Winners Prepare Thoroughly: Part IV

The first three parts of this series discussed the preparation steps you should take before playing a single hand:

• Study strategic principles
• Plan for this specific event or session
• Get into the right state of mind
• Choose a good table and seat
• Categorize the players and game
• Plan a general strategy

After taking so many steps, you may think that no further preparation is necessary, but you should also prepare to play each and every hand. This preparation involves a new dimension: time pressure.

You have so little time to make decisions that you may not thoroughly analyze enough information. Mason Malmuth wrote, "I think the real reason why some players always outperform everyone else has to do with speed of thought … those who are able to think quickly through all the possibilities will have a significant edge over those who think at more normal speeds. ("Thinking Fast," Poker Essays, Pages 99-100).

You can't increase your mental speed, but you can increase the time that you have to think by preparing thoroughly before the action gets to you. This preparation occurs in two phases, before and after seeing your cards.

Before Seeing Your Cards
If you are like many people, you may not do anything before looking at them. Since you can't make good decisions without additional information, you have a dilemma. If you take the time to get that information, you tell observant opponents that your next action is not automatic. They may then read your cards more accurately.

You may also feel under pressure to act quickly, especially if you are playing online. You may then rush your analysis and make a bad decision.

Winners prevent these problems by getting or recalling essential information in advance, such as:

• What is my position?
• What is my table image?
• Who is in the blinds, and how does each one play?
• What have the players in front of me done?
• Which kinds of players have called or raised?
• How large is the pot, and how many players are in it?
• How do the people behind me play?
• Has anyone behind me indicated that he will raise or fold?

Then, after looking at their cards, they can quickly make a good decision about how to play them.

If you doubt the importance of this type of preparation, just look at other players. Who asks, "How much is it to me?" or, "Who raised?" It is almost always the losers. Winners hardly every ask, because they already know the answers. If you ask or have to think of these questions, you obviously are not preparing like a winner.

After Seeing Your Cards
Winners don't decide just whether to fold, call, or raise. Before making that first decision, they do what David Sklansky, poker's foremost theorist, calls "chess-type thinking." They plan how they will play before and after the flop, turn, and river. Of course, their plans depend upon the boardcards, number and type of opponents, and other factors, but they begin thinking of various alternatives before they act:

• "If there is a raise behind me, I will …"
• "If everyone folds behind me, I will …"
• "If the flop is X, and everyone checks, I will ... "
• "If the flop is Y, and Joe bets, I will …"

This sort of thinking may be alien to you. You may think that it is too hard or even counterproductive to try to anticipate what will happen and develop plans for various contingencies. Then, when it is your turn to act, you must rush your analysis. You essentially force yourself to make important decisions without having thought thoroughly about them.

Planning is so important that the first paragraph of Flynn, Mehta, and Miller's Professional No-Limit Hold'em states: "If we had to summarize this book in three words, [they] would be … plan your hand."

Barry Tanenbaum went further: "For many players, planning seems to be the furthest thing from their minds. Planning your play is one of the major themes of my new book, Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy … you must make a plan and keep it clearly in your mind so that you know which plays to make and why you are making them." ("Planning Your Play," Card Player, Aug. 29, 2007)

As these (and other) authors' books clearly indicate, you can't plan your hand well without first taking the preparation steps I have already discussed: You must learn the odds and strategy, gather information about your opponents, keep track of your own and each opponent's position, and so on. Without that knowledge, plans are little more than guesses.

Planning your hand (and updating your plans) also requires continual gathering of information, and you may not get enough of it. For example, even though it is ridiculously easy to count the pot as it is being built, you may not do it. Then, you must either waste valuable time counting the pot or make decisions without knowing what odds you are getting.

You should also ask yourself some questions about your options. Tanenbaum listed eight questions on Page 34 of Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy:

• Do I have a made hand, a draw, or nothing?
• Based on the betting, what are my opponents likely to have?
• Do I want to build a pot or keep it small?
• Do I want to keep opponents in or eliminate them?
• What sorts of hands can I represent?
• How likely is a bluff?
• Do I have or can I gain the lead so that opponents have to react to my plays?
• Should my approach be active or passive?

The time you spend counting the pot, trying to decide what kind of players you face, and so on should be used to ask and answer these (and other) questions. For example, you should analyze the meaning of other players' actions and anticipate how they will react to your decisions. If you have to rush this analysis, you will probably make errors in getting or evaluating information and make bad decisions.

Winners automatically count the pot, remember who made each bet or raise, and make a preliminary judgment about the meaning of each player's actions. Then, when they have to make a key decision, they have enough information. Instead of essentially guessing or reacting to impulses, they know why they are folding, calling, or raising.

Final Remarks
Preparing thoroughly isn't fun, but it can make the difference between winning and losing. You have to decide whether you are playing for fun or profit. If you are playing to win, you should thoroughly take every planning step.

After four columns, you may be tired of reading about all of the preparing you should do, but we are not finished. Upcoming columns will discuss preparing for future hands and future sessions.

To learn more about yourself and other players, get Dr. Schoonmaker's books, Your Worst Poker Enemy and Your Best Poker Friend, at CardPlayer.com.