Breaking Insticts To Become a Better Player

[Evil Roopey]

When I first started this was really hard for me because of the lack of in-depth articles on this, so I figured I'd give it a go.

Have you read about predicting your opponent and punishing him for being predictable but for some reason you never seem to do it in an actual game? Predicting what human opponents are about to do is hard for beginners and hopefully this little article will help you out.

(All of my examples are going to be with Fox since he is my main, but you can easily apply a lot of what will be said to other characters.)

Now the biggest reason you can’t seem to apply this knowledge in actual games is simple: You have yet to stop playing with your gut instead of playing with your brain. You have to actually think about what you are going to do. Everyone comes to this realization sooner or later, but I’m saving you the trouble. Now, let’s say you are being approached by a Falco who is SHLing in his approach (which they all do) what is your response? Note you have about 2 seconds to figure this out before the Falco is on top of you and comboing you for 50% so think fast. Most people’s instinct to hold your shield. Now the problem here lies that most newer players will hold there shield even when the Falco starts hitting you. This is bad when you consider all of his options that will break your shield and hit you anyways. This is bad, if you couldn’t tell, but you have a few options for this: roll away right when he gets to you, sidestep dodge into a shine, or fulljump-Nair-shine. Now be thinking about what you should do now.

If you hit him with a shine, wavedash out of it towards him and try to predict where how he is going to wake up. This has to be the hardest thing to get used to for newer players. They like to just charge in there with short-hopped Nairs not thinking about the consequences or why they even did that in the first place. Now there are 4 different ways a character can wake up in this game: standing up, standing up with an attack, rolling to the left, and rolling to the right. Most people have different tendancies on which one they do in certain situations. In fact there are a lot of things that almost everyone does when put into certain situations. For example if you wavedashed correctly towards this Falco that is on the flood you should be right on top of him. Now if you did this fast enough you can Jab him into a Thunder’s Combo, but let’s assume you didn’t because most people aren’t that fast at this stage. People’s instincts are going to tell them to wake up with an attack, common sense, right? So you should know this and throw up a shield, wait for the attack and grab him or usmash out of your shield depending on percents but for examples sake let’s say you grab him. Now think again what is the best throw you have for this situation? The answer to that question is almost always upthrow, but when next to an edge I particularly like to throw them off and hope they run into a shinespike, most people won’t but at least it puts them on there toes. You also have the option of dthrow-usmash, this will only work if you have already grabbed them a few times and thrown them up every time so they don’t think to tech it. Now let’s say he ran into your shieldgrab a few times already, maybe he’s thinking I should do something else. So he rolls to one side or the other. Follow him and get in there with a grab or upsmash again but most likely grab.

Now he is going to start predicting you. Let’s say you have grabbed him a few times and he’s a good player. He’s going to start sidestep dodging as you approach. This is where pulsewalking and dashdancing come into play. You can run at him and wavedash backwards a few times in a row to produce said sidedodge (which is normally followed up with a shine) and then wait for it to be done and get in there with the grab you wanted to throw. And then go threw the steps of which grabs you should throw and all that stuff. This is where you learn to be unpredictable yourself. With Fox it is much easier than some other characters because of the ridiculous amount of options you have in almost ever situation. Just remember that sometimes it’s better to do the worse of two options because your opponent is expecting the better one, but this is for another day.

Now let’s say that you are against a Marth who is dashdancing around to produce a response out of you, you should think, what are my options and what are his options? You will soon realize that if you SHL his face he will have to come to you, where you turn on to defense mode. He’s most likely going to enter at you with a shffled nair or fair so be ready to shield from your SHLs because if you aren’t then he’s going to catch you in a shorthop and hit you in the face, that’s not what we want. So now we think he just hit a shield, obviously you shield grab and go threw your standard throwing decision, which in this case is most likely going to be uthrow-uair. This is where following DI comes into play. If he doesn’t DI then immediately jump up and uair him. If he DIs behind you, bair is normally the choice move, and most times if you FF the bair correctly while he is at low percents you can even sneak in another one right after it. If he DIs in front of you just dash up to where he is, cancel the dash with a jump into uair. Now following DI is a huge asset to Fox because of his ridiculous speed you should be able to catch people no matter what they try to do.

If your opponent is in the air, always think to go get him. There are lots of ways you can do this. Say your opponent is at mid percentile and you hit with a shffled nair, most of the time the fly away to far to hit with a shine so you follow them and shffl another nair you can most likely chain this to the edge of the stage. Now you have 2 options, kick them off the stage for edge guarding, or predict before hand when you are going to kick them off and instead of shffl nairing you jumpcancel an upsmash. Both of these options should lead to you killing your opponent. If they are at high enough percents: upsmash, if not kick them of and edgegaurd.

