Everything written below is aimed at 6max NLHE but I suppose can be applied to other games as well. Any examples assume 100bb stacks.

I thought I'd write this for a few reasons. Firstly cos I got alot of help from PFO when I was around the 10nl or 25nl level and it's improved my game 150%, so hopefully I can give something back and help some folk out who are struggling. Also it could spark up some discussion if people completely disagree with what I'm about to say (*looks at jharding* ). Thirdly, I'm bored out of my mind!

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make at the lower levels (and granted it's something I did alot, and maybe still do sometimes) is not planning where they intend to go with the hand. People bet/call/raise and when asked why, they give reasons like "I thought he was weak so I called" or "I wanted him to fold so I bet/raised". These are not the reasons why you should be taking certain lines in a hand, it goes way deeper than that and it's something everyone should be trying to think of if they want to improve.

A poker hand is telling a story. When you bet/call/raise you are trying to make your opponent put you on a specific hand. Through the moves you make you are allowing your opponent to picture what you likely have. Very simplified, if you have a big hand you want to put across that you have a weak hand, you want your story (or line) to seem weak and thus get more money in the pot. Similarly if you have a weak hand you want to make your line seem as strong as possible. Now obviously it gets way deeper than this in practice, but the principle is still there and it should be the elementary thing you are thinking of when you do something.

When you enter the pot preflop, you should have a plan of how you want the hand to proceed. Maybe you raise on the button to 4bb with



and get a call from the SB, who you know to be a trappy, loose player who tends to play too wide a range preflop and not give up his draws (stats maybe of 35/10/3) while taking stabs at pots he has no need to. He has check-raised the turn before after floating the flop, sometimes with a hand, sometimes without. Now say the flop comes

(pot 9bb)

SB checks

We bet 7bb, SB calls. Turn is

(pot 23bb)

SB checks

We check. River is

(pot 23bb)

SB bets 15bb

We call and SB mucks.
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You should have a thought process at the time on each street for a hand like this (which I took off the top of my head, so I hope it makes sense). In this case before each action, mine might be:

Flop: "Good flop for us and we more than likely have the best hand. I like to play a TAG game and will definitely be betting this as there are some draws out there and we want to charge the maximum for this guy to be chasing something. I think he will call with worse hands such as a weaker J, a 9, a straight draw and maybe some speculative pocket pairs/complete air that he wants to bluff at later on. If he check-raises I'm certainly not giving the hand up just yet but I'll have to re-evaluate based on the size of his raise. By cbetting alot of flops I'm putting across an aggressive image and he knows I may well be doing this as a complete bluff."

Turn: "Not the best card, it's added more draws and also completed some. I know he's check-raised the turn a few times and could be trapping me but he might be planning a bluff. As my hand cannot really stand a c/r and I don't want to inflate the pot against a trappy opponent, I'm going to check this for pot control and to allow him to bluff a weaker hand/missed draw on the river. By checking this, I am representing a bluff cbet that didn't succeed and it will tempt him to have a shot on the river if he doesn't have showdown value."

River: "Hasn't changed much and I think we're very likely still ahead. He's bet 2/3 pot, I'm certainly not folding given his image and my line. I've represented a hand much weaker than what I have and I reckon he can quite easily bet a weaker hand, so I call. I expect him to have missed draws, weaker J's or a 9 the majority of the time. It's unlikely he has a monster, but if he does I'm glad I haven't inflated the pot and can close the betting right here".

Longest post ever!

Basically what I'm trying to get at is what you should be thinking of during a hand, ANY hand:

- Always have a reason for a particular play.
- Say outloud to yourself why you are doing what you are doing (this is an excellent way of finding leaks, if you justify a bet but then stop half way through and think "wait, why did I do that?").
- Think about what hands your line is representing and what range your opponent likely has.
- Think about whether this play will be optimal against the specific opponent.
- When betting, always think about what worse hands will call and what better hands will fold. If you can't honestly name 1 in either category you shouldn't be betting.

OK, essay over! Let me know if you agree/disagree.

no this is a good post and i think alot of people should read it and seriously think about it


to many times we get stuck in our heads about how good our hand "maybe" but how good it really isnt. I for one will say this sometimes...

i know i say to my self he checks i bet and take it down...things like that, but if im calld what am i going to do on the turn..and things of that nature..

i was actually watching a card runners video about this last week i think, very informative...

yea thx david, actually this is prolly my biggest leak in MTT's. I'll fold like 50 hands in a row, then get 1 slightly better than marginal hand and my mind kinda goes blank. Next thing i know im all in and all out.

Originally Posted by sk8freak_21

yea thx david, actually this is prolly my biggest leak in MTT's. I'll fold like 50 hands in a row, then get 1 slightly better than marginal hand and my mind kinda goes blank. Next thing i know im all in and all out.

this sounds very very familiar

its all a little long to read closely now but ill get back to it