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leads us to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker:
Every time you play a hand differently from
the way you would have played it if you could
see all your opponents' cards, they gain;
and every time you play your hand the same
way you would have played it if you could
see all their cards, they lose. Conversely,
every time opponents play their hands differently
from the way they would have if they could
see all your cards, you gain; and every time
they play their hands the same way they would
have played if they could see all your cards,
you lose.
The Fundamental Theorem applies universally
when a hand has been reduced to a contest
between you and a single opponent. It nearly
always applies to multi-way pots as well,
but there are rare exceptions, which we will
discuss at the end of this page.
What does the Fundamental Theorem mean? Realize
that if somehow your opponent knew your hand,
there would be a correct play for him to make.
If, for instance, in a draw poker game your
opponent saw that you had a pat flush before
the draw, his correct play would be to throw
away a pair of aces when you bet. Calling
would be a mistake, but it is a special kind
of mistake. We do not mean your opponent played
the hand badly by calling with a pair of aces;
we mean he played it differently from the
way he would play it if he could see your
cards.
This flush example is very obvious. In fact,
the whole theorem is obvious, which is its
beauty; yet its applications are often not
so obvious. Sometimes the amount of money
in the pot makes it correct to call, even
if you could see that your opponent's hand
is better than yours. Let's look at several
examples of the Fundamental Theorem of Poker
in action.
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