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Texas Hold’em: Deceive Others but Not Yourself
Poker is a game of deception. Your objective is to get opponents to do what you
want. Your opponents want the opposite. Therefore, the only way to achieve your
objective is to deceive your opponents about your goals. However, in the course
of your deceptive tactics, there is one player you must be careful not to
deceive, and that is yourself.
Deceiving Others in Poker
We deceive others in poker in a number of ways. Plays like the bluff -- where we
try to convince opponents that we want them to stay in the hand when we really
don’t -- and its opposite number the trap are obvious examples of poker
deception. To deceive in poker though, we need to set up our bluffs and traps,
which is where “table image” becomes important. Your table image is how others
at the table perceive you. Before trying a big bluff, you may want to establish
an image as a tight player. The most effective bluffs come from a player who has
only played five hands in the previous hour. Similarly, players who are
perceived as maniacs tend to get paid off with big hands. In poker, as in life,
image is everything.
Deceiving Yourself in Poker
However, it can be dangerous to romanticize your image. Many students of the
game understand that for years the most professional, effective style of play
has been the tight-aggressive style, being very selective about which pots you
enter, always taking
poker odds into consideration, but playing the hands very strongly (in
recent years, there have been some advocates for a loose-aggressive or
hyper-aggressive style of play, especially in
online Texas
holdem). Since many players want to think that they are or are approaching
professional quality, they may lead themselves to believe that they have a
tight-aggressive image. Getting married to the idea that you have a
tight-aggressive image can cause mistakes. You may be getting called on your
bluffs much more often than you realize because you are convinced opponents fear
you. You may be entering too many pots and not know it even though your
opponents do. If you deceive yourself about your play and your image, you will
not make corrections and you will not improve.
Sidestepping the Self-Deception Pitfall
A great way to stop a pattern of self-deception is to get involved with some
kind of poker group or forums on
poker sites. In many
areas, friends will not give you an honest critique of your abilities. In poker,
you may find people who are all too happy to tell you what is wrong with your
game or your self-perception. They may not always be right, but they can give
you a different perspective. And if there is a consensus from your group about
one or more aspects of your game, you are going to need to give that serious
consideration.