Sudden illumination from within

Well, maybe not illumination.

What counts as read for a more experienced and better player hits this newbie like a blinding revelation.

I had a bad run of a couple of days. In fact, I'm still having it. And I took the opportunity to analyse my play. How much of this is my fault, my problem. How can I minimise the effect of whats not. Crisis affords few opportunities, I guess, but one of those is the opportunity for catharsis.

And amonst the many issues which I still don't have the expertise to resolve, I began to understand the general structure of my play, and the type of game I'm trying, at the moment, to develop for the ring games I'm playing in.

The structure seems simple, and I think thats a plus for someone early on the learning curve like me. And its that I'm trying to create a style of play that provides me with easy decisions in uncertain situations, and ideally places me in situations where I tend to make complex or difficult decisions where I have enough information to play them well.

Specifically, playing premium hands, or drawing hands with regard to position. Folding pre or on the flop on a regular basis, and keeping a watch on showdowns and hand histories to work back and find a picture of who it is I'm playing against.

As I said, the obvious is, to the uninitiated, often stunning.

But the key here is observation. Betting patterns, hand histories, opponents hand selection, and watching the ebb and flow of aggression at the table.

The next level of this, is to create situations of uncertainty for your opponents, forcing them into situations with regard to you where they are faced with complex decisions themselves, and they may not have the correct or sufficient information to make the right move.

And I guess my main weapons in creating these are creating a particular table image, ideally including a couple of showdowns, and watching how the dynamics of the table reshape themselves around what I'm communicating. And when the dynamic changes enough, there seems to come a moment when opportunity crystallises, when you can use what your opponent thinks they know about you to hit them up. If your image is tight, the table dynamic will tell you when you can hit the table with a vicious all out bluff. If its loose, when you can fast play hands that you would have check raised with previously.

Its only since I stepped up to 1/2 limit tables that this later point has come into play.

And the general structure of my play? Well, it helps me avoid hands where I don't have enough information to confidently make the right decisions. I hit any new table with a tight agenda, betting and check raising with premium hands, folding often on the flop, and slow playing monsters until the turn. Any premium pocket pairs or premium paint cards I'll play straightforwardly, raising or reraising preflop. No bluffing for the first thirty minutes, or until I've shown down some winners - whicever comes later.

The idea here is severalfold. Hand selection is of prime importance in profitablitity. And in the arly stages of a ring game theres the added advantage that players may read frequent pre flop/flop folding as weak, and try to come over the top of your made hands when they hit. It also sends out the massage that if I see the river, I've probably got you beat.

Check raising has several functions, but with regard to table image it says, I fold a lot, but I'm not weak. If you're gonna bet against me, you're gonna have to think hard about whether your hand can stand a reraise. My check does not always mean a fold.

No bluffing tells the table that you mean what you say. A bet means I have a good hand. A check raise means I have a hand. Slowplaying until fourth means I've probably got you beat.

And if you want to win, your kicker better be good, your flush probably needs to be high, and the ignorant end of the straight is not a good place to be. If your pair isn't the top on the flop, you better quit if I bet.

And then the dynamic changes. In severe scenarios, people who would normally see many hands begin folding to my big blind, or bet on the end. Some players avoid a hand if I'm already in. My reraises preflop thin the field to near nothing, and I'm winning limit hands without a showdown. And I've been watching, reading hand histories, and taking notes.

And the table, or certain players, are ripe for a changeup. I can avoid tight aggressive players, and know they'll probably avoid me. I can bluff, and have a formerly loose limit table fold to my raise. I can raise or reraise the flop and have my draws see the river for free. And in those complex situations, holding pocket queens on a king high board, flopping an ace on a rainbow board, with A little suited in late, weaker opponents will tend to put me on the better hand that my bets tell them I might have. I've made then have to think about whether their hand can hold up against the type of player they think I am. I've given then the difficult situation to deal with, and what was a straightforward decision now becomes a lot more tricky.

In short I'm in heaven.

At the moment, though, I'm in hell.