An intriguing topic...

[Big_Ham]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Beyond level 0 is ... FISH. You should always know when you're dealing with one of these.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think most fish are at level 0. But, you can be a fish at any level, really. If you don't know you are being outplayed by someone on a higher level, you're the fish. You might be a big fish, but the shark's gonna eat you.

Less than level 0 is actually pretty hard to play against. Well, for anyone that likes playing anything besides level 0. If your opponent doesn't know how good/bad his hand is, it's really hard for you to know. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

For example, I saw someone go all-in (about twice the pot) with the donkey-end of a straight, with a 4-flush on board. That's level -1 or something. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Against these people you absolutely must play straight up.

About a year ago, a friend of mine had a 20+ player $50 tourney. In the first hour, I wind up in a hand with someone I've never played with who is CLEARLY not happy with his hand or the flop.

I bluff the flop, he calls, turn brings a blank and another bluff attempt by me (you should have seen the scour on his face when the turn hit), he calls. The river brings another brick and I've already bled more than half my chips in the pot. He's still not happy, so I push.

He reluctantly calls, clearly unhappy and turns over ace high.

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

O
M
F
G

$50 lesson learned.

[PantsOnFire]

As for that fourth level thinking, I read an example in one of my poker books and even that didn't help much. I think one needs to play in games where third level thinking is required. Then after some experience at that you can start to go to the fourth level if required. Obviously since I don't really understand it, I have never tried it.

Personally, I find the third level difficult enough for the few times I tried it. And really, I think this only happens when you get deep into a hand against an excellent opponent. There are other times I think I have tried third level and in those cases my opponent was not on the second level so it backfired.

As far as deciding what level my opponents are thinking so I can adjust, well I simply start on the second level and move to the first level for certain players I feel are not thinking about my cards and sometimes move to the third level for a very good player. Most of the time, I am at the second level.

[cdlarmore]

only pros really get past level 3 imo, so dont even start to try it, instead focus on mastering 3, because you havent