That is just one way to get your opponent in the air. Another would be if he is coming down from being hit. Think about your options and his options. You can jump up there and uair him, you can full jump and fast fall it to produce a response out of him (most likely making him use his second jump or try and dair you), or you can sit on the ground dashdancing close to where he will land and right before he does dash over to him and JC an upsmash. All of these options should be of course then follow up with the same train of thought of going and getting him. This is of course what we call juggling broken down into what you should be thinking about.

I know this seems like a lot to think about for an action that will literally take around 4-5 seconds to happen, and at first you will be caught thinking to long, but it’s all practice my friend. You will sooner or later learn to think about these things so horribly fast that you will amaze yourself. And if in an actual game you actually think about all of this when the situation arises you are on your way to being a better player. Just remember to think, play intelligently, and practice, practice, practice.

 

[Hylian]

I actually posted something on Gamefaqs a few days ago that sort of has something to do with this topic...so here it is:

All right… Thought I would share some advice that I believe is important to remember when you first start going to tournaments. This has to do with you technical players. And I guess it could even be more aimed towards fox players but I’m pretty sure every character could use this advice.

So…you’ve got all you techniques down for your character. Awesome. Playing against your friends you can use them perfectly and feel like your pretty good. Then you go to a tournament and get 3-4 stocked by moderate tourney goers. Why is this? It’s because you cannot just “use” the things you’ve learned and expect them to work on people…To an extent they will, but other things are more important.

Being able to execute something is meaningless if you do not know how or when to use it. People who start going to tourneys for some reason seem to have almost no mind games what-so-ever. I am a pretty technical player and the first bi-weekly I went to I got 3 stocked by the considered worst in Austin in two money matches. I could waveshine..Wallinfinite..Pillar...do all these things and yet I was still getting owned. I realized after that tourney which was one of my first ones (I got 7th out of what? 20 people? Pretty bad) that I REALLY needed to focus on something else. I was missing mindgames. Movement. Those two things…are amazing.

Try and watch pros play and see how they dash-dance all over the place and foxtrot and do projectile set-ups and things like that…it is SOO hard to hit them(pros) if you don’t think about what you are doing. Try to recognize what your opponent is doing..their habits..how they react to certain things..their recovery and edgeguarding habits..keep all of these in mind constantly while you are playing. Try to make them lose their Double jump..fake them out..pressure them..THINK. Stop focusing on trying to pull of a combo and realize what you can do to not be hit or lead your opponent into your trap.

At another tournament about 4 months after the first one I went to I had improved greatly..it was HOST and in that tourney I got 13th out of 69 participants I think it was..I also did some things that astonished myself..I ***** Mouf in the Money matchs…but still I wasn’t focusing enough on thinking. I played DoH a $1 MM and barely won which I give to my great laser play..but then he rematched me and of course I accepted and he two stocked me both times in a row. I think one was a JV3 stock. People will figure you out fast even if you are technical if you start to forget things.

The main point of this is that some people don’t realize how much more important mindgames, spacing, movement, and things like that are. They focus to much on preforming techniques. Remember to think while playing and you might notice yourself doing better. Study the best peoples at the tournaments you go to’s movement..see when they go in for the attack and how. Don’t just copy them but try to imagine what is going through their heads. Play smart smashers. Recoginize your habits as well as your opponents.

-Hylian

-Hylian

 

[Brookman]

Thinking during matches is bad. Play smart, don't think.

The only thing you need to actually think about, in my experience, is approaching. When you approach in this game you're at a pretty solid disadvantage, and newer players can get frustrated and just ebcome stupidly aggressive, if they aren't that way already. I think that is paramount, learning to be intelligently aggressive. Learn what is punishable, what is safe, etc.

That's the thing, newer players don't understand that aspect of the game. If you ask PC or KDJ, they don't conciously think the whole match through, if they even do at all. All the tactical decisions they make are based on instrinct and experience, or randomosity in kdj's place. Experience is the biggest factor in this game, for most players. Though there are a bunch of people who learn the deepest aspects of this game quickly, most newer players just emulate what the pros looks like, and then execute what they see in viddeos without fully understanding what is going on.

