[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure I can articulate this in an intelligible way, but it seems to me that sometimes we don't discuss hands with enough consideration of what I would call rhythm.

I notice this mostly in the context of HU pots, or blind steal situations. Basically, I believe that people are often betting and reacting not so much through hand reading, but because there is a certain momentum they feel compelled to follow. This momentum is partly created by the history between the players, and partly by the sheer speed of online play. Yet, while this appears to be a real phenomenon to me, we rarely acknowledge it, beyond occasionally commenting that a person might appear to be on tilt.

I can't really think of a specific example of what I'm talking about, but just thought I'd throw out the idea and see if anyone could make sense of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is something I need to think about further -- and in more depth than the ole "he's taking a long time to bet, this means strength/weakness". There have certainly been times, for instance, that my opponent called so fast preflop and on the A-high flop from the BB (after my SB/button steal attempt) that I knew he had an ace.

In my experience super-fast bets can mean anything but are usually strength, looong pauses usually mean big strength or total weakness (player dependent), slight pauses can mean anything, and slightly-longer-than-slight-but-not-that-long pauses (basically "I was ahead, let me quick double check to make sure I still am, yep, okay") are generally very strong.

Impossible to say but I think I've probably picked up some pots here or there that I wouldn't have otherwise, specifically because of my betting cadence. (And I'm sure I've been bluffed out of pots bcs of that as well, of course, so I'm not sure how useful this is at the 20/40 and up level.)