To make a significant leap from the standard model to a detailed analysis of the opponent, you need to develop a strong perception in your mind. You must learn to empathize with the opponent's role and figure out how they see the world. The first step in analyzing an opponent begins with a psychological portrait that summarizes the opponent's psychological tendencies.
For example, your opponent, with whom you have been playing for a while, raises on the river in a spot where they could only represent a runner-runner straight. Let's say that we have never been in a similar situation with this player before, so we have no data on what they are planning to do next in this situation. Are we forced to resort to the standard model because of this?
Of course not – as poker players, we can expand psychological conclusions in situations we haven't seen before. There are a few very simplified portraits that most players like to use, such as: “he is very aggressive” or “he is a complete nit,” but we aim to create strong and finely analyzed psychological portraits.
There are four main aspects that encompass the psychological profile:
- Risk-taking
Risky behavior shows your opponent's willingness to play in situations where they can fail. You will most likely notice this willingness by following the opponent's risky bluffs. There are bluffs that are universal, such as a preflop 4-bet bluff or 3-barreling in obvious situations where your range is weak. These situations do not necessarily manifest in the first aspect. To distinguish the first trait, pay attention to situations where a bluff is not necessary and would be very risky. If a player consistently chooses such situations or systematically avoids them, you can attribute this trait to them.
This trait can also be extended to risky, heroic, or creative play. Players who have strongly adopted this trait love heroic play, riskier bluffs, FPS-type play, and sometimes care more about the game being “sick” than EV optimization.
Tilt also significantly affects risk-taking. A player experiencing hot tilt will always play riskier in situations where a cold tilt player will show a risk-taking game filled with depression. Also, players who play above their rolls play a lower-risk game, and because of this, you have the opportunity to steal pots from such players unless they are also experiencing hot tilt.
- Attitude towards difficulties
The second trait – attitude towards difficulties, is about how your opponent perceives the complex course of the game and how they play at that time. A complex course means that there is an implied trick or a hand that is not at the top of the range. There are two main types of complex courses. The first, where representing a hand, you have to do something tricky at some point in the hand, such as checking back in a strange situation or making a smaller bet than expected. The second, when you consciously choose to represent a weaker or medium-strength hand.
Attitude towards difficulties is like a measure that shows how your opponent handles complex situations. Most mid-level players expect too much from these situations. In top-level play, alternating complex situations are more common than at the primary level, so here the complexity dynamics become especially pronounced and detailed. In low-stakes games, you will see that opponents like to either overestimate or underestimate this trait, which can become apparent in their playing style. The aspect we are discussing also correlates with beliefs about other people's intelligence. Those who underestimate this trait usually consider people quite smart, while those who overestimate it see players as not very smart.
In the second part of the article, we will discuss two more important traits that are relevant for clearly describing an opponent.