Conciously thinking hampers your ability to act, and react, immensely. Breaking bad habits is important, but playing without instincts is ">_>" At the end you talking about eventually thinking about things quickly enough, and that's instinct. Youa ren't breaking instinct you are just improving them. Making safe and educated decisions quickly based on instinct and experience is what seperates different players. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TD0HrWXLCw

Shiz is being stupidly aggreassive while colbol is just sitting back and taking advantage of his constant approaches. There's a lot of squandering going on in this match from both players, but it does highlight my point of stupid agression and being at a disadvantage when approaching. My conclusion: Dash dance to grab = win.

 

[JesiahTEG]

Hylian, stop stealing his thunder!

 

[Hylian]

I didn't mean to! And noone even commented on my post so I'm not >_>..I thought it related to what he said.

 

[Evil Roopey]

Thinking during matches is bad. Play smart, don't think.

See in my head I still think, because you still have to make choices constantly. If you go by instinct every time you will constantly do the same thing over and over again, which is the reason i think we are all still thinking. The only difference is we have done it so much that have learned to shorten the questions and answers we ask and tell ourselves so that it happens in the right amount of time. If you think to yourself "Which way should I tech?" and then answer "Right" sure you are not going to be doing it fast enough but when you get experienced at thinking at that speed you just kind of make the decision by thinking "Left or right?" because you know what you are talking about.

My point is that you need to train yourself to think during matches, and sure that might lead to you doing intelligent things more often in certain situations, but there is no possible way for you to put yourself in every situation for it all to become new instincts. You have to think.

 

[Brookman]

No, you don't.

 

[ChaosKnight]

nah thinking is not cool in matches playing smart is lol

 

[SmashNinja02]

I agree with Brookman. If you thinking you'll be too much into think and you'll just focus on thinking not the match. If you can think and focus on fighting then more power too ya. But playing smart just comes to you without thinking too much. It just happens like it's second nature or something. Personally I would perfer playing smart to thinking because 1.I'm not a bright person so I don't think too much and 2.Playing smart is exacly wat it says.

 

[Pye]

I agree with Brookman. I'm pretty sure professional players don't actively think about what their going to do next in a match. Next time you play, ask your opponent to play you in a Fox ditto, a Falco ditto or a Fox vs Falco match, and see how much you can think during that. You'd have to be a computer to think about every decision you make. Space animal fights are simply TOO FAST to consciously analize. It really dosn't even matter what character you're using. When playing against a space animal, they'll be doing things too quickly for you to keep up with if you try to think about everything.

As Brookman already said, players like PC and KDJ certainly don't think, in the middle of a match "well last time I uthrowed, so he's going to DI it right this time. I'll dthrow this time". They just know to switch it up by instinct.

Evil Roopey and Hylian are assuming instincts cause a person to do the same thing in a given situation, thus making them predictable. This is false. The instinct good players have tells them to do exactly the opposite. The instinct good players have tells them to be unpredictable.

I don't think Hylian and Evil Roopey are completely wrong, though. The part about "stop focusing on pulling a combo" and instead focus on getting into favorable situations and avoiding falling into traps, I agree with 100%. New players, including me until quite recently acualy, try to go for combos. As a result, new Marth's, for example, tend to throw around predictable and thoughtless shdfairs, because all they want to do is pull off a Ken Combo. New Falco players tend to run in and dair, completely forgetting about their lasers.

Combos come naturally through smart play.

EDIT: You know, I think both sides of the arguement in this thread may be argueing the same thing, just worded differently. Evil Roopey and Hylian say that people are always thinking in matches, but with experience they can think so quickly that it's almost instantaneous. Brookman says that's what happens, but it isn't thinking that players are doing: that's instinct.

 

[Micheloxx]

Stop Stealing It Aaaarrggghh!!!!! Xd

 

[Ixninjax]

You will never be able to play smart or develop good instincts/habits if you never think in the first place. All the experience in the world means nothing if you don't think before and after a match. If you want to play smart, first you must think smart. All of this has been thoroughly discussed before in threads like lunins 7 habits thread and kings new pantheon thread. The reason they have been able to excel in competitive smash faster then most people is because they think before, during, and after battle.

 

[Hylian]

I agree with Brookman. I'm pretty sure professional players don't actively think about what their going to do next in a match. Next time you play, ask your opponent to play you in a Fox ditto, a Falco ditto or a Fox vs Falco match, and see how much you can think during that. You'd have to be a computer to think about every decision you make. Space animal fights are simply TOO FAST to consciously analize. It really dosn't even matter what character you're using. When playing against a space animal, they'll be doing things too quickly for you to keep up with if you try to think about everything.

