In order to determine the thought processes of your opponent, it would help to read their minds. But not being a mind reader, are there any seminars or classes offered on the subject? Not really and even if there were you are not going to learn the psychology of your opponents neurosis from a class. If you were able to, this is still no guarantee of winning.
While strategy is a real and important element of poker, and is certainly more basic than psychoanalysis, it is still only one important tactic. Mindreading would certainly be an asset to wise play, but is this possible? It is in a way.
The best of players, as the best of artists, never required a manual on the subject of their professions. They proceed intuitively, by means of naturally sharp observation which they practiced and developed individually in the course of the years.
Good technical manuals on poker psychology are rare. This is at the very crux of the matter. Whatever tips and advice you may find off the net or in the bookstore, you can not practically or successfully put them into real play. You must have that inexplicable talent of intuition that puts your own creative mind processes over the limit of your opponents.
Most players will lose more than they win because they depend on strict models of play, much like computer programs, or simulations that present themselves as predictions to be used robotically by the savvy player. This could be quite simple depending on the number of variables involved in the prediction.
A talented player will spurn any computer spun model and make their own decisions on how to play their game and their opponents game. They are led by intuition into observations that they then combine into rules of play according to their creative imagination and wit. The strategy that comes out of this is distinctively their own. No matter how complex or how elegantly simple their secret strategy is, it makes them less vulnerable.
This may be another reason why artists and players (two creatures in the same family) do not easily and never fully reveal their trade secrets to the general public: at best they allow some general theoretical discussion of their work or a few relatively trivial technical tips. Which may be very nice of them, but the problem is that they did not achieve their status by reading somebody else s tips.
It is then most vital to commit yourself to the intense study of personal observation from your own practice to develop your observational skills as well as your imagination. Do this and you will independently create ways of acquiring a manner of play that is unique to you in its every detail.
By far the best bluffers of the game are those who do it with regularity in a manner that prohibits anyone at the table from deciphering the bluff. This requires a strong intuition developed by lots of practice and known only to them.
While hard work and persistence are involved here, they are of little benefit unless you have the courage and independence to use your imagination in some cases that make you seem less than sane but are innovative and demand a curious nature and the soul of an explorer which puts you way out in front.
All of us have intuition. Few of us have the persistence and wherewithal to aggressively fine tune it and use it, and use it often. This is something everyone has to work on by himself. While everyone has intuition, that intuition is unique to the individual.
What I have written about here calls for a lifetime commitment. Nobody who was ever considered a master at his craft, whatever that may be, was given that title. They worked long and hard and on their own and they earned it.
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