It kind of reminds me of a bluffing strategy I've used in poker. If you can guess your opponent's hand, you can bet just enough to make the pot odds just under their odds of winning, so that the rational thing for them to do (assuming they don't know you're bluffing) is to fold, while exposing yourself to minimal risk. A converse strategy works for getting people to call when you know that you have them beat. (There's probably a name for these like "three eyed street corner" or "popping the collar" or something, but I kind of lost patience with reading up on poker strategy).