Deception
By employing deception, a poker player hopes to induce their opponent(s) to act differently than they would if they could see their cards. Bluffing is a form of deception where players bet strongly on a weak hand to induce opponents to fold superior hands. Related is the semi-bluff, in which a player who does not have a strong hand, but has a chance to improve it to a strong hand in later rounds, bets strongly on the hand in the hopes of inducing other players with weaker "made" hands to fold. Slow-playing is deceptive play in poker that is roughly the opposite of bluffing: checking or betting weakly with a strong holding, attempting to induce other players with weaker hands to call or raise the bet instead of folding, to increase the payout.
Even if a bluff or slow play fails, the attempt can benefit players in future hands. If opponents observe that a player never bluffs, they won't call his bets unless they have very good hands. If opponents observe that a player never slow plays, they can pounce at any sign of weakness.
Read more about this topic: Poker Strategy
Famous quotes containing the word deception:
“A marriage based on full confidence, based on complete and unqualified frankness on both sides; they are not keeping anything back; there’s no deception underneath it all. If I might so put it, it’s an agreement for the mutual forgiveness of sin.”
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)
“Perhaps there are only a few women who experience without deception the overwhelming intoxication of the senses which they expect from their encounters with men, which they feel bound to expect because of the fuss made about it in novels, written by men.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“To many men much-wandering hope comes as a boon, but to many others it is the deception of vain desires.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)