Caro mentions somewhere in his book that someone who’s just won a big pot is busy stacking chips and therefore less likely to play the next hand. In other words, a big pot is enough to transform the loosest maniac into a rock, if only for a hand or two. I’ve noticed that the same holds true for online poker, where no chips are stacked. The only explanation, then, would be that the phenomenon is psychological. Someone who’s won a big hand perhaps wants to savor the feeling of being hugely ahead for a little while, and doesn’t want to risk that feeling by losing a big pot on the very next hand.

I’ve noticed this playing heads-up; players who have played every hand for 100 hands suddenly fold preflop after winning a big hand. Maybe even twice in a row. Then they start playing normally again. Lesson? Be sure to raise preflop after your opponent has won a monster pot. But be extra sure to tread carefully if you get played back at.

Sort of on topic: Humans look for patterns, and we’re masters at detecting them, whether they actually exist (or rather, whether they’re anything but a statistical anomaly) or not. When a typical player checkraises you on the turn for the third time in a row, he probably knows that this must look suspicious to you. That you may be calling down light to try and pick off a bluff. So unless he’s tilting, he probably actually has it this time, because he will for sure know that he’s checkraised you twice in a row - like I said, us humans are good with patterns - and yet he pulls the trigger again. He may have been bluffing the first or second time, but it’s increasingly unlikely that he’s doing it again.

Happy Weekend!