How do we understand what and why they're thinking?

[MaverickUSC]

Sketchy and I were chatting and this got me thinking. Somebody made a really retarded bet into him, he called and won. Convo went kinda like this:

"That's hilarious. Most of these people are extremely intelligent in real life."
"Yeah, these are the people that fly our planes and do our taxes."
"Thank God they don't do that like they do poker."
"Yeah, but, I mean, knowing to not bet 99 there to me is like knowing not to shove a fork into your eye."

Laughed, OBV, but really. People do these retarded plays all the time. Sure, sometime they're just not thinking and playing video poker, but I believe that a majority of players, esp the ones in the higher limits, really are thinking. When they take an action they really are doing what they feel to be right and the best possible play.

It also makes me think of the psych of poker and how people naturally believe that they're winners and a good player, even though it's oh so obvious to the contrary.

I believe that it is critical to understand what level our opponents are thinking on. If we can understand why they make retarded plays that they think are good, then we can optimize our play against that opponent.

OK writers block now. But lets chew on this topic a bit.

Devo

[sublime]

you should petition for a psychology forum.

[eBo]

Good question. I often wonder why players make irrational plays. I try to remember the strategy that I understood when I was a bad player, but I can't remember. I just won the 55r and smoked myself up silly.