Psychological pricing is a marketing term which looks at the psychological effect a product’s price has on the consumer. An example of this includes a product being sold at $19.99 rather than $20.00. The reasons for this are obvious.

Over the last week or two there has been debate within the crew (sparked by myself) regarding the psychological effects of bet sizing in MTTs, or any other form of poker for that matter. What does it mean when someone bets 9,999 on the river as opposed to 10,000? Why do people bet amounts such as 8,347 rather than a clean amount such as 8,300?

The debate has generated discussion as to what action opponents are seeking with different sizes. Then the question arose, can we level our opponents with our bet sizing? Will we be more likely to get called if we bet 9,999, 10,000 or 10,125? Can we set a pattern and then reverse it later in the tournament?
It seems absurd to think that manipulating your bet size has any bearing on whether an opponent folds or calls. However, human beings are stupid creatures I would not be surprised if this was ever proven to be true.

What about when playing live? What does it mean when a player begins to bet 1,000 but adds a 25 chip at the last minute? Maybe we can add to our chances of forcing a fold if our opponent is ever in a marginal spot.

So what can be said of all of this? Our discussions have been inconclusive as each member of the crew has their own theory. And this topic isn’t really worthy of lengthy discussion; it is just fun to discuss something different after studying a single hand for two hours.

What possible hand could we be spending two hours on? The best way to play AKo from the small blind when 50bbs deep, against a nit open from under the gun. Is it 3b/folding? 3b/5b jamming? Is it flatting from the small blind? At least we have a conclusive answer for this problem.