Sports Articles Johnson

Learning to Make the Right Decisions

Even if you feel very confident in your opponents hand, you still must be able to make the right decision. Have you ever found yourself in the situation when you are 100% sure that you are beat, but you desperately call a river bet anyway? Of course you have, we all have at one time or another. Sometimes the math dictates you should call or maybe you are hoping they are bluffing. The mistake is not necessarily the call itself, as long as you are actively thinking about it and trying to learn from the situation. You should be learning through reading books and through introspective thinking.

What should you be reading? Well, any serious poker player must read Doyle Brunsons Super System. I also recommend anything by Sklansky and Dan Harrington books. Those books will give you good math and strategic perspectives.

They aren non-fiction books. They are like high school or college textbooks and you should pay close attention to the problems presented in them. Try to solve the problems as you go along, don just memorize as that will get you nowhere. Don read them like novels; treat them like textbooks with a lot of problems. Take this example for insance. You are playing limit holdem and an early position limps. You have 10 8 suited in the small blind and call so you see a flop 3-handed with the big blind along for the ride as well. The flop isn particularly great but you have a gut shot on a 9-6-6 flop. You are aggressive so you bet out. The big blind raises, the limper folds, and you call. Its a pretty loos call but you figure that gutshot, backdoor flush, and overcard possibilites warrant a call. I think this makes sense, especially against a player who is likely to call with a set and try to trap you for some big bets. The turn is an offsuit 3, the ultimate brick and you both check. The river is a 9. Its pretty clear that unless your opponent is holding a counterfeited under pair or 7-8, you need to bet to win this hand. Lets see what happens if you bet. You get called or raised when you are beat, most likely by nines full. But what about the rest of the time? When he has 8-7 or 4-4, doesn the bluff work? And don you win the pot? You win the pot, but it isn a bluff. You have the best hand and you have stopped him from bluffing!

I learned this very basic way of thinking from reading a book early on. You should do the same. Sometimes the simplest things can be easily overlooked.

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.



by Johnson