Poker is a betting game. Sure, it’s a cardgame where the best hand prevails (at least sometimes) but basically, betting is what it really comes down to. Players who master the betting part of the game, will almost always beat those who get stuck at starting hand charts and statistical analysis.
This is where getting an accurate read on an opponent comes in. Whoever manages to draw useful conclusions regarding the opponent he’s playing first, will probably take control of the game. A “read” can be made based on several factors called “poker tells” out of which betting patterns are the most significant.
If you play very tight over a longer period of time and then you start raising the crap out of the table, everyone will fold. You’re sending them a clear message that you have a monster. This is an example of such a read.
Rookie players are faced with this problem from the very first session of play. They realize they’re being read and outmaneuvered by the other players. A natural reaction is to try to do something in order to prevent these guys from anticipating every single hand he has. The rookie will try to confuse them, so
that they’re never really sure what he’s about to pull out from the pocket. Although playing a confused enemy is much better than playing one who knows exactly how he can find your soft-spot, it’s far from being a successful play. Think about it like this: an utterly confused enemy has a 50% chance of doing
exactly what you don’t want him to do. You need to decrease that 50% somehow, and have it as close to 0% as possible. How do you achieve that? Through manipulation.
The military has long recognized the importance of successful counterintelligence. The allies launched rumors before D-day that they would land at Pas-de-Calais, and that’s where the Germans concentrated their defenses. Had they not been successful in sending the Germans on a wild goose-chase, history might’ve
taken a different turn. If you are not successful in sending your poker -opponents on a wild goose-chase, your bankroll will also adopt a different course and will land in your opponent’s pocket.
Through the messages you send out, you will influence the way your opponents see you, and that will create positive EV situations for you.
I remember when I first discovered the power of manipulation. I was playing in a ring game at an online poker room, where the opposition was pretty stiff and skilled too. No wonder I was hardly hanging on to dear life (or in this case, bankroll) when I
suddenly got lucky. I was playing quite aggressively from the start, with limited to no success, but then I suddenly started to win big. I won a few big pots one after the other, and I could sense how the opponents became aware of this. I made a few more rather reckless calls, and I won again. I was making money
on some offsuit pocket rags like there was no tomorrow, and the opposition was on to it. It was like they were just waiting for the moment to pounce on me and eat me up alive, as soon as lady Luck Left my side. (which was bound to happen) They knew I was the sucker at the table, so they waited patiently. Suddenly
“the sucker” got hit big on the deal and then the flop. I almost immediately felt that I had to take a step back and slowplay it. Then it hit me that these guys had me read so obviously, there was no chance a slowplay would have succeeded. So I said, to heck with it. I checkraised and then reraised a couple of guys
and I could almost hear their devilish laughter as they raised me on the river. Then came the showdown.
The “sucker” who was playing recklessly on low rags all night, showed down queens full of 8s and the game was over.
That’s when I realized I had these guys perfectly set up for such a play. It was a matter of a fortunate set of circumstances, more than anything else, but that’s when I first felt the power of manipulation first-hand.
Remember, you want the other guys to KNOW what they want to do. Starting hand charts are important indeed, as well as getting rakeback and calculating pot odds. But nothing comes really close to the importance of knowing how to bet.
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