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FEELER BETS
In poker what you don’t want to do is charge into a hand with a huge all-in bet if you don’t really know where you’re at. The idea is you want to set your opponent up, feel them out for what kind of hand they have, and then either make a bluff to make them lay down a better hand, or value bet to make them pay you off with a worse hand.
The way you find out where you stand in the hand is through feeler bets. A feeler bet does two things; it helps build the pot, and gives you information. But its main value is in what it doesn’t do, which is put a bunch of chips in a pot you aren’t committed to yet.
I remember talking to a buddy of mine about a “date” he had with this girl. He wasn’t really sure if it was a date because he was just friends with this girl, which of course was a big mistake to begin with. There was an awkward moment towards the end of their “date” and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to go in for the kiss, or what he was supposed to do. He ended up doing nothing, and their awkward “relationship” has continued to this day.
What my friend needed to do was send out feeler bets to know where he stood. He could have found a reason to hold her hand, or wipe something off of her cheek. By making small seemingly casual contact you gain a ton of information as to how she feels about you.
With any kind of observation skills you can tell if she is repelled by your advances or not. If she’s not then just keep them coming; increasing them in degree until the kiss is just the next logical progression. What you absolutely don’t want is to have the kiss be this huge weird thing that just comes out of the blue and shocks her.
Feelers bets don’t have to come only in the form of a touch. If you look her in the eye just a little too long, or create an awkward silence just to see how she reacts. You’re still getting and giving information.
Listen it hurts to get rejected directly, just like it hurts to loose a monster pot with a second best hand. But that never has to happen if you use feeler bets. If you squeeze her hand, or run your fingers through her hair and she freezes up, then you’re not going to worry about being rejected for a kiss, because you’re not going to even bother trying.