Is poker free online poker or otherwise more math or psychology based as a game?
As with the luck vs skill debate it’s an area that players argue over though all decent level players will agree that both math and psychology play a role in successful poker.
Some people advise knowing the pot odds in order to determine whether a call is proper or not. Others will tell you that the tells other players give you are the key factor. Many believe that knowing preflop odds is a prerequisite. Some will tell you to bluff a tight player and trap a loose player.
I have tried to reconcile the mathematical and the psychological element in poker when playing. In many ways math and psychology are deeply connected. Using pot odds is a math play method. Yet if an opponent insists on making weak bets every Flop when you have a draw, this is something you can exploit. Call.
If you know that your opponent doesn’t give mathematical attention to pot odds, then it is a part of his psychological character.
Usually a mathematically-inclined player will get chips because all other players are making mathematically ill-advised moves. And the analysis behind this is a psychological analysis – the way how others play.
Usually, a math player is believed to play the cards; a psychological player plays the other players.
These distinctions are not so hard-fast, and many players can effectively do both. A math player in a board of 10-7-3-4-8 will bet or call a bet with A-7, if only he psychologically knows that (1) the board cards are small so that it would not help the other players, and (2) the opponent should raise if he has a hand better than top Pair. Both analyses are mathematical note the ‘small’ in (1) and the ‘better’ in (2) and psychological ‘other players’ in (1) and ‘opponent should raise’ in (2).
Poker math and psychology, then it seems are joined at the hip. Yet you will get scenarios where one or the other gets the upper hand (very much as in say forex trading where at times technical trading will trump fundamental trading and vice versa). When you are on a draw, you use pot odds to call. Or maybe you move all in with a small pair when short-stacked. When the table is so tight, you bluff without remembering at your hand. On a loose table, you wait for a trap.
In exceptional situations, they go together. Against a good player, you mix-up your play. This means playing in a way so random (math) that the other players get bothered over their inability to get a read from you (psychology). And when someone moves all-in against you when you have a marginal hand, you determine your stack size relative to him and use some pot odds (math) and figure out the chances he may be bluffing or trying to steal with a more marginal hand, and this requires a track history (psychology).
Mixing math and psychology in poker is not something you can learn overnight. Don’t lose money learning, go practice hard at free poker games sites first, then, and only when you feel very confident in your understanding of the game, should you move into lower stake money poker games.
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