[prayformojo]

This is one of the best articles I have read in the magazine since its launch. I don't think the author has dumbed his subject matter down (too much) for us, but has limited the article to a single theory and a brief discussion of its application, with minimal jargon. The topic is interesting and important, and the presentation is logical and concise.

On these boards, especially when dealing with online games, people (myself included) far too often fall into the trap of creating caricatures of our opponents to spare the trouble of finding motivation in apparently random and obviously poor play. This is not an enormous fault in games where the majority of opponents play in a predictably poor style, such as loose passive. We may be leaving some value out of our discussions, however, if we are ignoring motivations which in some players are unimportant to us (i.e. understanding those motivations does not increase our profit), but which when better understood could help us exploit other players' play.

I am looking forward to the next two, and hopefully more articles by Jay. If they are of the same quality, I can honestly say I hope to see a "Psychology of Poker 2" collaborative effort.