The Pieces of Poker

The Pieces of Poker

Poker is a game of incomplete information and if you want to become one of the best players in the world you need to fill in the blanks and create a complete picture in your mind. Whilst this might seem simple on paper, in practice, either playing real-life poker or the online version in one of the many online casinos on offer today, the process of generating an overall image of what’s happening in a poker hand is pretty difficult.

Because there are so many factors you need to consider at the poker table, it’s tough not only to process them all but process them in a way that gives you an insight into your opponent’s holding. With this in mind, we’ve outlined three piece of the poker puzzle you need to consider:

Hands are like trees: A mistake many aspiring poker players make is to try and assign one specific hand to their opponent. Doing this is obviously difficult because there are often multiple hands your opponent can have. For this reason it’s much better to start with a range of potential holdings at the start of a hand and gradually whittle them down as the action progresses.

Indeed, much like a tree where the branches slowly merge into one complete core, you should slim down your opponent’s potential hands based on their action. Thus, if they bet into an A, 9, K flop and you thought they could have had pocket deuces pre-flop, then it’s safe to say you can now remove this hand from their range. Think in ranges and break down those ranges based on logical factors.

Think their thoughts: Whenever you make a move at the poker table it has a consequence. For example, if you raise five good hands in a row but never go to showdown, then your opponents are likely to think you’re an aggressive player. Thus, the next time you try to make a bluff, they will be much more likely to play back at you because of your image.

For this reason, you should be looking to tap into your opponent’s thought processes. How do they see you? Once you can decipher what they think of you, you can use this to your advantage and trick them into making a mistake.

Each piece creates a whole: Becoming a world-class poker player isn’t about focusing on just one thing. Indeed, while you might become great at hand reading, you still need to take into account every dynamic at the table. Players such as Phil Ivey will use every piece of information available to them in order to make a play. The size of players’ chip stacks, the players at the table, the time of day and the previous action all need to be considered if you want to become the best poker player in the world.