The hands people put you on

[sprmario]

I forget which book talks about how people change their minds of what hand they think you have to suit their position/mindset. I have recently started asking people why they called me on some very questionable plays and it is funny to hear their responses.

For example holding AA I make a big preflop raise (no limit) and I get a couple of callers. flop is something like Q83 and I make a pot sized bet and get a caller. Turn is something else rather innocuous and I push in and am called by K8s. I asked him why he called and he said he had me on AK or AKs.

Another similar hand with AK flopping an A and I was called to the river by a guy w/ K7s hitting his 7. He said he put me on a small pair. This guy sucked out and hit a third 7 on the river.

I find this pretty interesting how people ignore the obvious evidence in front of them that they do not hold the best hand and justify calling based on putting people on hands that give the opponent an inferior holding.

[Dan Mezick]

People "believe" what they want to "believe".

I say "believe" because there are really two places where beliefs have influence on everyday life and generate observable (outward) behavior.

The first and less important is the conscious mind, where everyone spends alot of time. The second is the unconscious, where unstated beliefs exert enormous and subtle influence over many aspects of everyday life.

These more powerful, more fully believed "actual" unstated beliefs always trump or override the (stated) conscious beliefs in remarkably subtle ways. This is the result of having unconscious and conscious beliefs out of sync.

The result is outward behavior that is a kind of resolving of this inner conflict of belief. The outward behavior seldom makes rational sense to a detached (rational) observer.

This may seem to be taking this answer to your question much too far. I suspect it really doesn't. It explains much, to a remarkable degree.


The intelligent people that have a "cover story" for their unexplainable poker behavior have in all likelyhood manifested behaviour based on largely unconscious (unstated) beliefs. These beliefs are typically about a lot more than the current hand ... in the current game.

The poker game is simply a convenient venue for venting specific and deeply held unconscious beliefs that are at odds with stated (conscious) beliefs. The venting of the unconscious manifests itself in "boneheaded" plays.

Currently, I am convinced that this basic argument explains a great deal about observed poker plays that "make no sense" in otherwise intelligent and knowledgeable players. The behavior is more common in no-limit, where the lack of structure provides an environment that is a kind of playground where the unconscious can more fully express itself.

When you start to watch for and pick this up more often at the table, you typically get aware of other verbal and non-verbal behavior that confirm. For example, in players with these things going on, you will typically see much more emotional involvement. Often, this demonstrated emotional involvement can be very dramatic.

"The inner game includes items such as your beliefs about yourself, your beliefs about poker, your actual motivations for playing, your beliefs about the strength of your own poker play, how you personally value winning and losing at poker, and your beliefs about the morality (“rightness” or “wrongness”) of playing winning or losing poker. "

The Inner Game

[Toro]

Here's a case in point and it cost me a quick 80 clams. Decided to play a few hands of 1/2 nl this morning before going to work.

I buy in for $80 and about 4 hands in pick up JJ. Get one limper ahead of me and raise it to $8. He's the only caller. The flop comes 9 high and he checks. I bet $12 and he promptly raises me enough that will put me all-in if I call.

I at first put him on a set of nines and was about to fold but then go through the hand in my head and decide that he either had hit the 9 for one pair or had a lower pocket pair and that he put me on AK.

So I call. The turn is a Q, the river a rag. He turns up Q,9 and I'm beat. Your post is interesting since both of us contrived to put the other on a hand that we could beat. Ironic that I was correct but I lost the dough.

[Cohiba Al]

Nice post! Also, nice article on the website. It provoked interesting thoughts in me.