View Single Post
  #4  
Old 11-21-2006, 08:59 PM
AaronBrown AaronBrown is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
Posts: 2,260
Default Re: Ro-Sham-Bo and thinking levels.

I disagree.

Level 0 strategies are naive. In the case of RSB, that means to play some pattern independent of the results, say, always R or alternating R, S, B.

Level 1 strategies assume the other player is Level 0. They attempt to discern the pattern and beat it.

Level 2 strategies assume the other player is Level 1. They follow patterns but keep changing them just at the right time to win more than they lose.

Level 3 strategies assume the other player is Level 2. These are quite different from Level 0.

Also, you don't have to walk up the levels one at a time. You can make other assumptions, such as the other player is the same level as you, or the other player learns. These lead to even more sophisticated strategies that have no level number attached.

Most poker strategies are two-valued: bet because you want to be called or bet because you want the other players to fold. It sometimes gets more complicated than that, as with semi-bluffs or when you want some players to fold but not others. But most of the time you're either playing straightforwardly for your cards, or deliberately deceptively.

Level 0 poker, raise with strong hands and fold with weak, is easy to beat. Level 1 poker, assume the other player is level 0 and play accordingly is much better, but still easy for an expert to beat. In some ways, an expert has an easier time with a Level 1 player, who can be manipulated, than a Level 0, who cannot. Level 2 is the lowest at which anything resembling poker emerges. Beyond that, you have to take account of things like other players being at or above your level, learning and strategy.
Reply With Quote