Meta game is a problem-solving concept used to determine or influence the outcome of strategic games. Nigel Howard first founded the concept of Meta game during the 1960’s. Meta game was quickly used in poker as a concept to help improve high-level professional poker player’s games.

When a poker player is looking at the bigger picture, as opposed to merely that which is right in front of them, they are looking at the Meta game.  Meta game in poker is not about tangible things such as the cards a player or opposing players hold.  Nor is Meta game relating to the size of the bet or the pot odds of calling. Instead, Meta game is about the thought process going on inside each poker player’s heads. Meta game involves playing a hand with the knowledge that an opposing poker player (the villain) is going to play a number of other hands against their opponent later in the session or in future sessions.  This means that a player may choose to play a hand differently than how they might play if they knew they were just going to play one hand against their opponent.

The thinking poker player understands that villains will look for betting patterns and tendencies in hands they observe or are involved in.  They use this information to narrow down the possible holdings of a player, as well as to formulate opinions and categorize villains.  Thus, when a player begins to engage in Meta game, he is acting in a manner, which he can utilize to his advantage in future, hands through influencing the thinking process of their opposition.  An example of where Meta game may be put into use is as follows:

If a villain has value bet the river and the player has worked out that in the long run, mathematically calling will lose money marginally on average, should the player call?

If the player was just going to play one hand against their opponent, there is no question that the player should fold.  In a single, isolated hand, this call is a losing venture.  Moreover, if looked upon as a series of unrelated individual hands, folding again is the prudent move, as calling is unprofitable.

However, if the player knows that they will be playing many more hands against their opponent, the decision changes.  There are factors to be considered in the Meta game, which include hand history recollection and playing style assessment. If a player calls their opponent, they lose money from the play immediately.  Poker is not always about the moment, however.  In fact, poker is about a series of related moments.  While making a call will surely lose money in this specific moment, such a poor call may make money in the future.  Thus, the obvious bad call may turn out to be a winning proposition over the long haul for the following reasons:

1)  The player gets to see his opponent’s cards:

This gives the player valuable information about the player seeing what type of holdings our villain may value bet the river with.  This in turn gives us insight to our opposition’s playing tendencies, betting patterns and hand ranges for future use.

2)  By calling down a hand that is not a profitable call; the player’s table image becomes much looser:

By making a bad play, we influence how the villain, as well as the other players at the table perceives us as a poker player.  Players may now view us as loose, passive and possibly even bad poker players.  A thinking poker player can use this to his advantage. If a poker player knows that his opponent thinks he is a loose player, he can extract more value out of the villain when he has a good hand. This is because his opposing player will be more likely to call him down light due to the fact the villain feels he is a loose player.

Additionally, poker players profit most by causing villains to perceive or pigeonhole them in one particular category, while the reality dictates they should be categorized entirely differently than they are perceived.  Thus, their misinterpretation of our play shall pay dividends in future hands against all who have observed our play.  Although mathematically the play to call may be a losing one, it can be argued that in the long run, due to the Meta game concepts explained here – it will end up winning the player more money than he loses the opposing player in this hand.

Poker players using Meta game are able to exploit their opponents by tricking them into thinking their playing style is different to how they actually play. What many new poker players do is take this concept and apply it to their game incorrectly. Meta game is not an excuse to make bad plays; it is for well thought out plays that can be used to trick an opponent in the long run.

Meta game works much better if a player is against an opposing player he has a long history against and knows he will play many more hands against the opponent in future sessions. Against an unknown opponent, the concept of Meta game can still be applied.  However, Meta game concepts cannot be applied nearly as effective until both players have a good idea of the others playing style.

A final thing a player must remember when trying to apply Meta game tactics to their game is that poker is a game of ever changing dynamic. Players cannot just use a Meta game play once on a table and expect it to be enough. The dynamics of a poker game constantly changes and players have to be aware that because of this, their Meta game decisions must remain a step ahead to be most effective.

Author: Alex Galin

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