Thinking about hands

#1 August 20th, 2018, 4:05 AM

Lately I have been down on myself because I do not put as much time as I know I should into breaking down my opponents hand ranges, betting patterns, and insert all other information as I should while playing live. I play with a HUD online but I am not just speaking in terms of online, but mostly live play.

My question to you all, is how much time do you spend thinking each street before making a decision and also what all things go into your decision process. You can break it down pre-flop post flop by street however you want..

#2 August 20th, 2018, 4:03 PM

If you have a range defined for each situation of each position you already have a strategy, then his decision will be taken in a few seconds but always suguindo the basis of the strategy, notes and if the HUD knowing use is a good help to take more still fast decision.

#3 September 3rd, 2018, 9:18 AM

I kind of am upset this didn't get more feedback. I suppose I will comment here to bring this back up to the front again and add more to the question. So when I posted this, I was just playing live, and obviously you can't use a HUD so you are forced to keep up with how the players are playing. Mainly what I was wanting to hear from everyone is an in depth analysis of what goes on in your mind throughout the hand. Like EVERY thought. You can make up scenarios to help outline your thought process, but I'm just curious to hear how in depth your thought process is during each hand, and how long you feel your decisions take on average.

#4 September 7th, 2018, 2:02 AM

ok..... I'll start... So being live, I usually pay careful attention to everyone at my table. Each person has little minute details about them that they may not even know they are doing.. like I've seen some people play with their chips rapidly, and then slow down or hold them in their hand a certain way. I watch some people watching other people and I see how they look when they "find" information on another player. I listen to the table talk, watch what the players are drinking, try to put myself in each person at the tables head and think in their point of view as to how each player is thinking about the table..

When the dealer starts dealing I watch each person when they grab their cards and try to find anyone that looks at their cards then back to the action quickly to watch each player as they fold or place a bet. Once it's my action I see my cards and take one more glance around the table, then make my action. Pre-flop the thoughts running through my mind are usually how can I get this heads up, or if someone raised in front of me what's the correct 3 bet amount, is he calling me light... will he call an aggressive 3 bet, what's his range, am I ahead of his range, how does he perceive my range can I 3 bet light and get a fold. On the flop I'm calculating SPR, and all the odds, the thoughts are generally the same as pre-flop but mixed with more information, and by the river I have a lot of information.

My thought process pre-flop takes about 5 seconds on average, on the flop basing this on non-complicated situations takes about 10 seconds on average and same with turn and river. I'm wondering am I missing something, should I take more time to consider more things? Or is my method fine? I'm trying to go from a winning player at 300 NL Live too a winning player at 1000 NL live but I want to hear what goes through each persons mind as they think about a hand.. I feel like I'm acting too fast and missing some information somewhere. Other questions.... on the flop should I take more time to calculate accurate odds? or continue with the simple easy to calculate odds that I do quickly in my head? Please tell me your thoughts, I put about 6 hours a day of studying and average 40 hours a week playing.

#5 September 7th, 2018, 2:21 AM

I go by feel.I know when I am ahead how the hand should be playing out. I think it is easy to read. Usually I range in set of 3 hand 2 card combo's.

Also if knowledge is shared it loses its competitive edge. Knowledge must be discovered from objective reality.

#6 September 7th, 2018, 2:45 AM

Originally Posted by playinggameswithu

I go by feel.I know when I am ahead how the hand should be playing out. I think it is easy to read. Usually I range in set of 3 hand 2 card combo's.

Also if knowledge is shared it loses its competitive edge. Knowledge must be discovered from objective reality.

Well I'm all about creating a knowledge sharing culture. I understand the art of playing by feel, did it for many years however those were also the years I was breaking even.. Thank you for the reply

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Thinking about hands

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