Checklist

Everytime i am in a hand i run through a list in my head of things to check to determine how i should play the hand. Things such as position, table, cards of course... what are some things you consider when deciding how to play?

Originally Posted by cheech3398

Everytime i am in a hand i run through a list in my head of things to check to determine how i should play the hand. Things such as position, table, cards of course... what are some things you consider when deciding how to play?

*scratch*

Everything?

-'rilla

Position, table aggression as a whole, specific actions by specific players to tell me how much to respect a raise, or to expect a raise (i.e. usually I'll limp suited connectors only from late position to prevent an unexpected raise, but if the table is really passive, I may well limp from early position as well), my image (if I just raised preflop the last 4 hands, it doesn't matter if I had AA all 4 times in a row - my opponents don't know that, so unless I have a great hand, I'm probably not going to raise with questionable hands even if I might otherwise)...whatever else seems relevant...

I check if it is probable that I will be the one betting. If not, I will often fold (except holding pp's and such.

This is my incomplete list...

Preflop

- How aggressive are the opponents in the hand with me. Has anyone raised or seen a raise with mid connectors lately? Has anyone limped with KK or AA?

- What occured preflop, and what does the action tell me?

- What position am I in, and how will it benefit or inhibit me?

- Was my personal preflop betting deceptive, or consistent with my holdings? How will this effect how my opponents react to my bets or calls? (Sometimes you can reraise a preflop raise with mid connectors, and your opponent will put you on high pocket pair)

Postflop

- Will my opponent slowplay with a partially coordinated board, or will he take it down immediately if he thinks he is ahead?

- Where does my opponent stand on the passive/aggressive scale at the moment? Will he fold to a bluff? Has he called me down with sub par holdings previously?

- What are all the remaining attributes of my opponent? Does he min bet draws? Does he min bet with strong holdings to seduce giant bluffs? What have I seen, and how does it effect the hand?

- What is my opponents impression of me? How does it effect the hand?

- What does the board look like? Is it a drawing board? Is it a completely disconnected rag rainbow flop in a raised pot? (heavy reraises here can mean trips) What does all previous action tell you about what the board does for opponents hands on any given flop?

- What does the betting pattern on earlier streets tell me about action on later streets? Did an opponent switch gears from passive to aggressive midhand? Why? (If they aren't slowplayers, then it's usually a bluff when a blank pops)

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Maybe we can start generating a giant list of deductive considerations throughout a hand if we don't already have one. We can get into specific situations too. Most of my stuff here is general, and the list is just what I thought of in the last 10 minutes.