Reactionary Poker Versus Inductive Poker

Poker Helper, Mar 2007

I’ve often written that poker is all about the following process:
• Putting your opponents on hand distributions
• Evaluating your own hand relative to your opponents’ distributions
• Evaluating how your opponents will respond to all actions available to you
• Executing the action that yields the highest EV (expectation value, the amount of money you expect to earn on average in the long run)

When I first came up with this playing model, I was thinking about poker from a completely reactionary perspective. Playing reactionary poker means being flexible, and making the best decisions (fold, check, call, bet, or raise) based on all the information you have on your opponents. To be a profitable poker player, you need a good foundation in playing reactionary poker. Indeed, I’ve enjoyed much success at poker because I continually hone my reactionary skills. When I sit in a casino or play online, I’m a silent assassin who constantly deciphers betting patterns and picks off tells.

You can be a winning player by playing good reactionary poker. However, there’s a level beyond reactionary poker. I call this realm “inductive poker.” The word “inductive” usually refers to one of two things: 1.) a type of reasoning 2.) electricity and magnetism. The word “inductive” also means “serving to induce,” and that’s the definition of inductive that I use when I refer to inductive poker.
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