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Coaching > Articles > Think Before You Act!


Posted by stipey169 on 1/6/2009

“Think Before You Act!”  You’ve probably heard that phrase more times than you care to remember from your parents.  In our youth, we prided ourselves with our spur of the moment acts without ever thinking of the consequences and often times we found ourselves in bad situations (you know you did).  As we grew older, we realized we should stop and think before we act because with every action there is a consequence, be it good or bad.  

This little tidbit of information provided by our parents is very applicable to playing poker.  Too often we don’t take the appropriate time to think through our decisions in poker.  We say to ourselves…. “oooh!  I flopped 3 Aces, I’m all-in and we immediately shove all of our chips in the middle”.  That probably isn’t the right decision and you most likely realized it the second your opponent insta-folds.  Had we taken the time to think about it, we may have extracted more value from our strong hand.   

One of the simplest things to do, and one of the biggest mistakes beginners make, is not stopping to think about what the consequences are for each and every action they take at the poker table and as a result this is having a negative consequence to our winrate. Even if you don’t always make the decision that will make you the most value, taking the time to at least think things through our decisions will be better than making an insta-decision and put you on the path to being a winning player.

The intent of this article is to not get into the fine details of all the things you need to think about and all of the intricate strategies in play while playing poker, but instead it will give you a framework of the basic things you need to thing about before you decide to bet, raise, call, or fold.  So without further adieu, here are some things you need to think about before you act:

  • What am I trying to accomplish in the hand?  For example, do I want my opponent to call?  Do I want him to fold?  Am I trying to isolate?  Am I stealing?   Am I trying to build a big pot or a small pot?  These are just a few of the things you may be trying to accomplish.  The important thing is to decide what you want your action to accomplish and then decide on what action is the best way to make that happen.
  • What is my opponent’s range?
  • Based on my opponent’s range, how will he react to my action (i.e. what does he fold?  what does he call?  what does he raise?)
  • What are my odds (both pot odds and implied odds)?  
  • What odds am I giving my opponent (both pot odds and his perceived implied odds)?  
  • What is the plan for rest of my hand?  For example, will I fold to a raise?  Will I fire a double barrel at most turn cards?  Am I done with the hand if I’m called?  

If you remember anything from this article, remember to at least “Think Before You Act”!  
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