Poker, like chess, requires that you think a few moves ahead in order to be successful. The luck element of the game, though, can allow you to get away with not thinking ahead and can even reward you, in the short-run, for making faulty decisions. The most common place players don’t think ahead is when playing from the small blind, but the concept applies to almost every decision in poker.

To use the small blind situation for an example, let’s say you are playing a $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em cash game. The first player to act limps in for $10 and starts the waterfall effect. By the time it gets around to the small blind, there are six players in the pot already, so you would be putting in $5 more to see a pot of $70. Can’t turn down those odds right? Any two cards, right? Wrong.

There are two reasons for this. First off, your odds of winning aren’t that great because you are up against six other hands, not just one or two. But, most importantly, there are three streets of action left to go where the bets can be exponentially larger than what is in the pot already.

Once you put that $5 in to call, you are playing the rest of the hand from the worst possible position. If you are doing so with an inferior hand, you are setting yourself up for a beating. For example, let’s say you have 9h-5c and toss in the $5 to call. The big blind checks and you see a flop of 9-7-2. Now, we are playing a weak top pair in a seven-handed pot and have to act with no information, but have actually flopped pretty well for our hand.

The point here isn’t to discuss how to play the hand, but rather point out that many of these type of hands are very hard to play once the action progresses and the bets get bigger. Everyone has heard the saying that aces are good for winning small pots or losing big ones. While that saying is flawed in regards to aces, it is very accurate in the type of situation described above. You are either going to pick up a small pot or, if there is any continued action, you are going to be forced off the hand or find out you are up against a hand that dominates you.

Any action but being the final person to call on the river leaves you open to continued action as the hand progresses. You should always be thinking ahead to what is likely to happen on the next streets and what kind of flops, turns, and rivers would be good or bad for you and how the action will likely go. Thinking through a plan of action and possible outcomes will give you greater perspective on what to do on the current street and also help you have a clearer and more accurate assessment of continued action in the hand.

Being ready for the next round of action is a necessity for being a long-term winning poker player. Often, all it takes is a few seconds of thought to prepare for the next round of action and speed up your decisions down the road.

The next street is coming, might as well be prepared for it.

Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy and privately, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities for poker media businesses. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at Court@CourtHarrington.com.

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