Your Poker Thought Process

I been wanting to get this post up for almost a week now. It is about an article written by Jason Koon, a high stakes pro. It was eye opening to say the least.

I first saw it on the partypoker blog. Koon provides insight into his thought process while playing poker. Speaking for myself, it was painfully obvious to me how little I know about the game after reading it. I'd love to hear where other members on this site are at in comparison to Mr. Koon.

So here's the short version.

According to Jason Koon this is what is going on in his mind in the 30 seconds (on average) it takes for him to make a decision:

"Now, a brief look into my thought process during one of these 10-30-second decision points"

• What range of hands do I continue here?
• What is my opponent(s) range(s)?
• How does this board interact with all of the ranges?
• Who is the board best for?
• Who has the most significant proportion of big hands here?
• What is my mix ( Game Theory Optimal play involves the implementation of mixed strategies. i.e., sometimes you 3-bet this hand, and other times you call it. Occasionally you check and call a bet with this hand, but sometimes you check-raise it).
• What are stack sizes?
• What is the size of the pot?
• What is the stack-to-pot ratio?
• What is my betting strategy here?
• How many bet sizes do I need to play optimally?
• “I’m going to play two sizes, betting 30% pot and 90% pot.”
• What preferences does my hand have, is it more aggressive than my global range average or more passive?
• “Ok, my Jack of diamonds makes me play more aggressive, so I’m going to be 20% more aggressive than the global average. I think my hand favors the big size here but sometimes will fall into the small size. I’m going to check it 20% of the time bet it for 30% pot 30% of the time and bet the big size 50% of the time.”
• I now shuffle my chips and look down at my randomizer ( a pre-selected marker on the chip).
• “My marker on the chip is at 9’oclock, which is 75%, that falls within the frequency of me using my 90% pot bet-size, so that’s the option I choose.”
• What is my opponent’s strategy facing my bet here?
• How do they look physically?
• Who is my opponent, what history and reads do I have on them?
• What level do I think they are operating on, and what exploits do I need to consider?

So fellow Cardschatters-where are you on the thought processing scale?

I think his mind is a computer if he has the ability to think about all those things in such a short time. His statements are correct, but for me if I were to analyze them all in my game I would be mentally tired after a few betting rounds. I consider about 25-30% of his thoughts in a game round, I would like to reach his performance but it is difficult ... what you see in the result of my game!

To go through and process all that info before making a decision in 10-30secs is extremely difficult, I would time-out everyhand lol.

COMIRRR said:

I think his mind is a computer if he has the ability to think about all those things in such a short time. His statements are correct, but for me if I were to analyze them all in my game I would be mentally tired after a few betting rounds. I consider about 25-30% of his thoughts in a game round, I would like to reach his performance but it is difficult ... what you see in the result of my game!

Click to expand...

The only explanation I have is that he is aware of 75-80% of the information before hand and he only has to adjust for that last 20% prior to each turn, otherwise you it would be impossible IMO.

IanP304 said:

To go through and process all that info before making a decision in 10-30secs is extremely difficult, I would time-out everyhand lol.

Click to expand...

Lol! You and me both Ian.