In poker it is in your interests to play in such a way that you opponent can make a mistake. It is also in your interests to play in such a way that you cannot make one or you minimise your chances of making one. Let us look at an example here to show you what I mean. Your opponent raises before the flop from early position and you call with the 8c-8d on the button. The flop comes Ad-8s-7s and your opponent bets out two thirds of the pot. Now the question is do you call or raise? Well the answer to this problem is in what line is best to take to maximise your opponent’s chances of making a big mistake.
If they have a hand like KK,QQ,JJ etc then raising may force them to fold a weaker hand. However if you call then they will fear the ace anyway and likely shut down. But if they have a hand like AK or AQ and you raise then not only are they more likely to call but they could even stack off against you if they play wacky enough or are prone to impulsive all in shoves. Let us look at another example, let us say that the hand has been checked to the river and you make a pair on the end with J-10 when the board is something like A-8-8-4-J.
Your opponent bets two thirds of the pot and here there is no point in raising. This is because your opponent cannot make a mistake. If they are weak or are bluffing then they simply fold and if they are strong then they will simply call or re-raise you.
