A few thoughts on some gameplay

I was reading one of my swords and sorcery fantasy books when I came across an intreging little passage.

"From history and philosophies and religions came an understanding of human motivation, and motivation lay at the heart of tactics and strategy. Just as people moved in patterns, so too did their thoughts....." From the book Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson.

Again, this goes into one of those little know your villain chats I do. When starting at a new table, Ted Forrest goes out of his way to talk to all the people at his table. He wants to know what they do, how they got there, and anything else he can find out in small talk. Even just the act of talking will tell you something of the person in questions demeanor. Use the information you have to make rough theories of how they will act. When you have more information, revise those theories and build a plan of action to them.

Often you will want to first look to the first two to your left and the two to your right as you gather this information. They will often be the ones you will most often need this information on. As it goes on, build on this data and on your plans of action to include more of the table. Revise this as situations change. Short stacked people, big stacks, tilt, and other factors will change the patterns. Be mindful of this and find out the new patterns and motivations for the table. Always be ready to change directions yourself as the table changes its balance.