[Guruman]

In response to the OP's question:

I think that the FTOP is very different from the second statement made "A player makes a mistake when he plays differently than he would if everyone knew everyone else's cards." The difference lies in the element of deceptive play that is an integral part of fundamentally sound poker. If everyone knew everyone's cards, there could be no deception. I think that the FTOP allows for deceptive play by specifically not including the viewpoint of the opponent.

Accordingly, I disagree with the idea that a bluff is a FTOP mistake - here's why:

Most well-placed bluffs are made with the purpose of folding a better hand. In order to make a play that will actually accomplish this, two conditions have to be met: A)your opponent has to actually hold a better hand, and B)your opponent must be willing to fold that hand to a properly sized bet. If you can see that your opponent holds 33 on a AJQ board where you have raised pre-flop, then a bluff may be appropriate here no matter what two cards you have.

If I've made the read of a small pp, he checks to me, and I bluff here, I've made the same play that I would have made even if I couldn't see my opponents cards. Therefore this is not a FTOP mistake.

Now if I bluff too much, forget to discount outs, or place my opponent an a totally wrong range of hands, then the FTOP is going to send knuckles to my house to kick my shins in. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]