Advanced poker play deals with being ahead of the curve of all your opponents more often than not. The reason for this is because the human aspect of poker dictates the flow of the game, and most anyone who is worth his or her salt in poker already knows all the fundamentals as well as the science behind poker math. At any rate, now that you’re aware of the importance of poker psychology in every last decision that you make, here are the advanced strategies you need to employ in order to bring your poker play to professional-level hustling.
Bluffing
Bluffing entails forcing your opponents out of pots with the use of convincing acting. It’s deception of the highest form, the card game equivalent of the boxing feint that allows you to keep your opponents guessing on your real intentions while subtly manipulating them into doing something that’s advantageous to you. Whenever you convince your opponent of your aggression and bluff, then that’s when flops occur.
Inducing a flop requires top-of-the-line bluffing, especially if your opponents are experts in terms of poker psychology (e.g., they can easily read that you’re trying to do a bluff because they’re either aware of the situation or have figured out your intentions). In turn, being able to call the bluff of your opponent is also crucial, and you can do that by becoming adept at reading the timings or play patterns of the other players (which will help you guess their intentions and their attempts at bluffing post-haste).
Trapping
Attempting to figure out another poker player’s hand is similar to winning against a person during a marathon rock-paper-scissors game. You won’t only be pitting your skill at guessing what the other is thinking against each other, you’ll also be pitted against the luck of draw as well. Because poker is a game that’s equal parts skill and chance, trapping requires being able to use your opponent’s suspicion (or lack thereof) to your advantage. To wit, being adept at trapping requires a keen understanding of what your opponent is planning and to use that knowledge to win the wager.
In fact, the more suspicious your opponent is of you, the more chances you’ll get at trapping him, especially if he decides to act on his suspicions by playing more aggressively and steamrolling you with bets. Just relax, counter his bets with raises and check-raises (a raise or check-raise on the turn that’s called on top of a river bet will earn you 2BB and possibly another 1BB from the flop and pre-flop), and if you could do a trap every seventh time, then fold on the flop on an un-raised pot four times consecutively.
Reading
On the other hand, reading is the skill to spot “tells” and manipulating them to your benefit. Reading is also a poker player’s talent for discerning patterns in statistical anomalies and an opponent’s behavior. In boxing terms, it’s a person’s ability to read an opponent’s habits and reflexes so that you can react with a well-placed party poker counter punch or counterattack. For example, when reading, you need to pay attention to the following “tells”: the number of check-raises your opponent does, if he bets low pair or draws, and so on. You’ll also need to draw out the other player’s playing style by calling, raising, or flopping until you can see a clear pattern on what type of player he really is (i.e., he may bet-bet, bet-check, bet-call, check-bet, and so forth).