I posted a hand with some analysis the other day and I've been so pleased by the positive response. Thanks to everyone helping out, I really appreciate it! I'm really glad to find I'm on the right track. An interesting concept came up which I hadn't considered - it takes stronger hand to call than to raise pre-flop. This makes sense considering how tight calling ranges are as opposed to opening ranges in the same position. I have certainly taken this on board in my preflop strategy and I'm sure it has been saving me some pretty pennies.

Things are beginning to click into place now. One great revelation was the fact that I should play against ranges and not the random hand my opponent may have. For example, rather than thinking "Oh shit, (s)he might have the 8", realising that there aren't many 8s in my opponent's range and basing my decisions upon that.

Another concept I struggle with as a spewy fish is needing reasons to bet post-flop. One better than "Let's scare the shit out of this dumbass and take his monies!" I am improving on this, particularly now that my line of thought is developing as I work on understanding the game.

Continuation betting is an example of this. Carroters and I have previously discussed c-bets, however I found this a more complicated topic than the straight forward charts we laid out for opening/calling pre-flop. My approach was to c-bet essentially every flop in the hopes that either my opponent(s) would fold to my shitty cards or call my equity. In our last lesson we revised this topic and laid down a few good guidelines which has really helped my post-flop play. I shall summarise these below.

Reasons to c-bet: 1) Dry(ish) board texture. 2) One opponent. 3) Looser opponent - take advantage of these with unpolarised c-betting. 4) No showdown value. 5) Showdown value is weak i.e. very vulnerable. 6) Flopping equity e.g. straight/flush draws. 7) Value betting.

Reasons not to c-bet: 1) Showdown value is strong, however not entirely invulnerable e.g. strong middle pair. 2) Clear turn plan. 3) Tighter opponent. 4) Multiway pots.

So the line of thought when deciding whether to c-bet goes:
1) Board texture. 2) Number of opponents. 3) Opponent range(s). 4) Equity? 5) Showdown value?

If anyone has any other considerations to add to these, I'd be grateful.

In other news, my favourite present to give birthday folk is now a Stars account with a $40 roll to get them started on 2NL. That accompanied by a PT3 trial and a brief spiel about tight pre-flop strategy. I'm recruiting more ladies to the poker world and I am strongly encouraging them to join FTR, so I expect a warm welcome guys!

Also, my bankroll is steadily growing and I've just received the first of my bonuses, so 5NL may not be so far away...