Thinking process while playing

Buster

Hey, Dave

Thanks for all the great posts. I don't post much, but read everything, and it is very insightful.

I was wondering what your thought process is while you are playing. Do you have a mental checklist of everything to consider at different points of the hand? (ie when the action is on you, when the action is on someone else, when you are out of the hand, after the hand). If you have a checklist, what is it? (calculate pot odds, put player on a hand)Do you think differently live and on-line?

I am trying to improve my game (your book helped), but I find I loose focus during the hand and end up playing more by feel, and of course, some of the time the feel is dead wrong. I'm doing OK at the home game (finishing 1st in NLHE games just under half the time) where the competition is mostly S-Fish or O-Tuna (I hope none of them are reading this), but on-line ring games are up and down. I think a mental list would help me, so just wondering what your process is.

Thanks

Dave Scharf

I was wondering what your thought process is while you are playing. Do you have a mental checklist of everything to consider at different points of the hand? (ie when the action is on you, when the action is on someone else, when you are out of the hand, after the hand). If you have a checklist, what is it? (calculate pot odds, put player on a and)Do you think differently live and on-line?

***If I have my "A" game I have a relatively small checklist.

1. What does he have? [This starts with the range of hands I can put him/her and the other players on and, consequently, what range of hands I am looking for when I look at my hand. So, pre-flop I have decided before I look at my cards, what I will do with what]
2. What will he do with it? How will my opponent respond on this street and future streets to my bets? Can I make him fold? Will be press a semi-bluff? Once the flop comes down I attempt to chart the rest of the hand based upon how I perceive my opponent will fold.

Also, although I have spoken in the singular, I am asking the same questions about all of my remaining opponents. If it’s a loose low-limit game the questions tend to be "what does the field have and is my hand the best" since you will NEED the best hand at the end.

I do have a five finger checklist for tournament play that changes according to what I perceive my leak are.

Thumb – Think about it. Take the time to think about your decision. I often play too quickly and make bad decisions because I do not take the time to slow down.

Index – What does he have?

Middle – What will he do with it?

Ring – What are the consequences of being wrong?

Pinky – Are you suffering from "monkey-mind-go-blank syndrome?"

Do I do things differently online? Yup. I am a horrible online player. Can't focus enough. As a result I have been a marginal winner online for years. I would like to do all the same things, but I rarely manage the focus needed to carry it off. Kids, email, websurfing, wife, and martinis are a huge distraction.