TOP #23 - The Psychology of Poker

[wallenborn]

The psychology of poker is an important aspect of the game. You should think not only about what your opponents have, but about what they think you have and about what they think you think they have. You must go through such thought processes against good players in particular, but the better they are, the more difficult it is to figure them out. When you get to the expert level, the process sometimes becomes so complex and tenuous that you have to fall back on game theory.


Calling on the Basis of What Your Opponent Thinks

There is an important principle based on thinking about what your opponent thinks you have, and it is this: When an opponent bets in a situation where he is sure you are going to call, he is not bluffing. This point is obvious, yet many players overlook it.

A corollary to this principle is if your opponent bets when there appears to be a good chance you will fold, the opponent may very well be bluffing. What this means in practice is that if your opponent bets in a situation where he thinks he might be able to get away with a bluff, you have to give more consideration to calling him even with a mediocre hand.


Betting on the Basis of What Your Opponent Thinks

If you know your opponent suspects you have a strong hand, you would tend to bluff more with a weak hand because the chances are good your opponent will fold. However, you should not bet a fair hand for value, because he will fold all hands except those which have you beat.

Conversely, if you know your opponent suspects you are weak, you should not try to bluff because you'll get caught, but you should bet your fair hands for value because he'll pay you off.


Psychology and Future Impressions

In general, you should evaluate any play you make on its merits alone. However, you might occasionally want to do something that is theoretically incorrect. What you are trying to do is create an impression for the future. These types of plays will work against players who are good enough to try to take advantage of their new-found knowledge but not good enough to realize that you know that.




Older threads:

TOP #1 - Beyond Beginning Poker
TOP #2 - Mathematical Expectation and Hourly Rate
TOP #3 - The Fundamental Theorem of Poker
TOP #4 - The Ante Structure
TOP #5 - Pot Odds
TOP #6 - Effective Odds
TOP #7 - Implied Odds and Reverse Implied Odds
TOP #8 - The Value of Deception
TOP #9 - Win the Big Pots Right Away
TOP #10 - The Free Card
TOP #11 - The Semi-Bluff
TOP #12 - Defense Against the Semi-Bluff
TOP #13 - Raising
TOP #14 - Check-Raising
TOP #15 - Slowplaying
TOP #16 - Loose and Tight Play
TOP #17 - Position
TOP #18 - Bluffing
TOP #19 - Game Theory And Bluffing
TOP #20 - Inducing and Stopping Bluffs
TOP #21 - Heads-Up On The End
TOP #22 - Reading Hands