Advanced Poker: Credit Deals

A good poker player must always keep in mind the rules of credit while playing the game. He should know, among them, when and how to extend or refuse credit.

Extending Credit

Seasoned poker players know that by extending credit is only a means to an end for their personal financial gain. His reasons of extending credit are limited and would be done if and when you have a big loser in the game. The only way to keep a big loser in the game is to extend him credit. There are some steady losers who depend on credit and thus constantly beg to borrow money so that they'll keep on playing. They would rather be on debt than quit the game being humiliated or with injured pride. If they borrow money gracefully, they can be lent to and so they can keep playing and losing to the seasoned player. Just be absolutely sure that they can repay their debts.

Another reason to extend credit is its psychological edge to those who borrow money. More often than not, those players who borrow money become lax and play a poorer game. Lastly, by extending credit, the seasoned player knows that this gives him the influence over his opponents. He has the control and tempo of the game because players are in debt of him.

To get the maximum advantage of extending credit, the seasoned player does so with a ploy in mind. While lending money, he appears to his opponents as someone who is extending a favor or someone who's giving losers a break. He may also appear to lend money because he has certain conditions such as: extending credit to his "friend", extending credit because the creditor is winning so far, and extends credit because he expects his opponents to lend money too.

Refusing Credit

To pinpoint a winner as the automatic creditor will make him the target for loans. If you keep extending credit, ironically, you'll lose face to your opponents. They would feel suspicious of you. To refuse credit is also a tactic to control credit policies. You should refuse credit so that you can urge your opponents to bring more money; force them to lend money too; you can make your opponents feel obligated and thankful. Furthermore, you refuse to lend money because you don't want to appear as an easy lender; you want to appear and enhance your toughness, which has a mental edge. And obviously, you want to refuse credit so that you would avoid getting caught by poor credit risks and you want to upset certain opponents.