So, there you are playing Texas hold'em, and on the first hand of your session, you pick up pocket aces. Is life sweet, or what? You throw out a raise, the big blind defends, and two middle-position limpers - one loose, one tight/timid - likewise call. With a rainbow flop of K-10-9, everyone checks around to you, and you fire. The big blind calls, the loose goose folds, and the tightish player hangs with you. Now the plot thickens, for here comes fourth street with another 10. You bet, the big blind folds, and your "timid" opponent check-raises. A little blood rises to your face. Rats! Did he slow-play a straight, or luck into trip tens? Inwardly cursing the bad luck that's intruded on your very first hand, you call the raise, and silently entreat the poker gods to deliver you unto your two-out salvation.
Alas, the river's no ace, but a picture card; that much you can tell before it even hits the table, and with a little irritation, you instantly check. Your opponent emits a great sigh of relief and turns over his Q-J. More blood now rushes to your face, not because the bad luck you feared has been confirmed, but because the reason for your opponent's relief suddenly floods over you with full force. The river - it's just now hitting you - was another king (!), double-pairing the board with the very card your opponent, no matter which hand you had him on, would have dreaded above all others, given the hand he almost certainly had
you on.
Unfortunately, your almost total "focus" on hitting an ace left you completely unprepared to exploit the possible contingency that developed a moment later. For the next few minutes, you stew. Would a bet have taken down the pot? It gnaws at you to think that against this particular opponent, it just might have done the trick. But wait a moment … a hasty review of the betting suggests that even had his gut told him you had the goods, he'd need to pick off a bluff in that spot only one time out of 10 or so to justify a call. This thought comforts you for about five seconds, about the length of time it takes to hit you that you'd need to get him
off the hand only one time out of 10 to profit from the attempt.
What troubles you more than anything is that your analysis is a dollar short and a day late; at the moment it
should have been occurring, your head was up your … well, in the spirit of the holiday season, let us charitably say it was up in the clouds. Why oh why didn't you bet - or at least
consider it? Of course, you know the answer: because it was your first hand. It's not that you weren't mentally prepared to play cards, you just weren't quite prepared to play
poker. You were figuring on the usual routine - ease into the action, make yourself comfortable, get the lay of the land. That's the way the opening round
usually works, right? You bob and weave, slip a few punches, measure your opponent, throw a few casual jabs. Heck, the
last thing you were expecting right after the opening bell was to have to make a split-second adjustment, and
pounce. If only you'd had the chance to get a little warmed up - you'd have been all over that milquetoast with a bet!
Unfortunately, the cards don't get the memo as to when our sessions begin; sometimes we have to play
poker right out of the chute. Indeed, the sports cliché about games at the season's beginning counting just as much in the standings as those at the end is particularly applicable to poker, a competition in which the difference between winning and losing is often measured by the outcome of a mere pot or two. Those pivotal hands can occur early as easily as late, and when they do, can set the tone for the whole session ahead. With that in mind, let's look at a couple of things that merit consideration at the start of our poker day.
Observe - but don't rush to judgment
Suppose that you sit down and observe a hand in which a player check-calls a single opponent to the end with a surprisingly weak hand. The natural instinct is to form a snap assessment of the check-caller as weak, an assessment that may be subconsciously reinforced by his opponent turning over strong cards. While such an evaluation may indeed be correct, it's also possible that the primary lesson to be gleaned here pertains not to the check-caller at all, but rather the fellow doing the betting. That guy you just pegged as a calling station may be a perfectly strong player, check-calling against a maniac who happens to have picked up a hand. Of course, since poker is a game of incomplete information, we need to make judgments on the best information at hand, but it's important not to be inflexible with those assessments in the face of later evidence.
Ready … set … invest!
There's no time like the present to invest in the future, and what better way to invest than to create the appearance right at the starting gate of someone willing to mix it up?
Suppose, for example, that having just sat down, you find yourself looking at a bet and a raise with a marginal hand. You're leaning toward a call. Why not make it three bets? Although you may not get the chance to show it down, the eyebrows that will get raised when you do - win or lose - could lead to significant returns down the road, returns that more than justify the investment of a single small bet.
Don't forget to take inventory
Sizing up one's opponents' chip stacks is a commandment for the no-limit player, but failing to do so can be costly for the limit player, as well. Few things are as frustrating as kissing goodbye to a pot because you failed to notice - and exploit - a player down to his last chip or two, whose position relative to yours afforded you the chance to bully the field at a discount rate. Might you be more prone to such an oversight at the top of a session, before involvement tunes you in to what, and how, everyone's doing? Could be. If you want to avoid hearing yourself moan, "I didn't realize he was almost all in," while watching someone else stack the chips, be sure to make taking inventory a regular part of your early routine.
Exploit mistakes - including your own
By playing poker
right away, you give your opponents the chance to make mistakes that they might not otherwise make. The other side of the coin, of course, is that sometimes you'll make mistakes of your own. That comes with the territory. As a strong limit player, adept at picking up extra value-bets, let's face it, you're occasionally going to overplay a hand. Suppose for a moment that you overplay one
severely. Hey, it happens. In the middle of a session, such a misstep may appear to be just that - a mistake - but at the beginning, it may create a strong first impression to be used to your advantage. Rather than chide yourself for your misplay, focus on the image you've created, and how it might best serve you.
