I’ve heard the phrase “play the player, not the cards” a lot lately, especially in the poker world. Chances are, if you’re familiar with the game, then you know that this is not quite the way to go. That’s because cards, unlike chips, are arithmetic objects. They have a specific value for each hand they take. And, as far as chips are concerned, they’re nothing more than little sacks of silver pieces that are assigned a monetary value.
And now for the startling truth: Domination in Dewabet is an art, not a science. And because it’s an art not a science, the most skilled players in the world don’t really win at poker all the time. Yes, they’ve got good instincts for the game, but they’re not really masters of the science of domination. You can be like that, and you can win, but only if you’re up against a really good player. Otherwise, you’re going to get your behind Hundreds and thousands of times and more often than not, you’ll end up looking like a fool to your opponents.
So, you need to have all the tools available to help you emerge as a champion among your opponents. You need to know psychology, about your opponents, and about yourself. But basically, you just need to be a better human being.
Before you do that, though, you have to understand what domination is all about.
Domination is the completeammed by a psychological war of deception, misinformation, trickery, lies and grandstanding. If a player determines that he will dominate, then he takes total control by deception. He tells the opposite true of the situation. The one he wants to happen is the one he gets.
A player doesn’t dominate simply because he has a good hand. domination is occurring when a player convince or mislead his opponents to play in a certain way with a specific hand. Control is the result of a player’s potency at the poker table.
For example, you bet your best hand against your opponent because you know you can beat him. You don’t bet your best hand because you expect to win; rather, you bet your best hand because you want to represent one of your strong hands. You purpose is to lower your opponent’s self confidence and then take the win.
It’s Pattern Against Patterns
Domination is always occurring when a player feels his opponent’s hand is better than his hand. But, a player can’t dominate successfully if his opponent experienced something that gave him a better hand.
In the above example, your opponent’s hand may have improved slightly, or maybe not as bad as it could have been against your hand, but he could still be a good player. Beating a good player takes an additional and sometimes difficult step, but it’s worth it.
Because you know you can beat a good player, you also know it’s worthwhile to take everything you have at your disposal in the correct two cards or in the correct moment in the game. You don’t need to be a perfect player to win; you just need to be better than your opponent.
And, being better than your opponent even affects your style of play. If you’re always raising your opponents, then they’ll probably just stop raising you back. They don’t want to be nice to you, because they know they’ll have to play honestly with you each and every round.
Because they’re busy worrying about their own hands, they’re not going to fool you. If they’re not willing to communicate, then chances are they don’t have a very strong hand. They might have A-9 as the best hand, but if you’re raising, you know you’ll probably steal the pot, especially if your cards are better.
Your stakes
In limit hold ’em, your stakes are also high. Unless you have the nuts (the best hand), it’s worth it to stay in every pot. One of the nice things about playing at low level is that players tend to not value their hands.
If I flop a set and have a medium hand, I’ll get in cheap, in case someone put in a large raise. I’m not looking to gimp my hand, mind you, but if no one has shown any strength yet, the table is going to be suspicious.
When I flop a fantastic hand, I’ll try to get in for free. I’ll value bet to get people to call. Don’t be frightened of me, my bets are never to cheap. I want people to have to pay for a card that I’m going to make my best hand. In limit, I’m not trying to KT overcrowd the pot. In fact, people should want to call, not fold.