Interesting Theory

Right, I've been thinking about this theory for a while now and I put it into practice for the last couple of weeks, and I think it really works.

This will work at whatever online poker room that you play at but it most certainly will not work in real life.

Say you have about 5000 chips and blinds are 25/50. Then you pick up a hand that you want to bet about 500 on the flop and you want plenty of callers. My idea is that you do not bet 500, you bet 475, which is practically no difference, and I reckon you might get an extra caller or 2.

Why? It's because if you bet 500 on the flop then all the players in the hand will see the pink 500 chip appear on the table. Their mind will automatically say "Pink, 500, expensive". Whereas, if you bet 475, 4 black 100 chips and 3 green 25 chips will appear on the table. Then SOME of your opponent's minds will think "Black, 100.....Green, 25, not expensive." Then they will be more inclined to call with marginal hands.

Give it a go in an MTT or a SnG, it worked for me, so it might work for you.

same way they sell a lot of things ---> "at it's a bargain at only $1999.99!"

i do the same thing, and it does seem to make you more callable.

In the same way, opposite end, I can see people saying. "1 chip, I'll call that." or seeing a whole stack and saying, "Look at all those chips, that's too much." Same type of psychology, just used against you.

It could work either way, it just depends on specifically who you are betting against.

Yesterday in a SnG I was delt 88 with big stack at the table and blinds 100 / 200. I raised to 800. and got a caller. On the flop (2 overs, no set) I bet 888 and he folded. He gave a quick, "WTF? 888?"
I said, "I looked at all the numbers from 1 - 1000 and it looked like the best."

Sometimes it's fun to do random things.

You say random, I say you were subconsiously giving away the hand you were giving away the hand you were hoping to hit.

Its the psychology major in me.

I don't like to play these kind of games in a tourney. If I got a hand, I like to open with the smallest bet that's going to get the blinds to fold. With small blinds like that, I'm more interested in seeing a flop in hopes of catching someone second best or re-raising someone pre-flop than I am in making the blinds fold out.

Originally Posted by Humphrind

In the same way, opposite end, I can see people saying. "1 chip, I'll call that." or seeing a whole stack and saying, "Look at all those chips, that's too much." Same type of psychology, just used against you.

yes, i see this more often, the oh know! He just bet 1,000 chips (the 1 cent chips). As opposed to the, ok, its just one chip(1,000 dollar chip), i can cover that.

I think theres definately something to be said about how chips are formated to how a person reacts to them:

(1) Single big chips and color
- Obviously a pink 500 chip is more daunting when seen. They are rare to begin with and a 500 chip bet has no other chips to take away its image. I am guessing 1-chip that has high value vs multiple chips with the same value is more daunting. Now I dont think color as important except that ppl will associate the color of the big chips (vs color of small chips) of being daunting, whatever that color is. So on paradise, red (5 chip) is not daunting, where pink (500 chip) is.
(2) Number of chips
- Other than a single chip bet. I tend to think that more chips representing the same number is more daunting vs lesser number chips with the same value. Probably more relevant when the chips are laterally spread vs stacked. E.g. 3-big stacks of 5 vs 2-25chips and 2-5chips. If they are stacked (like on Party Poker), it seems more easier to call them b/c the chips arent easily identifiable.
(3) Rendering of the chips
- I personally feel that chips that are more animated (or cartoonish looking), e.g. Party Poker vs Paradise, tend to make people looser.

I'd suggest its possible for there to be a subconscious medium possible that would show the best results in the chip number vs chip presence. Kinda like the golden ratio? Sure it varies person to person, but an average would be an interesting thing to find, and possibly very nice to know, not necessarily only for callers, but how bout those times you don't want to be called... unfortunately i can't think of an easy way to test this, unless it was a done as a mass survey, but mass survey outside of a game would still be very different than in game. very interesting idea though...

This is a very interesting topic. I have no real statistical data or reference information to post but I've read somewhere that these little details do impact the psychology of a person. There is some reason fast food resturants make their bugers $.99 instead of a full dollar and I would imagine the same aspect could apply to poker. Also, on the topic of color I've read that colors do affect your emotions; such as a light green has been proven to be relaxing and I've also read that the sight of red can cause a 5% increase in strength (hence the myth that a bull charges at red). It would be interesting to setup an experiment to test the effects that these details have on poker players. Heck, maybe its a conspiracy by the poker rooms to affect people playing by the color of the chips! 0_o

But for the record, I would be more inclined to call a 475 bet rather than a 500 bet. That is of course before I calculate odds ect. Also, I've noticed that on Royal Vegas a trend of betting odd amounts such as $.69, $.87, and $1.24 has formed... For whatever reason I find myself reacting timidly to these bets since they throw off the natural flow that I'm used to. Just a little FYI I guess.

Good post.

