The Navigation of Your Opponents

If I referred to opponents as `implosive' (players who will rarely raise, but will call most bets) 39 and `explosive' (bet-raisers), you will find that if you have `explosive' opponents on either side of you, or at least one `explosive' person to your left or your right you have more tools at your disposal to manipulate the action.

If your left and right side opponents are both `implosive', many of your tools do not work. If `implosive' players surround you and you sit opposite `explosive' players, you might often find the play of the hand to be different than you desire.

Even though successful players usually do much of the betting and raising in hands they play (the same as they would if `implosive' opponents surrounded them), tactical manipulations generally involve unwilling participation from other opponents.

If your opponents only check and call, there is no `springboard' effect allowing you to isolate hands and capitalize on `dead' money.

The solution to beat most `implosive' players is to play strong hands and let your cards do the lion's share of the work. Sadly, this does not take the work of a poker genius, and makes the game much less interesting - though still profitable.

This is just one example of how `navigation' plays a part in optimal play. Even though you know the effect and the cause of a problem, can you always do something about it? For this particular problem, you cannot necessarily stop betting your hands.

the effects of a protected pot

describe a protected pot

manipulate the action

the particular Morton's theorem