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The information in B is not necessarily valuable. A good player will keep track of the information she has revealed, and act in the future to frustrate people trying to take advantage of it.

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I would content that this is a constant concern in poker, and any method of information gathering merely results in a better chance of anticipating your opponents actions. (You can better read when and why he is changing his plays up.

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Granted most players have some degree of predictability, so it does make sense to assume they are likely to act as they have in the past.

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Again, there is no implicit assumption that says that along with the absorption of information on your opponent you must assume that the opponent will act in this exact manner again. Instead you can use the information to better gauge what level your opponent is thinking at.

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The usual poker advice is if you are willing to call a raise (including an all-in raise) you should make it yourself. The main exception is when you are slow-playing,


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or value betting.

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But in general, it takes a stronger hand to call a raise than to make a raise, and to bet less than the maximum amount you are willing to bet gives options to the other player, and thus is passive.


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The Gap Concept. TOP. but I am confused when you say that betting less than the max you are willing to bet gives them options. Again I must say that value betting should be an important part of your arsenal. The fundamental TOP says that you want to induce your opponent to make mistakes, and putting too much money in for their draws is the best kind of mistake you can induce... half the pot is a sufficient amount. Don't need to jack it always...

Harrington says in HOH that if you find yourself pushing at pots to protect a lead, you need to re-evaluate if this is the most +EV thing to do. You can often get someone to chase.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I apprecite you taking the time to offer comments and criticisms....

In closing, I would just say that information gathering in NLHE, especially tournaments -- is not passive in ANY WAY... the way you get information is by betting into someone. When you check to them you do not know what their betting represents. This is a fundamental resonance that fills TOP and HOH.. BET BET BET for information... I just cannot be dissuaded from this belief, it is a central tenant to how I play poker.