Let us look at an analogy here to describe what I want to talk about, let us look at warfare here to highlight the importance of deception. If there was absolutely no deception whatsoever in warfare then many more soldiers would get killed because their enemies would know what was coming and adequately prepare. Deception may seem like dirty tricks but it is a vital part of the game and this applies also in poker. If you do not play in a deceptive way then you simply make your opponents decisions far easier. At the end of the day then you need to make your money in poker by you avoiding as many mistakes as possible and your opponents making as many mistakes as possible.
Poker is about making decisions and it isn’t enough to make a decent decision these days and as ex-world Chess champion Emmanuel Lasker once said….. “If you think you have found a decent move at the board……stop….think…..then find a better one”. There are always better ways or nearly always better ways to play poker hands than the one that you originally arrive at. As a rule then deception assists you in not only playing a poker hand better yourself but also helps your opponents to play badly. Think about that for a minute because let us say that you have J-J and limp-raise from early position. This is deceptive because it makes your opponent think that you have AA-KK. But if your opponent thinks this and they re-raise then they almost surely have you crushed.
