In poker be it free online poker or big stakes you do not just play the cards. You are also playing with or rather you are attempting to influence the other players at the table so that they do what you want. The desired end result of course is that they give you money!
There are two elements in this. In regard to your play you are trying to read the other players, read their play style, figure their emotions and drivers and from here play your cards optimally.
In regard to the other players you aim to play them in order to misdirect their attempts to play you, to have them make incorrect conclusions about your style, motivations and drivers.
To learn how to do this lets look at an example of playing the player in action from a WSOP event.
BLINDS 50k/100k
1) A has Ac-Qh raises 350k
2) B is on big blind, has Kc-Js, calls 230k (Pot 880k)
K-J is usually a bit weak to call a raise. Moreover, B doesn’t have position over A, but he calls because he wants A to guess.
From the big blind, generally we just call because we are on a discount, so we might have 6-5, 10-8, and a bunch of other indeterminate hands which require guessing.
FLOP 4d-5h-3d
B bets 535k
Because small cards fell, B now wants A to think that his call from the big blind hit the Flop, and that his hand may well include those indeterminate hands like 5-4, 8-5, or even 6-7, or two Diamonds. But what did A think?
- A raises to 1.8m (Pot 3.215m)
- B needs 1.265m to call
Here, A thought that B’s bet was just a continuation bet, and with small cards falling A’s belief is reinforced that B is just trying to finish the hand. How would small cards likely hit B?
Additionally, B has been playing aggressively all night (stealing pots, etc.) so B could be betting with something (which is not likely with small cards falling) or with nothing. B could be playing just about anything, especially from the big blind.
At that point, A gambled that B has nothing. He could also have assessed that if B had something and goes all in later then he can move out fast. So he raised to test B's resolve.
B folds
B folds, because, indeed, he has nothing, and if he calls, he will be committed to continue. (Had B moved all-in then it will be a good all-in, for A could still be guessing at this point what B’s hand was. But B’s cards were not strong enough.)
Also, he folds, because A raised from late position, which allows for a wider range of hands, like even 5-4 or two Diamonds.
Poker, indeed, is not simply a game of good hands versus good hands. Experienced poker players will win with bad hands under the right conditions.
We give credit to B for first trying to win with a bad hand, a good effort to play he player. Unfortunately for B, A did the playing the player task superbly too, having noted previous actions and motivations and related that to current con text and probability and so played out to win well.
Conclusion
I know this may seem like a lot to take in all at once, the fact is though that while poker is an easy game to learn it is hard to be very good at, hence the crazy stupid "chip flinging" you will come across on many poker sites.
Yes it is mad that so many players play with so little skill, but it is also very good news for you as a player who is learning to play correctly. That's because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the "all-in-all the time" maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free poker online that pays real cash such as that found at www.NoPayPOKER.com .
To make this work first, learn to play online poker on free poker sites tables where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to get rich!
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