The psychology of poker. Poker reading players at the poker table. Psychology in poker, interpretation of gestures and facial expressions of your opponents Psychology of online poker

All of the lessons in this course have talked about the different types of players and how important the . In fact, poker without psychology is like watching a movie. eyes closed, or listen to a concert with your ears closed.

The player cannot improve his without the ability to understand people. For example, if you believe what your opponents say or think their actions are fair, then you shouldn't .

In one of the initial lessons we looked at the characteristics of poker players, we also looked at the characteristics of different types of players and showed some against them. The structure of the characteristics of the players (in and out of the game) is based on their psychology and emotional characteristics. However, in this tutorial, we will focus our attention on what helps players achieve success by looking at three main areas of their specialty:

  • Player Perspective System.
  • Skill level.
  • Psychological factors.

Characteristics of Winning Players

Winning players have rather telling features. They try to avoid losing, especially in hard hands. The player's internal belief system indicates whether the player is good or not. Such winners will behave positively and confidently. The winner will sit with a distant smile, but they will control the game, they will avoid fuss about it. Other strong players, on the contrary, like to show that they are in control of the game. They are less likely to become winners because instead of deceiving rivals, they show who they really are.

Winners only play with money they can afford to lose and only in hands where they can win. You won't see these players betting bad pot odds on a consistent basis. Regardless of how they manage their account, they only risk money they can afford to lose. Their position is similar to the position of investors - do not waste money. These poker players always have a clear plan.

Psychological methods of playing poker

There are 6 basic psychological techniques for playing poker.

Bluff. This is a game with weak cards. A player who has bad cards hopes that his opponents will believe that he has a strong hand and fold their cards. Often the bluff goes to the end, and is characterized by the maximum bets of the players. A player who has great in cash, can beat other players by raising the stakes. Bluffing is a good strategy against bad weak players who can lay down their cards at any time, even if they have a chance to win.
Advites. This method shows other players that the player enters the game with bad cards. This is done so that in the next games, when this player will already be playing a tight game, they will give him more action, that is, they will more willingly respond to his bets and raises.
Reprisal. This means showing other players that the player has a certain combination of cards. A reprise is somewhat like a bluff, and serves to force other players out of the game.
Engle. This method means that a player who has bad cards forces other players to bet high when they bad cards. For example, a player may make an announcement ahead of their turn, and another player may believe the announcement. For false announcements, that is, announcements out of turn in poker, players are not punished.
Check. This means raising the bet after the check has already been said. This tactic can increase the amount of winnings if this player and his opponent have strong cards, but on the condition that the first player knows that his advantage is higher.
Slowplay. This means that when a player has a strong hand, instead of immediately betting high and raising, he checks and calls. The main purpose of this move is to hide the true value of the player's cards from opponents and force them to enter the game with bad or average cards.

Players who know about the exciting card game firsthand know that the psychology of poker is based on two key positions:

  1. Self-control of the participant during the conduct of the card competition. The ability to make the right, most profitable decisions during the tournament.
  2. Understanding the position of the opponent.

The psychology of playing poker is extremely important! And all because quite a few of those who have a good knowledge base are not always able to cope with their emotions at the moment when it is necessary to make a rational, informed decision.

Due to an overabundance of worries, there is a risk of making wrong losing actions.

Of course, poker is a competition with an abundance of combinations and hands, which, one way or another, is accompanied by a belief in a lucky chance, in other words, the player's fortune.

The psychology of poker knows such a definition as tilt, in other words, it is a "clouding of the mind", which is based solely on faith in one's own luck.

This condition is often affected by beginners who are just trying their hand at poker. In some cases, this provision can extend to real pros.

In the latter case, poker psychology considers different variations of tilt.

Secrets of avoiding the “tilt state”:

The psychology of poker in matters of studying tilt is based on certain rules:

  1. You should enter the competition only when there is an opportunity to concentrate on the tournament as much as possible.
    Given psychology online poker, or rather, one of the rules is especially important. An irritable state of the player, a painful or even simply tired position can play against the poker player.
    Participation in the tournament in this case does not bode well. Therefore, it is better to refrain from playing on such days.
  2. First of all - the concentration of the player on the active search for the most correct solutions.
  3. The result, in this case, is secondary. It happens that in the course of right game still no luck, and the enemy, who does not think at all, enjoys the victory.

At such moments, the psychology of poker assures that the correct, balanced actions, one way or another, will be paid in full.

Speaking about the second important aspect that poker psychology is famous for, namely, the ability to understand the actions and thoughts of the opponent, it should be said that such a skill is worth its weight in gold, it is especially significant.

Those poker players who understand why their opponent acted in a certain way in a given situation can classify themselves as thinking players-analysts, real professionals.

In order to predict your actions as accurately as possible, it is important to understand why:

  • the opponent made a similar bet;
  • responded to a certain monetary contribution;
  • discarded cards.

