I cant get any coherant essays thoughts together so I'm just going to think on screen here and maybe expand on these things another time.

When someone calls your raise in the blinds and leads the flop for a small bet, they almost always have weak made hand. It is actually preferrable to play against players that do this verses players who check out of position and put you in the position of continuation betting on an undesirable flop. I love it when people play there cards face up.

Too many players focus on umimportant issues while they are playing a poker hand. Your only focus should be to play a perfect hand here in the moment. The only way to reach anyone of your goals in poker is to play the hand in front of you to perfection.

Save your big bluffs for the know it alls. The guys who always trying to teach everyone how to play. They will be afraid to make big calls and look stupid and will be about the only ones on the table you can profitably make big bluffs against.

If a good player puts a lot of chips in the pot when they dont have to, they want a call. Good players generally want to play big pots when they have the best of it, big hands for big pots. There is a such a misconception that the best players are the best bluffers, the best players extract the most value and set up their opponents for future hands.

Every hand you play is a set up hand. It sets the table for the next hand, and that hand set the table for the hand after that and so on. You have a dynamic situaion that you have to respond to based upon everything that has happened. What this means, is that you can do anything you want to at a poker table if you have a reason that is strong enough. I remember one hand where i open shoved kings 100 bb's deep on a utg limper because I knew he would call. Totally unconventional but definately the right play for that exact moment. Have the courage to make the best play you can even if the whole table is going to call you a fish.

The best players right now and in the past have always been the innovators, the players willing to play a little bit differently and exploit the tendancies and weaknesses of their opponents. I'm not sure what the next great thing will be, but I am sure it will be whatever style works best against your opponents :) That was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek but thats the journey for each individual, what works best for me against my opponents will not be exactly the same for you. It is up you to invent it.

I've always told all my friends over the years, I dont want you to learn to play a hand. I want you to learn to think. A lot of the stuff I wrote 5 years ago was all about how to think and thats the stuff people still look me up to say thank you for even now. I used to have 5 rules I made everyone recite and know 1. Manage your bankroll 2. Hold your temper 3. Win the most chips with your best hands 4. Lose the least chips with your losing hands 5. Don't beat yourself. We had a lot with that in the old days.

Well that enough I guess. Aloha