Poker is the most popular gambling game in the world for a variety of reasons. Most people enjoy it for the uncertainty it offers to its players, and for the ultimate satisfaction, they receive when they are successful at winning a hand. One of the reasons why the satisfaction is enormous since it doesn’t reflect only the amount of luck someone has, but also the skills someone has.
As every poker player out there knows, the most enjoyable way to win in a hand is to manipulate your opponents successfully. For you to do that, it is an absolute must to know how to read your opponents, be careful, and tactful, and know when is the right moment to go forward and when you be ready to fold your hand.
At first, conducting all of these actions at once can be quite challenging, but as you progress as a player, then it becomes significantly easier to do so. Today, players mostly engage in playing poker at one of many online casinos, like casumo.com. So, we want to talk about whether it is possible to manipulate your opponents when playing online poker.
Bluffing
The first and the most widespread way for someone to manipulate his opponent in online poker is bluffing. We are sure that practically all the players out there know what this means. We are talking about the situation when the cards in your hands are not strong enough for you to win at the end of the hand.
Even when that happens, this doesn’t mean you should fold your hand immediately. Instead, you should try to deceive your opponent and make him or her mean that your cards are much stronger than they are. If you take a look at some poker tournaments out there, you will see that this is the commonest way of deceiving an opponent.
Online, this approach becomes, even more, easier for you. The reason is quite simple, your opponents have no way of determining what you think since they are not able to see your facial expressions. As a result, you can deceive them into believing that you have stronger cards than them.
Bet Sizing
Another way we want to point out is choosing your bet sizing carefully. When we say this, we mean that you should take a look at the weaker opponents, and see what kind of amount would back them off against competing with you. Of course, some players are aggressive enough to call your every move.
On the other side, if you have perceived an opponent who is strong and competent, then be sure to use a higher amount. Why is this the case? Well, more competent players are smart enough to back off when their cards are not as strong as they need them to be to win. Therefore, it is important to have these two possibilities in mind.
On the other side, when you play against some aggressive players, then you should look to meet what they raise only if you are sure that they cannot compete with your cards. Of course, you will not be sure that this is the case mostly, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have this situation in mind as well.
Don’t Just Consider Your Hand
Even though the cards you have are the most important things for you to consider, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t count on those your opponents have. Think about it, the biggest mistake some beginners out there make is to invest massive amounts of money solely because nobody has the stronger combination.
In many situations, they are surprised to see that this is not the case. When that happens, they tend to lose a lot of money without having the possibility of having it back later. For that reason, you need to take a look at the cards at the table and consider all the scenarios that can occur.
Naturally, you will not be successful in all cases, but it is a much better approach than just assuming your cards are much better than those your opponents have. With this patient and careful approach, you will have a chance to preserve a high percentage of the money you have better in a hand.
Don’t Use Only One Approach
Another thing we want to point out is that you should avoid utilizing only one approach when you gamble. What do we mean when we say this? Well, most players tend to develop a pattern over time, without ever doing so on purpose.
When that happens, they are easy to read by their opponents. For that reason, you shouldn’t bet the same amount of money every time, and you shouldn’t be overly aggressive. In that case, opponents might take chance against you, and do so when you are not as strong as you want them to believe.
Slow Play
Last but not least, we want to talk about an approach used by some of the most experienced players out there. We are talking about an approach known as slow play. We are talking about something that occurs when you want to make your opponent think that you don’t have a strong hand.
Why would someone do that? Well, that happens when you want to have your opponent feel overconfident enough to make some reckless moves down the road that will lead to losing a lot of money. You can be sure that your opponent will feel surprised when he or she saws your hand and acknowledge the situation that they have lost the money.
The best moment for you to use this approach is when you are the first to play. Make it look like you are not confident in your cards by not raising the stakes, and just calling whatever someone bets. That way, opponents will think they can dominate you quite easily, and it would be quite a surprise to them, as we’ve said.
In Conclusion
Manipulating your opponents in poker should be a work of art. Here, we’ve discussed a couple of ways you can do so. Remember, practice these over and over until you perfect them.