As Brookman already said, players like PC and KDJ certainly don't think, in the middle of a match "well last time I uthrowed, so he's going to DI it right this time. I'll dthrow this time". They just know to switch it up by instinct.

Evil Roopey and Hylian are assuming instincts cause a person to do the same thing in a given situation, thus making them predictable. This is false. The instinct good players have tells them to do exactly the opposite. The instinct good players have tells them to be unpredictable.

I don't think Hylian and Evil Roopey are completely wrong, though. The part about "stop focusing on pulling a combo" and instead focus on getting into favorable situations and avoiding falling into traps, I agree with 100%. New players, including me until quite recently acualy, try to go for combos. As a result, new Marth's, for example, tend to throw around predictable and thoughtless shdfairs, because all they want to do is pull off a Ken Combo. New Falco players tend to run in and dair, completely forgetting about their lasers.

Combos come naturally through smart play.

EDIT: You know, I think both sides of the arguement in this thread may be argueing the same thing, just worded differently. Evil Roopey and Hylian say that people are always thinking in matches, but with experience they can think so quickly that it's almost instantaneous. Brookman says that's what happens, but it isn't thinking that players are doing: that's instinct.

Hmmm in mine I'm not saying you should think during a match..like brookman said you don't have enough time to do that....I was generally saying play smart. I like to think when I practice so that I don't have to think as much in a match. You can recognize patterns and react to them differently without consiously thinking. You just need to know how to and experience helps with that.

 

[xelad1]

^agreed.... I would like to point out that thinking DOES occur in competitive smash, but the time and place for that is the little window of opportunity you have in between stocks (just to reformulate general strategy if something didn't go right) and of course in between matches within a set (where you need to think about counterpick stages, characters, what worked/didn't etc. etc.). I don't think enough people use these times to really think about their next plan, they just finish up one match and go right into the next.

The ability to switch up strategies midgame is what really makes a good smash player. If you are really competitive and record your videos etc. etc. you need to be able to look at your errors etc. (and of course the top pros know who they are likely to encounter, so they study who they lost to at their last tournament etc.).

 

[MuBa]

Pretty much it all comes down to "thinking on your feet."

Kinda like if someone was to attack you in real life, you're not gonna have enough time to think about how to evade/deflect/counter an attack, it's just gonna have to come out quickly and naturally. If not, then enjoy the new bruise on your face.

 

[FastFox]

To think in a match is to hamper oneself. Of course you think when you play, but playing smart is totally different. The thinking that goes on during a match is almost purely subconcious, that's why it doesn't effect the speed of your play at all. Think about it, ironically enough. If you were to plan your every move, imagine how slow you'd be. Saying to yourself, "I am going to jump", or "I am going to forward smash", just screws you over. And, not to mention the aspect of mindgames. In my opinion, you don't think up mindgames. You just.. Mindgame. See where I'm coming from? The strategy in this game comes from our subconcious ramifications. It's how we're designed to multi-task. Kind of like thinking about what you want to type and typing. You don't think about hitting the keys, but you know they're there. All your job is is to think about something to type. The same thing can apply to SSBM. You don't think about what you're doing, you think about getting your opponent off the stage. That's your one and only goal in your concious mind.

This game is played using reaction and all around smarts, nothing else.

 

[Brookman]

So everyone agrees with me basically. /end thread.

 

[Ixninjax]

i think you skipped my post.

 

[Brookman]

You will never be able to play smart or develop good instincts/habits if you never think in the first place. All the experience in the world means nothing if you don't think before and after a match. If you want to play smart, first you must think smart. All of this has been thoroughly discussed before in threads like lunins 7 habits thread and kings new pantheon thread. The reason they have been able to excel in competitive smash faster then most people is because they think before, during, and after battle.

It appears that I did miss yours. In regards to your first sentence, I didn't say you should get a lobotomy, I simply said what I said. If I had all the experience in the world I guarentee you I'd never need to think, becuase I've already have experience every possible situation, and therefore would know how to react to everything. It's definitely important to think after a match, which is why it's good to get matches recorded, ESPECIALLY if you lose. Not everyone is able to remember a match move for move, so it's hard for them to notice their mistakes and weak points. In matches where you can afford to (friendly matches) it is good to focus on one thing or another, if you need work on it. Other than that though, CONCIOUS THINKING IS BAD IN COMPETITIVE GAMES. I'm pretty sure King will tell you that he doesn't think "Oh, I really need to get a rest!" he just plays, and if there is an opportunity for him to get a rest he reacts and seizes it.

it's basically just a difference of opinion, though I'm more experienced than you are, and such.