The psychology of online poker requires a lot, but only in this way the game makes sense and it can not be called thoughtless and stupid.

It is important not to forget that other players at the poker table can turn out to be worthy opponents and, just like us, try to recognize tactics, determine the course of the game by the participant.

For this reason, it is important to always be on the lookout and mislead your opponents. The psychology of poker provides a lot of tactics and tricks that will come in handy in practice.

Today, even relevant manuals are offered, where you can become more familiar with the techniques of misleading. This is a very effective and practical method that will be useful to someone who wishes to fight his opponent in this way.

Sometimes such tactics can not always be justified by logical arguments, but, nevertheless, they are effective and quite effective.

The psychology of poker, as it may seem at first glance, is very multifaceted and diverse. But if you seriously study this issue, then everything is subject to systematization.

Anyone who puts things in order in his own head will surely understand how to play and win, how, by studying his opponent, you can achieve excellent results and get to the poker Olympus.

The game of poker is built on the basis of not only mathematical and logical, but also psychological laws. The concept of "psychology of the game of poker" includes all sorts of behavioral reactions, as well as any changes in the emotional and psychological nature that poker players face during the session.

It is the multidirectional vectors of poker that require from a professional player not only knowledge of the rules, the ability to calculate probabilities and logical thinking, but also an understanding of the basics of human psychology. A successful poker player must have a developed intuition, build a competent strategy, be able to read the opponent, influence his decision-making process and analyze his own behavior at the table from the point of view of psychology.

The longer a player is familiar with poker, the more obvious it becomes for him that the psychology of poker is one of the most important parts of the game, the understanding of which frees the poker player from unpleasant surprises at the table. Beginners often feel that poker psychology is too difficult to master, and therefore they prefer to master the basic skills of ABC strategy and do not even try to delve deeper into this issue. We hasten to assure that such an approach, although it can be successfully applied on early stages games, in the long run will only take away your money. The Poker House website provides a series of short and understandable lessons that help you quickly understand the features of poker psychology in online and offline battles. Familiarize yourself with the materials of the section, and you will understand that it is actually much easier to conquer the psychological side of the game than it might seem at first glance.

The psychology of a poker player

The whole psychology of poker and the strategy associated with it is divided into 2 main subsections:

  • poker player's own psychology;
  • opponent's psychology.

The first subsection includes the analysis and understanding of one's own psychological blocks and characteristics. It is thanks to the ability to understand your own tells, as well as with the help of simple rules for fighting on tilt, that you can significantly improve your game. The psychology of a poker player in this case is understood as something like a session of independent psychoanalysis, and therefore this subsection of poker psychology would be most reasonable to conditionally title it as “Self-Control”. It will cover topics such as:

  • your readability for opponents;
  • the importance of creating an individual image at the table;
  • the need to change the line of play during the session;
  • ways to overcome tilt;
  • decision-making timing control, etc.

The second subsection of poker psychology includes the ability and ability of a player to determine the tells of opponents and use the knowledge gained for personal benefit. Understanding the motives and habits of opponents allows you to calculate the actions at the table several moves ahead and win without much difficulty. Conventionally, this subsection of poker psychology can be called "The ability to read the opponent." Concepts such as:

  • determination of the psychological state of the opponent by external signs;
  • determining the nature of the enemy;
  • recording notes;
  • levels of thinking, etc.

Learning the lessons of Poker House will not only help you master your self-control, but will also allow you to quickly and effectively analyze the gestures, behavior, speech and gaze of your opponent.

The psychology of online poker

The importance of studying the psychology of poker is often undeniable for most offline players, but online fans often find this part of the training redundant, which is completely in vain. Poker is always a game with incomplete information, and by limiting yourself to using a purely logical-mathematical approach, any poker player will only increase the dispersion of his sessions and lose extra money.

Of course, in a live game we can analyze the visual manifestations of an opponent's emotions, while in an online game we are limited only by statistical data, but this can often be quite enough to successfully apply a winning psychological strategy.

The psychology of online poker is based on understanding the frequency of an opponent making certain moves and remembering his reaction to various outcomes of fights. In this sense, the psychology of playing poker online becomes nothing more than counting statistics over the longest distances, however, some players have such a level of skill that they can calculate the tilt of an unfamiliar opponent even by minor changes in his level of aggression and other subtle signs. In addition, understanding the basics of psychology helps online poker players win much more often by effectively bluffing and creating a certain image at the table and playing hands correctly.

Improve with Poker House and poker psychology will soon become your reliable assistant on the way to mastering the professional level of poker.

Gambling psychology in general and poker psychology in particular have evolved into a full-fledged science in recent years. AT gambling the attitude to psychology is much more serious than even in psychological clinics and among private specialists, since money is at stake, often not small. This subject is taught to casino employees as a full-fledged science, since it is the croupiers, administrators and staff serving the gambling halls that bring income to the institution.

