The 14 Virtues of a Winning Poker Player: Manipulative

What it means: Being manipulative in poker means you are able to get your opponents to do what you want, when you want. In poker this is the difference between being proactive and reactive: Proactive players make things happen, while reactive players let their opponents be the catalyst of their actions. A manipulative poker player is akin to a puppet-master; pulling the strings of their opposition. Unlike many other undertakings, being manipulative in poker is a good thing, not something to be looked down upon.

The Flip-Side: Poker players who are reactive, and not proactive, are usually the ones guessing. By forcing your opponent to make the decision, you increase the chances of your opponent making a mistake: If you are the one constantly trying to decide what a bet signifies, it will be you who is making the mistakes.

How it relates to poker: Manipulation in poker is crucial: when you are proactive in a hand there is usually more than one “correct” play for you to choose from -with varying degrees of profitability: However, when you let your opponent take the initiative, you are usually left with a single correct and an abundance of incorrect choices, increasing the likelihood of a large mistake.

Players who understand how their different opponents think, and react in different situations, are able to force the action to the point that causes their opponent the highest probability to make a mistake: And the players who are making mistakes in poker are the ones that are losing their shirts.

Being able to manipulate your fellow poker players is one of the only ways you can cause good players to make mistakes -therefore, it is one of the only ways you can have an edge over a solid player: If you’re unable to manipulate good players you’ll be at best EV neutral against these players -and likely negative EV if they are able to manipulate you in any way.

How to Cope: If you are one of the players who happen to be easy to manipulate you’ll have to put in a lot of work understanding of what your opponent’s bets really mean. This means understanding how your current table image, and previous run-ins with this opponent, affects the way they play against you. If you can do this, you can quickly turn the tables on your opponent and manipulate their actions.

Ways to improve: To improve in this area of the game you have to work hard at understanding people’s intentions, and not just rely on the basic strategies of the game. Knowing a person’s knowledge and experience, why a person is playing -for fun, to make money, bored-and what their current mind-set is -are they playing above their typical stakes, drunk, or on tilt-will help you understand the best way to deal with this particular player.