Of course we are going into these lightly before we discuss it at length, but we talked briefly about capacity in the last entry.

The other term was intent. We pretty much no the overall intent of our opponent, and that is to get more chips. However, there are different ways that he wants to get our chips, and as a result, his intent is slightly different each time.

His intent may be:
to trap us making small bets with the nuts.
to take the pot although he's unsure if he has the best hand.
to bluff us with nothing.
to bluff us with a draw.
to overbet with the nuts hoping we will bite with a mediocre hand.
to call down with a marginal hand cheaply in an attempt to set up plays later.

There are many others, but the idea is that we pretty much know the intent of our opponent(s) at all times. Many times, for example, we'll know that our opponent's intent is to draw.

Capacity required a collection of information, and observations. Intent requires that plus experience. However, if you are aware of all of the different intentions there are, then couple that with the tendencies of your opponent (you have been paying attention to him we'll assume), then you begin to determine more quickly how you should play your hand against your opponents. If asked the intent of your opponent, you will be able to quickly "feel" that he is on a draw, for example.

One thing about intent, however, is that it is very subjective. I might think you're drawing to a flush, but you might not be. I might thing you're trying to buy the pot, but you aren't. To me, this doesn't matter as we have got to trust ourselves. Certainly we have to improve our ability to read people's intentions, but you can't always think that you're probably wrong. You have to think you're always right, and get proven wrong, then work on ways to not make that mistake any more.

I don't mean to say that narrowing all the information down into these two terms will suddenly give you more "feel" while playing online, I'm saying that narrowing it down like this allows you to simplify or compartmentalize the enourmous amount of information you have ask for, and that your brain can actually sort all of the pieces it acquires as they happen.

Example:
Piece of information:
Chip leader
Goes to:
Capacity

Piece of information:
Opponent is drawing to a flush.
Goes to:
Intent.

Piece of information:
I've flopped quads, and my opponent has led out a minimum raise.
Goes to:
Intent.

In that last one, I put in my flopping quads, however, I'm still needing to judge my opponent's intent on the hand. The reason being, I need to extract the MOST chips I possibly can with my hand. If his intent is to see the next card or fold, then I'm going to let him see the next card (obviously) because it's possible that it will help him enough that he will give me more chips. Obviously, looked at for what it is, you see that I'm on a trap. However, when we start thinking about our opponent's intent, we start to think of our hands in more detail. We don't just think trap, and then bet too much for our opponent to call. Instead we start thinking about the exact maximum amount our opponent will call based on his intent, and not our holding.