Learning the game

[instability]

Standard advice for starting hands, I hear is to play:
* well co-ordinated hands
* big pocket pairs, maybe with any other two cards

I think I've heard people say to play the big pairs more in the later positions, but it really depends on your position relative to the types of players on your table.. and the general feel/style of the table.

Read your player - go ahead and categorize them like aggressive/weak/strong whatever.. but I think in specifics:
* does he pot it with a hand and never a draw?
* could he pot it early with a flush draw on a 7s8s9h flop?
* on a 7s8s9h flop where someone pots into your nut straight (and no one else involved), do you think he has it too, and do you think he'd fold if you represent a flush or full house on the turn or river?
* on a Ks7h2d flop, with you isolated against another, with your top set versus their middle set (or bottom set, bottom two or top two) - how likely would he repot the turn/river if it looks safe for you to just call the flop?
* would he pot the flop out of position after a preflop raise with a flop of 77x where x is a big card, and you have a 7?
* do you think he's also drawing for a lower 2nd or 3rd best flush? or if he's capable of that?
* would he pot it pre-flop, isolate you, and repot it with top pair?
* can you tell by the timing of their check/raise/call/bet if it really means what it means?

Reads are important. Ultimately we try to categorize people into aggressive/passive/weak/strong whatever.. but we all know it's (suppose to be) a person on the other side -- emotions ebb and flow.

Point is, go ahead and categorize players, but it's easy to get complacent and not notice a key detail which will lead you to the wrong conclusion/read.