Meta Game
A serious poker player studies poker strategy to learn how to gain advantages during hands. They learn about probabilities and draw odds, and the percentage that their hands have to win by showdown. Advanced players employ all this strategy and information, but they take their game a step further. The meta-game refers to a player incorporating every piece of information into their thinking process, and making decisions that include factors outside of the cards in play.
SIGN-UP FOR 30% RAKEBACK AT PINNACLE POKER NOW
Utilizing the meta-game would include things like considering the table image of your opponents and yourself before acting, betting tendencies of your opponents, stack sizes, frustration levels, and just about any other factor that may have occurred at the table during the game. It’s about remembering what has transpired and incorporating that information into your decision-making process.
When you incorporate the meta-game into your play you’re making decisions with the mindset that your opponents will assume something based on what has transpired in the game. You’re attempting to see the game through their eyes, and to get one step ahead of them by predicting what they will think and do. The meta-game requires a good knowledge of the game you’re playing, and an understanding of what your opponents are capable of doing. And it’s more than the sum of the player styles; it’s also how those styles interact with each other.
The meta-game also includes adjusting your style of play when the game changes. If the table gets short, you know that players will begin to play looser, and you can use this information to your advantage when an opportunity arises. It means adjusting your style because you know that you’ve played a hand a certain way before, and you don’t want an opponent recognizing that you play specific hands in certain ways. If you’re able to realize when to change gears to keep an opponent guessing, you’re playing with the meta-game in mind.
The meta-game is about trying to predict what will happen in a hand based on how the game has been playing out. It can tell you to get out of a hand because you know that the aggressive short stack will go all-in after you call a bet, or it can give you implied odds on a hand because you know that the calling machine on the button will play if you do.
Try it out the next time you’re enjoying the action at Pinnacle Sports Poker.
