betting rhythms

[jetsonsdogcanfly]

I think more generally what he's talking about is where, over the course of a session, a certain action has grown to develop new meaning. As an example, in a HU match where BU wil raise every time preflop and bet nearly all flops. Then the OOP player may start to c/r a ton of flops. In this case, a rhytm has developed, and those bets mean substantially less than they would in isolation.

[kiddo]

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For example, lets take a simple game like rock-papers-scissors. Many people would say this is a random game, and it is true to a good degree. But the example I want to talk about is when two people both go scissors for a couple turns in a row. Then it becomes a sort of mind game, do we keep going scissors? I think he thinks I will go scissors again so I should go paper to win vs his rock, etc. Now granted, this game is truly almost random because of its simplicity (= lack of information to act on) and its fast paced nature. But you get the point of playing mind games with your opponent.

So in short, these things have to do with reading your opponent in a psychological sense.

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I think one reason u call this rythm "psycological" is because u dont have time to think it through when u play. If u had time to think it through it would be same logic as in other decisions (odds, % he got a certain hand, hand range, what we have done earlier, etc...). Its not more pshycological then other things at table.

And not even when u play fast it got a lot to do with psychology.

If u play rock-papers-scissors both sometimes stop and laugh and think for 2 sec (lets say u both showed rock 3 times in row), and when u think for 2 sec u dont try so much to think about what he thinks as u try to stay at the surface of what is happening and see the pattern. U try to visulaise all the moves u have done so far in your head and from that understand what to do. The betting pattern will show what he will do and from that u can tell what he thinks, but what he thinks will not show what he will do.

The thinking we do is a product of the pattern. Int his way it got no meaning to say that we shouldnt overanalyse because he just did a move because "he felt like it". If that feeling isnt a result of the pattern he is just a bad player doing random moves. There are l lot of those players, I take a note on them as "tricky" instead of tricky. Their trickiness got nothing to do with the game so they will lose their money, we just have to call them a little more in strange situations.

[Wynton]

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I think one reason u call this rythm "psycological" is because u dont have time to think it through when u play. If u had time to think it through it would be same logic as in other decisions

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This is actually part of what I had in mind. With the speed of online play, I believe people (even good players) are occasionally susceptible of reacting reflexively. And by "reflexively" I don't just mean that they take a "standard" line due to multitabling, but that they occasionally allow other factors trump a strict consideration of the odds and hand reading.

In some thread today (perhaps one of Krishan's), there was a debate about what hands the villain might have to reraise the river. And while the analysis was all good and appropriate, it just occurred to me that perhaps the villain - though a good player reportedly - had just got carried away, almost by the momentum of the betting and by a decision he made on a prior street.

Maybe these times of observations can't really be discussed here since it is so much of a "feel" thing, but I think they need to be made at the tables.