to override instinct with rationality we might not choose to eat locusts because we have a visceral adverse reaction to them. That is not training our instinct at all. That is making an irrational decision based on an emotional reaction.
Choosing to kill someone when we are afraid of them is an irrational choice based upon the visceral reaction of fear. It is the emotional reactions that are learned-not the instinctual reactions. There is never a need to shut off emotion. As human beings we simply choose whether or not we act on emotion. That is a rational choice.
At their core instinctual reactions are rooted in truth. We do not train our instincts. We are born with them. Emotions are what they are but our emotional reactions are learned and can be unlearned.
So yes, understanding how another player might react emotionally to something we say or do might help our game. Might. However, to base our play on just this would be a serious error since at its core Poker is rational. It is math. Emotions are irrational. But they do make life and poker more interesting.