[daveT]

I enjoy your thoughts, but you are misinterpreting my post.

In general, you should be playing straight-forward, boring poker, especially when you first start. Open limping with Aces on the button is a flimsy attempt of deception. I don't discount the value of bluffing and bet merging. The second is not so much deception as it is a quality of betting several similar hands with similar values. If that is deception, then yes, I am guilty. Bluffing and game theory was covered in TOP. I don't remember if NLTP even mentions GT and Bluffing.

I did not talk about my position or table conditions. I did not say how much I raised, how many players where in the pot when I raised, blah blah blah. If you are talking about "trading mistakes," this hand illustrates. Against certain players I may raise, but I have the discipline to fold when he bets. I would know better than bet. I said in my example that the person drawing is check-raising, that is a play that is becoming so cliche it is down right irritating. I play tons of hands a day, because I play heads up poker. I can attest that the over all story is not based on deception. I play uber-LAG, and I am telling you that I am not deceptive.

Yes, there are good sections in the book, and I am sure you can find great advice even in "Play Poker Like the Pros." Among the sections that are good is the multi-level thinking. The weak-tight section had me laughing so hard I almost fell out of my seat. I simply wish that the book focused more on "playing your opponents hand," not in the sense of deception, but by configuring an optimal strategy for facing an implied range of hands. It needed to focus on level 2, i.e. what does my opponent think I have. I can't imagine playing poker without this consideration.