In previous articles, we have discussed the basic statistical framework for interpreting adaptation to the game. If we think about it carefully, adapting to an opponent is simply a dance of alternating frequencies, of strategies that strengthen or weaken in response to each other. But there is one aspect of poker that goes beyond adaptation.
When we talked about game flow, we said that frequency can be understood as a broad-minded strategy that can also be automated-divided into individual parts. We can look at frequency and say that it is 33%, but we can also look at frequency and see that it is a game flow.
Adaptation works the same way in the game. There are certain details that depend entirely on statistics and broad-minded strategy. This means that there are places where we make range-based decisions, decisions justified by broad-mindedness or rane-based reasoning.
For example, after a c-bet, you get a nut flush draw on the turn. This is a situation where the semi-bluff on the turn is independent of psychology. This bet is argued specifically by statistics or range. You are betting here because your opponent will often fold in this situation and you have enough nut hands on the river, etc. Psychology is not involved here.
In essence, the vast majority of poker consists of range-based decisions. Sometimes even a big call on the river or a checkraise big bluff doesn't make it into the psychological moment, because they are decisions that can be mathematically calculated.
But what about when you can't calculate? What about when the range-based abstraction is not enough and you don't really know what will happen?
We have previously discussed the comfort zone. A player's comfort zone is the circle of situations in which they feel confident. His comfort zone consists of certain sets of actions that he feels are available to him.
Part of your job as a poker player is to figure out what your opponent's circle is made up of, and then move beyond it. Finally, if certain actions are outside your opponent's comfort zone, what it really means is that he doesn't see those decisions as choices. His poker structure prevents him from doing so. Find out how the other player's scheme limits him. And then, when you start pushing him where he wasn't expecting to go, the opponent won't follow you.
This vision brings us to the idea of momentary aggression. The aggression of the moment is not just being aggressive, intensive raising or betting. It is much more.
To make a range-based decision, we have to fight with our range to construct the optimal frequency. This is a centralised, planned attack approach. But the striking
the decision is a permanent, short-term event. It is deciding that the opponent has one hand, one state, and trying to get around him with that one hand.
You might think that this is like thinking from hand to hand, but it is not. Playing a hand in the moment, philosophically speaking, means facing it as a single moment, not as a mere screw in a big match. It means suspending the mechanisms of the mind,
stop all other actions. When the situation you're facing is difficult enough, deep enough and off-centre enough, and the bet that the opponent has just made is staring you right in the face, it's enough to say "I can pick a better spot" or "it's basically a bad play, whatever it is". The cup is full of delays and excuses. The competitor has forced you to come to a decision that you can no longer get away from. Sure, it may be a decision that costs you all the chips you have, but this decision is above that. This is a situation where you have to put all the determination of your mind into one decision. Normally, aggressive players can force you to play a lot of big pots, but good players will force you to make spur of the moment decisions. This kind of aggression is fiercer than trying to win a lot of pots. Some aggressive players can be tenacious, but quickly become complacent with broad-minded adjustments. Momentary aggression is different. Playing against a good player, you will feel as if you cannot make a mistake. You can't run away or turn away. Every tackle is like a test. Every hit has to be taken or parried.
What does it have? What does he think I have? The world is compressed into one massive moment and the action depends on you. Momentary aggression culminates in one of those places, frozen in time, where everything depends on you. This is the highest point of psychological warfare.
You cannot seek to use the aggression of the moment, you can only seek to make clever, powerful bluffs. But if they are done skillfully and cleverly enough, they will eventually turn into the feeling of the moment. That's how a player becomes an intimidating opponent - by making one good, thoughtful decision at a time.
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