 

[Mosk]

mindgames ?

 

[JesiahTEG]

ixninjax is correct tho. There is a point in your smash career where you must consciously think about what your opponent is doing, and during that point you usually lose, because your so focused on what your opponent is doing. A good example of this is Ken vs bombsoldier at JGT. Ken loses the first 4 matches ( i think 4, i dont feel like checking) and goes on to win the next 5. He just thought about what bombsoldier was doing for the first four matches and just ****** him up after that by "playing smart"

 

[Brookman]

A good example of this is Ken vs bombsoldier at JGT. Ken loses the first 4 matches ( i think 4, i dont feel like checking) and goes on to win the next 5. He just thought about what bombsoldier was doing for the first four matches and just ****** him up after that by "playing smart"

No, wrong.

 

[Deleted member]

I disagree with Brookman as far as having a heavy disadvantage during approaches. Normally I would agree, but I think that being offensive with a few characters make them better, those characters being sheik and fox. Normally this game is all about camping yeah.

Most players are more afraid of a smart fox more than a technical one, but I've always held the personal opinion that smart and camping don't necessarily mean the same thing, and a smart, technical, aggressive fox is VERY hard to beat, much more so than one that just dashdance grab spams and laser spams. Some characters simply can't beat fox's camping, I suppose the best example here would be peach. Super campy foxes that force an approach usually get wrecked by falcos, other foxes, and somewhat sheik (see: Mew2King from last july or august ish).

When I used to play M2K in fox dittos all the time, I'd still go 50/50 with him, even though I didn't out-think him, and his technical skill was about 30x that of mine. Last time we played he was much more aggressive and he ****ed me up lol. I'm glad he's changed his style to attack more, I think it's overall more effective.

However, everyone should camp marth, all foxes, anything. Marth is a *******.

 

[Brookman]

KDJ is definitely a good example of a smart, technical, and aggressive fox. Though If you are going ot be all out aggressive it's definitely important that you know how to approach, and don't just approach mindlessly with nairs or something.

I think sheik does equally well camping and approaching, since her tilts and other attacks pretty much out-prioritize everything in the game. It's definitely good to change up all the time during matches though, just to keep your opponent scared and stuff >_>

 

[Deleted member]

I was thinking KDJ and PC but I didn't want to use examples from your area.

As for sheik, her camping is amazing, I agree, but IMO sheik is an aggressive char. Best non-F named character fastfalling, amazing l cancels, amazing dash cancel jabs for a dash attack, amazing grabs and throw combos, several moves that simply CAN NOT be countered (bair tip, fair tip, jab tip, ground needles from a distance), deathgrabs on half the cast, the best edgeguarding in the game, sheik is def the best character, and about ties fox as the best attacker. all IMO of course.

 

[Brookman]

I basically agree.

/++

 

[Problem2]

When you're thinking of what to do you can't literally run whole sentences in your head like "Ok, he's heading towards me, should I sheild or grab?". Watch and anticipate your own motions that will help you win. Kind of visualize the fight and watch for openings, and during times when your opponent is down, far away, off the ledge, or just now recovering; those are good times to briefly think of how you can manipulate your opponent to win.

This game's all about action and reaction in my opinion, react properly to the right stuff and trick your opponent to making the wrong reactions through your own actions. To do that, see what actions cause sloppy reactions or just plain bad choices and punish them for it.

 

[Kerocola]

That's basically the whole game, yeah. You can only do it for an extent, because they will learn a new defense to it quickly if you spam it all the time. You should use it sparingly, IMO, throughout the match for the upperhand so they don't have time to think about how they should react because they are getting pummeled for something. Necessarily, a whole sentence won't run through your head, but if you just fight and watch your opponent, and know how the game works, you just do what needs to be done naturally. If you need to think too much, that's not good. It's all about quickness. Slow reactions is what kills you the most, so thinking too much will get you the right results, but probably not fast enough...and chances are if something is causing you to think so much, the player obviously is going to use your weakness to their advantage and sooner or later it'll come to you about how you should respond. BUt you never know, some people work differently under certain situations.

 

[Wilhelmsan]

I find that playing exactly one step ahead of my opponent works pretty well.

But no more than one step, two steps or more can get you.

 

[Hylian]

In chess, you should play at least 3 moves ahead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Too bad smash is nothing like chess >_>.

 

[Brookman]

Grand master's don't even think ahead, they play by instinct and experience.it's all about knowing the best move in any given situation, which is why experience seperates better from best (in anything really).

