Scattered Strategems

I've been looking back over some hand histories of the last two weeks in an effort to derive some value from the beats. I realized that many of the times when I lost, I made errors when I should have known better. I guess it takes repetition for some poker lessons to sink in.

So I wanted to list some common-sense poker guidelines that I find are easy to forget in the heat of the moment. Maybe if I write them down, I won't be as likely to forget them again:

_ Ace-King is a very good preflop hand, but it's usually not worth pushing all in with preflop in cash games. Sure there's a time and a place for it, especially when I want to four-bet/squeeze play/resteal with dead money trapped between you and the initial raiser. But most of the time, I'll either win a small pot or lose a big one. The only hands that will call have me crushed -- AA or KK.

_ Game selection is perhaps the most important poker skill. It isn't hard to spend time to find good tables, especially with the aid of PokerTracker and PokerAce. I'm not here to become the best poker player in the world; I'm here to grow my bankroll and make as much money as I can. I believe that it's untrue that you need to play strong players in order to learn. I learn just as much from the fish. There are often good players near the fish anyway, but that doesn't mean I want to get involved in many hands with them.

_ Ax suited simply doesn't play well out of position, even many times when I think I have odds to call.

_ I should put in a raise at some point when I'm way ahead or way behind, especially when I may be dominated. The raise will either take down the pot, tell me I'm beaten, or buy me a free showdown. Cally cally won't fly in Vegas.

_ All-in bets are sometimes more likely to get called than large pot-sized bets because they look more like bluffs.

_ While a loose-aggressive image may be my goal in shorthanded NL games, it's merely a means to an end. No matter what style I play, most of my profits will come from recognizing and taking advantage of my opponents' mistakes.

_ If I check the turn with a weak hand I think is likely best, I must call a river bet most of the time because my check will frequently induce bluffs no matter what card falls.

Those are rather scattered items, but I wanted to get them down in writing. Good luck at the tables! Go Braves!