A few thought on Psychology of Poker

[BluffTHIS!]

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Maniac A may fit your profile. Maniac B may be close. And Maniac C may have a very different profile.

More importantly, the ultimate reasons for other people's behavior are essentially irrelevant. I don't have to know why a person has chosen to play like a maniac to know how to beat him.

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These are Dr. Al's key points. Players and maniacs come in a multitude of different varieties and some maniacs are actually quite good at reading hands. These types play the players and are always looking to pounce on weakness and push other players off marginal hands. And the accumulation of all those stolen pots gives them a virtual freeroll to suckout with weak draws not warranted by pot odds. And like Dr. Al said, all you have to know is how to beat them, and of course how not to beat yourself. You only need to know why you do things, not why others do. To profit optimally, you want to change any destructive tendencies in yourself, and would really prefer that others don't.