When someone bets .89 or 1.46 into a pot I'm in and I want to call, I'll usually just raise it to an even 2 or 3 to punish his free-loving, outside-of-the-box betting. Conform to my ways or pay!

-'rilla

I like to bet 666 if i have the chips. i know people think im bluffing, then they think that i know theyd think that if i betted that amount so they wonder if im reversing them, but then they wonder if i am so crazy as to take it to the 3rd level of deep thought and contra-reverse psych them out - but would i really think that theyd think i have it? so usually they give up, sob and fold.

In all actuality, Im not really thinking much at all its just a bet

thar seems like a very good idea i think im gunna try it next time i play online

Will experiment with it .

Sounds like it might work cause I have fallen into this type bet before

Originally Posted by ~*TheLegend*~

Also, I've noticed that on Royal Vegas a trend of betting odd amounts such as $.69, $.87, and $1.24 has formed... For whatever reason I find myself reacting timidly to these bets since they throw off the natural flow that I'm used to. Just a little FYI I guess.

Good post.

although I don't do this all the time, every once in a while, I'll select random weird raise values. I've noticed at the lower limits (still to play a higher limit game) that people are timid and will sometimes fold because of the strange amount.

Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

When someone bets .89 or 1.46 into a pot I'm in and I want to call, I'll usually just raise it to an even 2 or 3 to punish his free-loving, outside-of-the-box betting. Conform to my ways or pay!

-'rilla

but when I reraise 1.53 ... beware and becareful. You've been drawn into the lair of no return.

<shrug> It could also be used against you. Like if you use the 475 when you want callers but use 500 when you don’t. That means someone can pickup on it and use your tell against you.

Right, I've been thinking about this theory for a while now and I put it into practice for the last couple of weeks, and I think it really works.

Yep, it is mentioned already in Dan Harringtons book. A bet of 200 is more psychologically intimidating then 180, check out book for more info

Originally Posted by loanhorse

Right, I've been thinking about this theory for a while now and I put it into practice for the last couple of weeks, and I think it really works.

Yep, it is mentioned already in Dan Harringtons book. A bet of 200 is more psychologically intimidating then 180, check out book for more info

Damn, I need to get my hands on those Harrington books, so much praise from FTR.

Which one had the thing about my theory, HoH1 on HoH2?

uno

Once I was SB on the bubble with the big stack and the BB was the small stack with something like 1k chips, picked up JJ and instead of going all-in I raised something like 1482 chips. He said <I think you're bluffing> and called with junk.

Seriously, I've been betting with chips that end in -25 or -75 a lot, they seem to do the job better than the even numbers

I just did this for kicks and my table went on tilt.... seriously

The amount you bet can really mess with players minds, say your normal bet is 500 in that situation bet 496 and see what happens, the bet just looks weird as hell and makes people wonder WTF you are doing...

Hey everybody, i've been using this forum as a resource for a while but this is my first post. I've been having trouble shaking people out of pots in Pacific Poker SNGs for the last couple days. These fish usually call everything no matter what they have and I get dealt a lot of bad beats. The second I read this post I pulled up the table, starting raising with odd amounts like 128, 273, etc. Within 6 hands i've gone from shortstack at 510 chips, to 2nd place at 1788. Everyone is folding like crazy when i have nothing but rags. Absolutely amazing. I've been having a bad couple days with this problem. Thanks for the help.

Went from shortstack with 7 people to finish at 2nd place. Ended the losing streak.

playing the player at pacfic is almost pointless if it is low stakes... they play WAY to horrid to employ high thinking level moves... really best way i have found to play these guys is simply play tight ABC poker... you might want to read rippy and dav's SnG posts... here is the link: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=50

Hmm...

I thought you would bet odd amounts if you wanted to get a call. Say like 485 instead of 500 because it seems less. The pink chip is intimidating as compared to 4 black chips. Instead you saying bet odd amounts and not get called.

From your post it seems like you like to bluff a lot, maybe to much. Playing the cards, studying betting patterns and making well calculated time steals should be able to get you to 2nd @ most 5 to 10 dollar sngs..

Originally Posted by lambchopdc

Hey everybody, i've been using this forum as a resource for a while but this is my first post. I've been having trouble shaking people out of pots in Pacific Poker SNGs for the last couple days. These fish usually call everything no matter what they have and I get dealt a lot of bad beats. The second I read this post I pulled up the table, starting raising with odd amounts like 128, 273, etc. Within 6 hands i've gone from shortstack at 510 chips, to 2nd place at 1788. Everyone is folding like crazy when i have nothing but rags. Absolutely amazing. I've been having a bad couple days with this problem. Thanks for the help.

Remember, at low limit SnGs (especially at Pacific), you really just want to be playing ABC poker and bluffing as little as possible.

My theory only applies to games where the average player has a brain cell really.