Thought Process

[ATM]

I was reading an article in a poker magazine the other day and it mentioned Thought Process for a brief moment. I know what it is but I know that I dont really think through or about the hands im playing when im at the poker table. Im just wondering what should my thought process be for thinking through a hand? Is there any particular order I should think things through or anything like that? Will someone please help.

[DQuadfather]

Although this is THE crucial question, I suspect that the way you've posed it will be too general for most. It's kinda like asking, "So...women, huh,...what do you think?" Perhaps a better entry into this discussion is to post specific hands, address your own thought process, and ask for feedback. IMO, your question is the first step towards understanding the art of poker. You just need to get a little more specific.

[skelm]

Perhaps this link will help you on your path a bit?

http://www.notedpokerauthority.com/q...d-reading.html

[raju]

Someone asked Pokey the same question. If any body has described their thought process better than this, please link me to it. thx

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Quote:
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What does your thought process sound like during a given hand?



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"Everybody folded except idiot-boy, but he doesn't count. I'm in CO with KTo; with this hand I could raise, call, or fold. The blinds are rolling over to raises quite often, and I haven't made any noise in an orbit and a half; I think I've got lots of folding equity here. Add in the overlay from idiot-boy and I think it's time to steal me some blinds. I'd say 5xBB should get me heads-up, and a c-bet should drag the pot down.

The blinds folded as expected, and idiot-boy came along for the ride, as expected. He checked to me as expected. The board is paired -- that's good news, because he's much less likely to have connected with it (5 hole cards match this board instead of 9 on an unpaired board). I missed, but there's a Q on the board, which is a scare card for villain. I always bet about 3/4ths the pot when I c-bet, and I'm surely not going to vary that here: bombs away. Villain calls -- that's mildly annoying, but he could have ANYTHING, so I'm still drawing live.

Turn is a J, giving me an OESD. Villain checks to me again. Well, now I've got a choice -- if I check, I'm taking a free card to a straight. However, the only way I win if I check is if I connect. This guy isn't the check-raising type, so I'm going to bet again: if he hasn't hit the board yet, he's going to get out of my way, and even if he HAS, I'll still have a chance to hit a VERY sneaky straight on the river and take the pot (plus more, since there's no way he puts me on a straight in that situation). Before I bet, let me check stack sizes: yeah, we're both relatively deep. That's good -- my implied odds are strong even if he does call. Half the pot is often a sticky point for players, so I'll bet slightly more than half for a big jump in folding equity. He calls; damn, he's got SOMETHING, but I have no clue what. Well, whatever he has, it's better than my hand now but worse than my hand if I hit, and he's not folding it. I can live with this situation.

River is a 9; booyah. Villain checks AGAIN. Well, he's got 1.2xPot behind. I could make a small teaser bet and he'd call, or I can push. If I push on this blank, villain's calling with any Q or with his trips, and given his play so far I think he's almost surely got one of those hands. I'll wait a couple seconds so that it looks more like I'm talking myself into a bluff and then I'm pushing. That's right, donkey, I knew you'd call me. Thanks for your stack. Now to say something friendly in the chat window so that he rebuys and pays me off again."

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This is from the PL/NL small stakes master sticky (well posts)

[Terremoto]

The others are right about your question being too general, but I'm going to take a stab at what you may be asking and see what happens. And being new as well, I should be posting more and lurking less to expose my own weaknesses.

The thought process of how to play a particular hand takes into account a lot of variables. For instance, my cards, postition, stack sizes, number of players seated at table, number of players involved in hand, playing style of other players, perceived style of my play, reads, tells, betting patterns, etc.. Most new players only play the cards in front of them, they will look down to see a pair of sixes and say to themselves, "Hey, I've got a hand." and put chips in the pot without regard to any of the other influences. Later on, you figure out you need to ask yourself what range of hands my opponent could be betting/calling/raising with, and why. For instance, your sixes are probably no good when the board is showing broadway cards, and the four other guys involved in the hand are betting strong. Then, if you're playing against opponents who are sophisticated, or at least paying attention, you should be asking yourself what you think your opponent thinks you have. If you're able to cleverly represent or disguise a hand, you can manipulate the situation to your advantage.

That's my 2 cents in a nutshell, hope it helps.
T-Moto