N86xps
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Deceptive playsAny good player knows this, yet just felt like I'd like to write on this topic anyway (this way I will understand it better myself:)).
Bluffing and slowplaying are both powerfull weapons, they are very exciting when they work, and from a game-theoretical point of view you MUST employ both plays with some frequency. Strict mathematical analisys is impossible to do in no-limit (in 50 years time maybe), and actually we do not need it to play poker.
Yet it is important not to forget the deep relationship between those two deceptive plays.
By bluffing more you actually strengthen your checking range. This is due to the fact, that there are now less air hands in our range for checking. On the other hand, by slowplaying more we are weakening our betting range. Therefore, theoretically you should slowplay less if you bluff a lot and bluff less if you slowplay a lot.
I have just realized myself, that by applying both at the same time and frequently enough I will make it so much easier to play against me. By bluffing I have already weakened my betting range AND strengthened my checking range. If I also slowplay a lot, then... I strengthen my checking range even more + further weaken my betting range. It becomes a really easy game against me.
So, we should value bet more when we have an agressive image (this is obvious). But we also should slowplay less when we have an aggressive image, so that we do not give our opponents easy reads. Luckily value betting more and slowplaying less is the same thing.
Just another thought: it is a matehmatical fact, that by bluffing more often with optimal frequencies (that means increasing the size of our bets) our EV goes up (this is an interesting mathematical result, which I might consider sometime in another thread). This is an argument for bluffing. It is importnat to note, that ANY argument for bluffing is an argument against slowplaying. I have heard a lot of advice, to not slowplay too much. Here is just another reason for that.
Obviously, this reasoning applies more to higher stakes games, where people are good enough to spot unbalanced ranges and exploit them.
This is all well known, yet it may be good to remind yourself about it from time to time.
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