"Outplaying"

[dmk]

"Outplay"

Everytime I read that word in a post I cringe. Everytime I hear someone say it in a live game I throw up in my mouth. "Wow, you got outplayed there!!" The majority of poker players nowadays think folding T-high after someone w/ 9-high pushes and shows his bluff is getting outplayed. Hardly.

Outplaying is used almost exclusively as a synonym for bluffing. "You have the button! See a flop and try to outplay him!" Oh, you mean take a flop and bluff if I miss? Everyone thinks they're a brilliant post-flop player. They want to be a Gus Hansen or a Daniel Negreanu. The sad news for most of these people is this: You're simply not good enough to make mediocre calls pre-flop in order to "outplay" someone. There's a reason cash players salivate when a "tournament pro" sits down in their game.

Outplaying is more than bluffing. In tournaments, especially online, it is a very rare occurence that you are deep enough to pull off some sort of elaborate bluff. So what is outplaying? Its getting your chips in when you're ahead. Its folding when you know you're beat. Its not getting in a pot to begin with because the situation just isn't favorable. Its check/calling a hyper-aggro w/ a mediocre hand. Its hand-reading. Its pot-control. There's more to outplaying than raising.

So if outplaying is all of these things, why would you respond to a hand history with "call and outplay on the flop?" If by outplay you mean make the best possible decisions based on the information I have available to me, then OK, but I plan on doing that every hand I play.

Here is an example of the type of post I can't stand.

[ QUOTE ]
pf is fine, although sometimes I will only call here & look to outplay after the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]
This was regarding a hand where Hero with T1225 and TT raised to 200 after an UTG limper (T1365) at 25/50 blinds. The obsession with "outplaying" someone translates into leaving chips on the table that should be in your stack. This reasoning for calling is unacceptable. Is UTG unusually tight? OK,, then call because you likely have a hand that is behind but has huge implied odds. Is UTG usually aggro and the limp is suspect? OK, then you're calling because you again have a hand that has huge implied odds against a holding that may be looking for a limp/reraise. However, to say that sometimes you just call and look to outplay on the flop is just wrong. Without any reads, you have what rates to be the best hand. By not raising, you are getting outplayed by yourself. You're leaving extra chips on the table. Put a raise in there...you have the 5th best starting hand. None of this "call and outplay on the flop" bs.

This isn't meant as a personal attack on the poster of the quote above. This is just a line of thinking that needs to fall by the wayside. Concetrate on making sound decisions - reasoned decisions. If you want to take a flop, indulge the forum. Tell us your plan on different flops, etc. Just keep in mind that there's more to outplaying than raising/bluffing. Folding is just as admirable.