Poker is a game wrought with decision-making. From the game, you chose to play to the pot odds, the bets you make and whether to call, raise, or fold on a given hand. With so many decisions, one would assume that someone who is good at making decisions would have an edge in poker.
It is never ever that simple in poker. You have a lot of information but there is just as much information that you do not have about sneaky opponents who will try their best to feed you inaccurate data and false information. At the same time, you are trying to hide the truth and feed them false information. Then it goes round in a loop as both you and your opponent try to separate the fact and fiction and make the decisions to give you the edge.
Complicating the situation is that in many situations around the PokerStar.com card table has more than a single correct answer. Moreover, the correct answer to any given situation will vary depending on what you think is the best response for our opponents to receive and misinterpret to your advantage. Because of this, a huge percentage of the actions we take will depend based on the situation. That is the key: Applying logic to the “depend” moment, and you ultimately master poker.
Obviously doing the right thing in every situation is rudimentary. However many players have not fully appreciated the tool that they use to come to both heir god and bad poker decisions. In poker decision-making, more specifically understanding the art and science behind poker logic is about the science of correct reasoning without all the facts.
In poker, logic is the science of correct reasoning, even if that sometimes leads you to the incorrect conclusion. For example, you could call an opponent’s bluff, only to find that they had the goods. The result is negative but unimportant as you followed the evidence to a logical conclusion and if nothing else, have learned how he bluffs and when he has the goods. This gives you more information so that you can revise the logic and reasoning you use at the card table.
Download PokerStars will almost never let you know (before the fact and the showdown) that you are right. The poker greats act on conclusions drawn on just half the facts or two thirds of the facts if you include the contradictory and misinformation that your opponents provide. However, the game of poke will give infinite opportunities to consciously test, check and examine our logic. This includes the hands of poker that you have not played and merely watched played.
The great players have mastered answer the subjective questions that poker raises with objective answers by understanding how the logic behind the game works:
This means following the chain of logic to its conclusion and learning whether it was right or wrong and learning from it, modifying your application of logic as required, regardless of whether you win the pot.