Psychology of Poker?

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ssbn743

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As I’ve learned the game more and more it has become increasingly important to not only spot “tells” (for lack of a better term) but to understand why? The why part is crucial when facing very experienced, professional level players, as it can often times spoil their ruses.

Some of the more basic things are double checking hole cards, looking off the table, or glancing secretly and quickly at their own chip stacks. But there is one that I have never fully understood.

Imagine a player who has been playing tight, not rock tight, but tight, raises to a standard raise amount (I often use raise/bet amounts as a gauge to determine the skill level of a player – if someone raises 2.5 times the big blind with an ante on top, like 31K with the blinds 6K & 12K with 1K ante, I will usually give that player some credit - contrasted to the player that just keeps doubling his bet amount on each street, he bet 6K on the flop now on the turn it's 12K). Still imagine this player raises to 31K and no one calls. I often see them check their hole cards before tossing them, usually face down, in the muck.

What does this mean?
 
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ssbn743

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I would say the two roads are:

1. “Man I want to see those aces again.”
2. “Check out this bluff I just got away with.”

As to which one it is would depend on the player and situation. But what does it mean?

Is it compulsory? Superstition?

I think this kind of stuff is important to live poker. The why behind things players do is often overlooked and can often yield more information and be harder to hide. Understanding this aspect of human psychology is something I believe could benefit every player, thoughts?
 
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I don't play enough live poker to answer, but please explain

Some of the more basic things are double checking hole cards, looking off the table, or glancing secretly and quickly at their own chip stacks.

Are these tells for bluffs you think, or hiding the nuts?
 
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likely someone making a decision
 
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ssbn743

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Those things I mentioned are straight from Mike Caro’s Book of Tells and are very accurate to this day – I use them routinely.

Take a rainbow flop K 4 8 for example, and your opponent checks his cards before choosing a course of action. Generally (and this is without any specific situation or player information) that means he knows he paired the King, but the other card was not important enough to remember, but it could have been a 4, and he would like to see if he made Kings up. Same tell is often used for suited flops, in which when your opponent looks at his holdings you can be near certain he has one of the suits that flopped but not two – he would have remembered he had 2 clubs and not have needed to look.

Your opponents who are unaware of these tells often exhibit very basic ones. If they are bluffing they tend to tighten up and not move a muscle in their body, why; because they are acting. Contrasted to the opponent whose foot and whole leg is rhythmically tapping beneath the table waiting for your call; this is not an act but rather a release of tension, and you should probably not call or raise without the nuts.

Pay attention to yourself; I’ll bet you’d be surprised what you could learn.

Anyway, these are just examples of standard tells, but it’s the why behind these actions that is the true question; unfortunately it is often overlooked despite really being the most important. Caro goes to great lengths to emphasize this point. Yet whenever I bring this up with my poker playing friends they can always tell me that he’s bluffing because he doesn’t move, but don’t really understand the why behind the information they are interpreting, and then complain to me when the guy flips over quads.

In the example I mention, it’s near meaningless to a poker hand, but may give you a better clue to you opponents nature. That and I’m genuinely curios since I see this one so often – it must mean something; is it “dammit no callers, whew – got away with one there, or something somewhere in the middle?
 
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ssbn743

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Those things I mentioned are straight from Mike Caro’s Book of Tells and are very accurate to this day – I use them routinely.

Take a rainbow flop K 4 8 for example, and your opponent checks his cards before choosing a course of action. Generally (and this is without any specific situation or player information) that means he knows he paired the King, but the other card was not important enough to remember, but it could have been a 4, and he would like to see if he made Kings up. Same tell is often used for suited flops, in which when your opponent looks at his holdings you can be near certain he has one of the suits that flopped but not two – he would have remembered he had 2 clubs and not have needed to look.

Your opponents who are unaware of these tells often exhibit very basic ones. If they are bluffing they tend to tighten up and not move a muscle in their body, why; because they are acting. Contrasted to the opponent whose foot and whole leg is rhythmically tapping beneath the table waiting for your call; this is not an act but rather a release of tension, and you should probably not call or raise without the nuts.

Pay attention to yourself; I’ll bet you’d be surprised what you could learn.

Anyway, these are just examples of standard tells, but it’s the why behind these actions that is the true question; unfortunately it is often overlooked despite really being the most important. Caro goes to great lengths to emphasize this point. Yet whenever I bring this up with my poker playing friends they can always tell me that he’s bluffing because he doesn’t move, but don’t really understand the why behind the information they are interpreting, and then complain to me when the guy flips over quads.

In the example I mention, it’s near meaningless to a poker hand, but may give you a better clue to you opponents nature. That and I’m genuinely curios since I see this one so often – it must mean something.

Is it:

1. Dammit no callers
2. Whew, got away with one there
3. Or something somewhere in the middle

And what is the reasoning behind them:

1. I need to feel secure one more time before getting dealt crap again
2. No need to be insecure anymore, I won
3. Or somewhere in the middle

There must be some reason the human psyche behaves in this way, I see it all the time, from all types and skill levels, across the board.
 
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Is it:

1. Dammit no callers
2. Whew, got away with one there
3. Or something somewhere in the middle

And what is the reasoning behind them:

1. I need to feel secure one more time before getting dealt crap again
2. No need to be insecure anymore, I won
3. Or somewhere in the middle

There must be some reason the human psyche behaves in this way, I see it all the time, from all types and skill levels, across the board.

I would have to go with this player had a monster and needs that one last tender moment to say good-bye and wish they could stay longer (dammit, no callers). A player is just usually not going to do this action with a bluff. He will continue his stealth bluff persona and continue flying under the radar rather than draw more attention. His act will continue by throwing his cards away with "confidence". Now if he does this with a speech then I would have to lean towards a bluff that he is continuing to over sell because he's afraid people are getting on to him (insecurity)

Saying good-bye to the monster is not about security its about what could have been. Hopes, wishes and dreams dying.
 
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I would have to go with this player had a monster and needs that one last tender moment to say good-bye and wish they could stay longer (dammit, no callers). A player is just usually not going to do this action with a bluff. He will continue his stealth bluff persona and continue flying under the radar rather than draw more attention. His act will continue by throwing his cards away with "confidence". Now if he does this with a speech then I would have to lean towards a bluff that he is continuing to over sell because he's afraid people are getting on to him (insecurity)
Saying good-bye to the monster is not about security its about what could have been. Hopes, wishes and dreams dying.

I absolutely agree with this line of thought and tend to lean that exact way myself. I especially like your reasoning behind why. I have personally and very recently seen Greg Raymer guilty of very similar manners.

But I’ve seen this in some of the strangest scenarios, scenarios in which the players that exhibit this information cannot possibly have the nuts or anywhere close to it!

Generally this player type is not what I would consider to be very good so it could simply be ignorance with the strength of their holdings, but I would really like to hear what Caro (or Hellmuth’s wife, LOL) has to say on the subject.
 
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