Making informed decisions is the essence of playing good poker. Here then, is an overview of the decision making process for a sit n go poker tournament.
Keep in mind though, that there are so many variables in poker and in a tournament, the possible situations are literally infinite. So, this presentation is going to be a high altitude look at the decision process, rather than a detailed analysis of each step.
You can think of this overview as if it were an Interstate Highway road map. It will not guide you precisely to your destination, but it will get you close enough. Then, if needed to complete your journey, you can consult a more detailed local street map.
In this case, the 'local street map' is a metaphor for the final step in information analysis. Once evaluation of the considerations mentioned below is complete, the final step of analysis would be of your two-card holding, and of the street of play. Again, that is a level of analysis beyond the scope of this overview.
Let us begin with the first step, which is to understand that decision analysis applies to every one of your hands. Quite literally, this means that for every hand, you should:
- Consider all of the available information before you make any decision,
- Consider the actions of every player before you make any decision, and
- Rarely pre-select to muck your hand. Because, you cannot make a final decision until all the information is in, including the action of the player to your right.
The process then, is to think thoroughly about each and every hand, and to consider every possibility before deciding upon how to act. Indeed, this process can be slow. But, that is by design.
Slow, careful deliberation helps to safeguard against hasty decisions that can lose chips. And, safeguard as well against missing the opportunities that could harvest chips.
The following considerations are representative of the type of information required for informed decision making in a sit n go tournament:
- Consider your hand holding.
- Is it premium?
- Is it playable?
- Is it junk?
- Consider the action in the previous hand.
- Did you win?
- Did you lose?
- Is the winner or loser in this hand?
- Consider the number of opponents in this hand.
- Enough to warrant a pot odds call?
- Few enough to warrant a bluff?
- Consider their playing style.
- Loose or tight?
- Timid or aggressive?
- Tricky or straightforward?
- Consider their situation.
- Worried?
- Desperate?
- Confident?
- Overconfident?
- Consider your relative stack size.
- Desperate?
- Short?
- Average?
- Big?
- Huge?
- Consider your table position.
- Blinds?
- Early?
- Middle?
- Late?
- Button?
- Consider your table image.
- Fish?
- Novice?
- Experienced?
- Tough?
- Tight?
- Aggressive?
- Timid?
- Loose?
- Shark?
- Consider the present tournament level.
- Early?
- Middle?
- Late?
- Bubble?
- In-the-money?
- Amount of blinds?
- Consider the next tournament level.
- Is it marked by a blind increase?
- Is it marked by an elimination?
- Will its arrival increase player anxiety?
- Consider the present big blind size.
- Is it insignificant?
- Is it greater than 10% of the table average stack size?
- Is it unmanageable?
- Consider the next big blind increase.
- How long until the increase?
- What will be the impact?
- Consider what your opponents might think about your hand.
- What have been your showdowns?
- What are you representing?
- Consider what your opponents might think about your action.
- Have you played a lot of hands?
- Have you been stealing pots?
- Have you played very few?
- Have you folded to aggression?
- Consider the amount of elapsed tournament time.
- How much time is left in the tournament?
- How much time before the next blind increase?
- Consider the present actions of your opponents.
- Are they in character?
- Are they out of character?
- Are they making a move?
- Are they making a mistake?
- What is their chat?
- Consider the previous actions of your opponents.
- Have there been tricks?
- Have there been mistakes?
- Have there been big wins?
- Have there been big losses?
- Consider the stack sizes of your opponents.
- How do they compare to each other?
- How do they compare to you?
- Consider how they are playing their stack.
- Cautiously?
- Recklessly?
- Arrogantly?
- Desperately?
- Consider all possible moves and plays.
- Is there a move or play that can win this pot?
- Even though the above is not an exhaustive list, it is comprehensive enough to illustrate the large volume of information required for making informed decisions.
To quickly and accurately process so much information for each hand, is clearly a daunting task. Consequently, a player must have:
- The experience and knowledge to recognize which considerations are relevant to the situation,
- The ability to evaluate that information, and
- The good judgment to formulate a correct course of action.
Fortunately, the speed and accuracy required for decision making in a sit n go is a learned skill. And, with a great deal of experience and study, much of the process will become intuitive.
Here are ten tips for improving your decision making that can apply to any form of on-line poker:
1. Many players, including myself, have distilled from the above considerations a few key questions and imperatives. We ask ourselves the questions during the course of a hand. The answers help guide our actions. And, we challenge ourselves with the imperatives.
2. When we find ourselves weak in an area of play, we will change our questions and imperatives accordingly. In this fashion, we are constantly analyzing and working to improve our decision making process.
3. Oftentimes, we make sticky notes to ourselves to attach to our monitors. During the heat of battle, the visual reminders prod us towards the correct decision.
4. Hand charts, odds charts, M factors, and other important decision making tools are printed, laminated, and kept close at hand for easy reference.
5. Many players also subscribe to tracking and tournament software to gain additional insight to aid their decision making.
6. If you are making good decisions, you will likely be mucking your cards most of the time. But, don't let your muck be the end of your interest in the hand. Continue to follow the action. This is an excellent time to observe your opponents, study their showdown hands, make player notes, and use this new information to correctly play the next hand.
7. Always take as much time as you need, or is allowed, to reach your decision. Never react spontaneously.
8. Always hesitate before finally committing your chips. Use that last moment to re-evaluate your decision. Some players count to three before clicking their decision.
9. When the tournament is over, print a copy of the tournament hand history. Review and annotate your decisions, and the decisions of your opponents. Identify and learn from your mistakes. Learn to understand how an opponent thinks.
10. Seek the help of others. Use the poker forums to sound out your problems. The members and moderators are more than willing to share their expertize.
Remember that in the final analysis, it is your decisions, and only your decisions that matter. In fact, the ultimate goal of every player in any form of poker is quite unsophisticated. Contrary to what you might think, the goal is not to win the hand, nor to win the tournament.
The goal is to merely make one good decision at a time. Hand after hand after hand.
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Read my Article Review of this article, Making Informed Decisions in a Sit 'n' Go Poker Tournament.
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Copyright 2009 R. Steve McCollum
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