Deceptive Ways – Beginners Mistakes

[CrisBrown]

Hi PLIP,

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I think that the optimal strategy for poker involves playing exactly one level above your opponent. So, yes, deception is useless against a player who operates solely on the first level. But let's explain why theoretically. That player acts only on his hand. I have yet to see anyone come up with a way to deceive a player about what cards he is holding. It makes no point to think about what your hands your opponent is likely to put you on if he is, in fact, not putting you on any hand at all.

The moment a player considers things of which he is uncertain, that is when he becomes vulnerable to deceptive play. The more deeply a player thinks, the more hazy and uncertain his assumptions, and the more prone he is to being deceived. A player who considers the hands you are playing is open to deception because he cannot see your cards (unless, of course, he cheats). You are deceiving a second-level player when you establish a table image of what cards you will play, then trap someone by playing cards contrary to that image.

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EXCELLENT post.

If your opponent thinks at level three (what range of hands does my opponent put me on), then your deception must come at level four (what range of hands does my opponent think I'm putting him on), that is, playing as if he's on a hand other than those you suspect he's playing. And so on.

Cris