[Gar Pike]

Here's another analogy. (or maybe it's like a simile, whatever)

Poker actions are used to elicit a response from your opponents. If you know your opponents, you can predict how they will react to your action. you can use that knowledge to string several actions together that will lead to their downfall.

Just like in fencing or judo, you string togeter a series of passes designed to get your opponent more and more off-balance or out-of-line, so you can then defeat him simply and with minimal effort.

But you have to know your opponents and how they tend to react, and you can't look at one move in isolation and ask "is this the best move?"

You have to ask "how will Ed react if I raise here, and if he does that, will he be vulnerable to this next move, or that one, and if I do this and he does that, then when I do the next thing, will that give me the result I desire?"

You can bet, bet, bet with 5678 rainbow and win the hand. I wouldn't do that very often, but when I do, you can bet that people are going to call, call, call, the next time I bet, bet, bet with the best starting hand and the 2-way nuts on the river.

You can also think of poker like a river. You do something at one point and something else happens downstream. If you know enough about hydraulics, you'll know what to do at point A in order to get result 1 to happen at point B. It's just not always the same river.

Anyway, I have a meeting to go to.

Regards

Gar