Why do people make bets with strange amounts?

[Dov]

Maybe this should go in the psych forum, but I was wondering why some people like to bet off amounts like 15.99.

I know that the 'chip stack' looks more impressive, so are they trying to induce a fold?

[Nathan183]

I've noticed the most common reason they do this is to get their stack to an even $ value. For example, they have $22.84 and bet $0.84.

I've never really linked this to the strength of their hand. But I wonder, could they be doing this because they think (perhaps subconsciously) that they are going to lose the hand and want an even stack size afterwards?

[Kjell201]

I've played with someone on Stars that used the nick "All in" and sometimes made weird bets to make it look like he was all in. I was 8-tabling at the time and was really close to making a call (a call I wouldnt have made if he werent all-in) until I noticed what was going on [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Making a weird bet might confuse your opponent and in general isnt confusing your opponents +EV? (probably not very significant though)

[meleader2]

it could also borderline people's thoughts of "well, it's only 2$" when it's really 2.99. if you walk into walmart and about to cash out, look to your right. the gum/candy as well as gas has that incredulous ".x9" which makes the whole number look small, but IN THE LONG RUN makes more money......

[Logik]

Or they just want to continually switch up their betting amounts to random numbers so people don't get a read on their betting patterns.