The psychology of poker basically involves creating mystery, misdirection and hesitation. Sitting around a table with your opponents can be a challenge. You have to keep your poker face, try to read everybody elses poker face, and not give away your true intentions when you take a card, raise and call. After a few hands you start to notice the physical aspects of your poker opponents. The hesitation when it comes time to bet, an air of resignation when some player takes three cards, the confident betting of someone with an excellent poker hand, all sorts of little nuances.
In online poker, the entire game is changed because you cant read the other players body language and quirks. An internet casino poker game is often reduced to the games bare essence, but you can still take advantage of some psychological tricks to get ahead. In the online casino, some do make their game play as consistent as possible to fool other players when theres a big hand at stake. Others go the opposite way and try to confuse other online poker players with plenty of bluffing and strategic folding.
Players such as Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese and Barry Greenstein are considered to be...