[noob]ABC - easy as...perhaps not

[martybonus]

Freteloo was kind enough to go on a ride-along on my Party session last night.

I know what you're thinking and that's *not* an innuendo. If 'loo was Dutch, perhaps... but I digress.

It was a winning session in the end, but it showed me alot of my failings and I thought I might make a characteristically long post in the hopes that it will help other noobs like me. This post is also for me as well obv, you all just get to tl;dr it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

All the usual caveats apply here.

'loo said lots of things, all of which were spot on, but in some ways, they all boiled down to one simple statement: play ABC poker .

This got me to thinking 'wtf is ABC poker?'

Seems there is this collective wisdom about what it means to play ABC poker but I've not necessarily heard it articulated. Does that mean incorporating SSHE techniques like raising to protect? What about things like c/r-ing? Playing in tempo? Not folding on the river for one bet in big pots cos equity is worth more than 1 BB? How far does ABC handreading go? Should we strive for 2nd level thinking (eg I'm going to represent kings here)?

hehehe, This post isn't a torrent of questions though, so please do ignore them.

Rather, what I'm trying to get at here is that (possibly due to me not knowing the appropriate link!) I've not seen ABC poker spelled out [it's spelled ABC. HIYO!!!] and I think I've gotten alot of trouble because of it.

In a word: My goal has been to play ABC poker, but in trying to do so I've tried to incorporate too many advanced concepts in my play and it has completely backfired.

I've tried to improve too many things and incorporate too many ideas too quickly.

The result is a mess. I c/r the flop after being the aggressor PF (anti-donk?). I raise on the flop to protect in big pots with MPwK against loose-passives. I bet every street with unimproved OCs on a coordinated board. I try to bluff passives.

Miles once told me in his inimitable fashion: 'Forget everything you ever learned and try to figure out why you're playing backwards.'

And I'm guessing there are other n00bs like me who have fallen afoul of the same problem.

I have a modest proposal for you if this applies:

Just play your cards

Don't try to play other players, don't try to be clever, don't bluff, steal blinds only with a very tight range, don't try to defend blinds unless you've got decent cards, walk away from marginal hands, even in big pots (cos you're unlikely to win a raised pot against loose-passives anyway) but especially in small pots, push your edges but if you get lots of resistance be cautious.

Simply put: don't try to do stuff you don't understand yet.

Key word being understand . Reading about it a few times in SSHE /= understanding. Understanding = deep familiarity coupled with practical experience.

Moral: don't play like me [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[seano34]

I'm on my 3rd read of SSHE now which I do every 6 weeks or so. I find that I understand it that little bit more each time.

I interpret ABC poker as play your strong hands aggressively and dont go to far with your weak hands.

[Thomas Newton]

One of my biggest errors is to think that other players are trickier than they actually are.

Just cos they play a hand funky doesn't mean they have a repertoire of fancy play. More often than not, they didn't know how to play it straight forward.

[seano34]

"Just cos they play a hand funky doesn't mean they have a repertoire of fancy play. More often than not, they didn't know how to play it straight forward"

Word - Limp/reraise and call/re-raises are not usually someone getting tricky with AA - its usually a spaz with 47o who has bottom pair.

[fretelöo]

Yeah, it was pretty fun for me too, actually. Not the least because I realized after Marty told me that he has played around 7k hands so far, that he's now where I was when I started posting here a few months ago.

Seems I've picked up a thing or two in the process. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, there was a hand that exemplified the things marty's talking about.

Marty holds AA in the BB, iirc.
Some limper, a raise in LP and Marty 3bets. All call.
3way to the flop, flop comes completely non-scary. Something like Q93r.
Marty proposes to check!?!?!? His reasoning: the LP-raiser has shown strenght, so let him bet and we can raise him and collect even more.

Of course, that's atrocious in most situations. First, it might get checked through, which would suck big time. Second, even assuming we do get our c/r in, we likely lose MP in the process who'll likely fold when faced with 2 cold.
Third, assuming LP has caught something decent (let's say he has KQ and caught a pair), it's relatively likely that he'll not 3bet our c/r. A check-raise is a monster play and generally people respect that.
Whereas he will raise our c-bet as he has no reason to assume he's behind yet. All in all, our c/r, while being a fancy play, loses value in just about every case.
So I use my authority to make him bet, MP calls, LP raises and we 3bet. All call, and we bet turn and river and collect a nice pot.

The thing what would have went wrong had Marty played this hand the way he initially wanted to, is not that he wouldn't have won the hand or anything, he just wouldn't have maxed his return. That being the case because his line wouldn't have been "in rhythm" at all.

Keeping the rhythm of the hand seems something that n00bs miss - and I did too when I started out. I used to make the opposite mistake - whenever I improved, I donked the turn. I justified that with "I can't risk letting this get checked through", not realizing that it hardly ever does anyway.

The more I play, the more I feel that Poker, like chess and most other things you start to do good, becomes like some sort of a "dance". You have your moves and counter-moves and you apply them according to the circumstances. And generally you lose value if you disturb the "calm" that you should strive to maintain.

Anyway, that's what I meant with "playing your cards". It's not advocating to not worry about what you opponents have, but simply trying to keep your play logical and smoth.