Psychology of all-in

[hezster]

This may be more suited to the psychology forum, but has anyone considered the psychology of putting someone all-in? For instance, let's assume you have the nuts or near-nuts on the river and you want to get all of their stack, but you are not sure they will call off all their chips. They have $100 remaining and the pot is, say $125. Do you think there is a much larger probability that they will call a $80 bet, knowing if they lose they will still, at least, have $20 left, than they will call off the entire $100. I think there may be some psychological hangup with losing your entire stack such that there may be some merit to this idea.

[Chuck D]

depends on the player, but I'd say in general no they aren't more likely to call a $80 bet vs a $100bet allin

the times you bet 80 and they would have called 100 outnumber the times you bet 100 and they fold but would have called 80 a ton

a smaller bet could possibly have more ev, but 80 roughly equals 100 here, you just lose 20 everytime they call when you bet 80

[flytrap]

With some people, it's actually more likely they'll call the all-in, as opposed to the nearly all-in. They may interpret the $80 bet as a calculated value bet, but the all-in may look like a bluff, with maximum folding equity. If you're putting someone nearly all in on the river, just put them all-in instead.