Roshambo Review: Throwing Scissors

If you want your opponent to believe that you have the poker hand you're representing, your betting needs to be consistent whether you actually have it or not.

The classic example is when you hold the Hammer (72!) and choose to play it as if you were holding Aces. If you bet your hand the same way as when you really do have Aces, for all your opponent knows you do have it. By betting strongly and consistently, you create a reality in which 72 is the strongest hand in poker!

But the only way for this reality to exist in the mind of your opponent is if he believes it exists. And for that to happen, you can't get too fancy. You need to paint a picture that makes it obvious you have the best hand. The way to do that is by betting in a uniform manner regardless of your hand.

A nonsensical check-raise bluff on the turn will get you in trouble if there's no real hand you could be making that move with. A big overbet on an AA2 flop will do little to represent AA, especially if your opponent holds AK.

To draw a comparison to Roshambo, you need to throw scissors with your betting nearly every time, both when you're bluffing and when you have the goods.

If you suddenly bring out a minraise (paper) when you hold the nuts, your opponent is going to get suspicious because you don't usually minraise otherwise. If you usually check-raise with top pair out of position but check-call a flush draw (rock), no one is going to be fooled when the flush card hits and you come out betting.

One of the best ways to bust an opponent is by deceiving him, and that can be accomplished by throwing scissors. Frequently, this is done by following up. If you raised preflop, often throw out a continuation bet on the flop. If you tend to raise your overpairs in position, consider doing the same thing when you have a big draw.

You'll never make much money if you only bet when you have it and fold when you don't.

Many times, your opponent will simply lay down his hand to your aggressive betting. But sometimes, he will get annoyed with your constant bets and raises and he might decided to play back at you.

This is the time when you will get paid off. While your opponent hit his top pair, top kicker on an Ac 8d 6c, he'll have no way of knowing that you were open-raising from the cutoff with Kc 8c. Or maybe you'll have a set of 6s, but your opponent won't be able to read that hand because you raised rather than limped.

Deception is only effective if you can tell a believable story. Eventually, your opponent will decide to take a stand because your repetitious story strains credibility. That's when you'll be glad you threw scissors all those other times, because this time you'll hold the nuts.

Scissors will cut your opponents up!