For playing poker, questions of psychology are a separate line, especially for a real game at the table. This is not only a battle of poker skill, but a battle of characters, psychological preparedness, endurance and balance of each move.

Psychology of the game process

Poker psychology is a broad concept that involves assessing the behavior of other players around the table and identifying different actions on their part.

The poker game is a battle, and with several opponents at once, who also calculate the rest and try to play on weaknesses. Victory in this battle is possible only if you know what other players think. Moreover, you need to understand that they, too, may know about your train of thought and need to be aware again about how this will affect their train of thought. The psychology of poker is nothing more than a serious system of assessing the behavior of opponents in many ways, imposing a picture on your game and using the results to win.

In this case, the player needs not only to evaluate each player at the table and note the flaws in his game, but also carefully hide any manifestations of interest in him, as well as hide emotions with a mask of simplicity and uncertainty.

Of course, the professional players involved in people famous, records of their games are in the public domain and they are analyzed by everyone who admits the possibility of sitting at the same table with such a player. However, despite such a level, these players are constantly updating and improving their knowledge in psychology, as a science and the psychology of poker, as its direction.

There are several examples in the world when experienced players poker, mixed martial arts stars and other athletes are also professionals in the field of psychology and human behavior, graduates of prestigious educational institutions in this area, and some have their own works.

The psychology of poker by example

The situation is as follows - nothing came with the hand, but the flop contains a pair and you . The other player re-raises because he has determined that you are bluffing in such situations and is trying to draw the maximum number of bets before failure to continue the game.

In fact the situation may be as follows, noticing similar behavior on your part the opponent, not having it on hand, simply pulls money into the bank. The correct reaction in this situation is to call the opponent and repeat the bluff bet with an open. Thus, poker psychology will make the opponent think about the presence of your combination and, if he really has nothing, pass.

This poker psychology is a model, which applies to the player who evaluates the behavior of opponents, as well as strict betting and game control.

A different poker psychology applies to poker beginners who are defined as "fish" as they are likely to support or raise on the flop with a weak hand in hopes of strengthening it on the turn.

There are more difficult situations when the psychology of online poker is revealed in full light.

Example. The flop brought a pair of cards of the same suit, while the opponent had a bet early.

Watching opponents, a strong player saw that in the presence of potentially strong cards, the opponent often resorts to strategy. An analysis of one's own behavior in a given situation tells the player what is likely in the hands of the opponent.

A further increase in the bet with the arrival of the turn and river will force the player to abandon the idea especially when the cards for didn't come. However, do not forget that the psychology of poker is a generally accepted concept for players and in order to bring down opponents who can also play with weak hands or even on a bluff, the player continues to call bets until the very end.

AT real game using the psychology of poker is easier than when participating in online tournaments, since a purely gambling situation is also mixed with a verbal and non-verbal assessment of each opponent, determining moments of excitement, deliberate calmness, superimposing what he saw on the actions performed at the table and making decisions on his own conduct of the game.

The psychology of online poker

When it is not possible to face the opponent any scores are derived from his actions at the table.

An opponent's bet at the end of the situation, in the outcome of which you will make a call, clearly says that he is not bluffing.

Example. All cards on the board are exposed and your opponent raises your bet.. The psychology of playing poker involves trying to confuse at the very end of the hand, but few people are willing to risk the pot empty-handed.

On the other hand, when your raise at the time of the opening of all cards on the table is reraised the psychology of poker suggests that you need to fold, since the likelihood of the other player having a stronger hand is very high. However, it is possible for an opponent to use active aggression tactics just to create that impression and get a big pot on the fold at the very end of the hand. The psychology of online poker often encounters such players. Very often, when they see a significant amount in the bank on the penultimate or last round of betting, they go all-in, knocking out weaker players.

The solution to this issue is a careful study of the behavior of a particular player in every distribution. The psychology of online poker allows you to try on the situation that your opponent faced and look at the game through his eyes, for example, record identical repetitions of behavior and try different reactions to them. Especially do not refuse to answer after the opening of the board. The refusal supports the opponent's bluff and will lead to a repetition of the situation, while the answer, especially if there is a good combination on hand, if it does not knock the player out of the game, especially at high levels, then it will noticeably cool down his ardor.

Finally

The psychology of poker is a fascinating pastime, especially at the moment., when a qualitative assessment will lead to predicting behavior and smoothly leading the opponent to large and large bets in a deliberately losing situation.

The psychology of poker is subject to patterns or labels, which are convenient to hang on opponents after a preliminary assessment of their behavior at the table. This “cautious” one comes forward only with a strong card, the other one is “inadequate” and rushes to raise in any situation in the hope of passing the others from his impudence. The psychology of online poker is full of such labels and the sooner you learn how to pre-evaluate, mark confirmations or denials for it, the more profitable and interesting the game will become for you.