 

[Penguin Commando]

In chess, you should play at least 3 moves ahead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Too bad smash is nothing like chess >_>.

I recall reading an article in which a chess grand master says, "I only play 1 move ahead, but it's always the right one."

 

[KevinM]

Haha that quote is brilliant... if i payed attention to chess, he was my hero

 

[Hylian]

Grand master's don't even think ahead, they play by instinct and experience.it's all about knowing the best move in any given situation, which is why experience seperates better from best (in anything really).

This is not true at all in chess..I have been to several chess tournaments and have some experience with grand masters masters and international masters. The best move at that moments might get your opponent checkmate 5 moves later. Good chess players think many moves ahead and they think every move they don't just play from experience...Bobby Fisher once sacrificed his Queen and said "I am going to win in 12 moves" He then proceded to win in 12 moves by making seemingly horrible moves up until the point where it was obvious how he would get a checkmate.

Grand masters do think ahead. WAY ahead. They do not play by instinct at all. This is chess, not smashbrothers.

 

[technomancer]

Thinking in your matches is going to teach you good instincts and prepare you for tough opponents. Even if you break all of your bad habits, you must develop new, good habits of attention paying and style countering (like shine techchasing in the original post) and you must develop them with PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE or you will never be able to compete. I do poorly in tournaments these days because I don't play with people often anymore; my technical is fine and mindgames are good, but I'm just not sharp and don't react well to people camping me or jumping on my face.

Anyway, I'll keep it short, but you can't 4-stock someone without thinking if they're any semblance of decent at the game; rule number one is to take them out of their game and make them overextend themselves, so that you can play in your game and own up.

 

[SmashNinja02]

You know i went back to wat I typed and i was wrong. When you're playing against(sp?) your friends you don't think cause it's for fun. When you're playing in a contest (like me today) you eather

A: Lose it and go crazy
B: Get really excited and start to think too much(Like me)
C: Try to play smart but half way throughout the match you start to think and lose(my friend)

 

[TeH PwNx0rZ]

No, you don't.

Well, if I intepreted your posts correctly, I think understand your basic idea. Experience does lead to a better player. I'm not stating that thinking is a horrible thing to do, but actually I like how you said "play smart." In my opinion, once you get extremely good in the game, normal "thinking" strategies become 2nd nature, so then basically what people normally think become a reflex. I've seen some good players play, and they don't really think at all during the game. However, it's obvious by just viewing the gameplay that they still subconsciously think out the situations quickly and efficiently without even knowing it. Basically, experience leads to instinct. And the more experience one player has, the higher chance they will win.

OFF TOPIC: L rules.

 

[Brookman]

Just stumbled back onto this topic randomly >_>


Not saying this proves what I was saying earlier, it's just for support, and fun, and knowledge.


There is an extensive scientific literature on chess psychology.[62][63][64] Alfred Binet and others showed that knowledge and verbal, rather than visuospatial ability, lies at the core of expertise. [65] [66] Adriaan de Groot, in his doctoral thesis, showed that chess masters can rapidly perceive the key features of a position.[67] According to de Groot, this intuitive perception, made possible by years of practice and study, is more important than the sheer ability to anticipate moves. De Groot also showed that chess masters can memorize positions shown for a few seconds almost perfectly. Memorization ability alone does not account for this skill, since masters and novices, when faced with random arrangements of chess pieces, had equivalent recall (about half a dozen positions in each case). Rather, it is the ability to recognize patterns, which are then memorized, which distinguished the skilled players from the novices. When the positions of the pieces were taken from an actual game, the masters had almost total positional recall.[68]

that was taken out of the wikipedia article.

Well, if I intepreted your posts correctly, I think understand your basic idea. Experience does lead to a better player. I'm not stating that thinking is a horrible thing to do, but actually I like how you said "play smart." In my opinion, once you get extremely good in the game, normal "thinking" strategies become 2nd nature, so then basically what people normally think become a reflex. I've seen some good players play, and they don't really think at all during the game. However, it's obvious by just viewing the gameplay that they still subconsciously think out the situations quickly and efficiently without even knowing it. Basically, experience leads to instinct. And the more experience one player has, the higher chance they will win.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb147/spiralflame88/OC3/OC3008.jpg?t=1185306827

Note the puffy cheeks. The puffy cheeks, or the hilarious gawking, or the weird eye/forehead/ear/nose twitching, those are all signs of subconcious thinking.

In other words, the funnier you look while you're playing, the better you are. (/joke)