Poker Articles

Someone asked this question on the forum,

"Excluding the donk-type freeroll players which you'd hardly find , isn't poker just a game of luck when everyone is playing just perfectly especially towards later stages of tournaments..I mean where's the edge coming from when everyone is playing just correctly?"

and I thought my responses could be of use to the community as a whole, so i am reposting them here. 

Part 2

Are you kidding me?  His question was answered several different times in this thread.  Some people like to lead people to water, and then allow them figure out how to drink it..thats how they will maximize their potential...but since you want it spelled out, get your notepads ready.

The edge comes from reading your opponents, thier position and likely opening and reraising ranges, their bet sizes, their stack sizes, and assigning ranges based on that information.  Most good players can do all of this. 

The great players then get their edge from the following:

Level 1) assign players a range and see how your hand fares against it..then make a couple decisions about how to play your hand...this is the what do u think he has?

Level 2) take into consideration what your opponent is likely to think you have, and how that can adjust how you play your hand..this is the what does he think u have?

Level 3) ask yourself if your opponent is capable of giving false information (can he appear weak when he is strong?  will he 4bet you light while appearing to be strong?, etc..and so forth..this is the what does he think u think he has?

Level 4) based on your answer in level 3, if he is capable, you may have to adjust your decisions in level 2.  ie..AJ suited is probably a clear fold if you are 4bet by someone not capable, and a fold, call, or reshove if he is capable.  Level 4 takes levels 1 thru 3 into account to decide on the most optimal play given all pieces of information.

Level 5) Perform levels 1-4 while also trying to think a street or two ahead of your opponent so you tell a cohesive story while exposing his.  bet sizes, image, position, and action by street should all match without conflicting.

The best poker players are already thinking thru levels 1 thru 4 before they even get involved in the hand, they have a plan on how to respond to various actions preflop, and usually a plan on how to play the various streets.  Mastery of the above thought process is where the edge comes from...and as such the best players will always be proactive in their thought processes while the good players will be reactive to your thought process.

Putting it all into practice. A good players thought process with AJ in late position late in a mtt might be the following:

I'm going to raise here in late position cuz i have AJ.

A better players prospective:

I'm going to raise here in late position with AJ.  If the blinds shove, i'll prob call cuz AJ is pretty good and they can be shoving light.

A great players prospective:

I'm going to raise here in late position with AJ.  If the cutoff 3 bets me, I will likely 4 bet him preflop as he has 3 bet the table several times last few orbits and i have been very active so my hand is underrepped from my position.  If sb raises me, I will lean towards folding cuz he has only played two hands out of his last 75, but i may take a flop in position.  If BB reshoves all in with his 15 bb stack, i will snap call as he has a reship stack and my previous notes on him states that he shoves reship stacks with a wide range.

However, if either the cutoff or bb just flats me, i will lean towards jamming the flop with the bb with regardless of flop, and vs. the cutoff i will need to look at flop texture before deciding on a course of action.

Then as the action unfolds, each assumption is revisiting and updated or changed based on the new information available and applying the level 1 to 4 thought processes on each street in the hand.

Any retard can shove KQ because he saw a training video saying that it was good to shove it from the BB (in that particular situation) when short.  But understanding why the shove was good is the key link missing from the average players game...they just know that they've seen moorman or pik do it, so it must be the right play.

Class dismissed...

JD