BET

I just want to put out a quick post about an important aspect of NLHE. To some more experienced players, this concept is pretty basic and obvious, but I want to make it clear to everyone.

Your job when playing poker is to figure out whether or not you have the best hand, or, in some cases, whether or not you can take the pot even if you don't have the best hand. How do you figure that out? You get information from your opponents by observing their bets/calls/checks/raises on the hand you're currently playing, and judging those actions based on what they have previously done, or, if you don't know your opponent very well, what you think most people would be making these plays with.

On a given hand, each player will have a certain number of decisions to make. The less decisions, and the easier decisions someone has made, the less sure you can be of their hand. So if you're in a tight spot, and you are having trouble deciding a range of hands for someone, what do you want? You want more information, and therefore need to make your opponent make more decisions, and harder decisions. How do you do that? BET FOR INFORMATION. Bet, bet, bet, bet, bet.

I'm not going to post any examples, but the HH forum is full of posts where the responses will be something like "raise on the flop and find out if he's really got it" or "bet that turn, if he raises you know you're beat." Look at those and really try to understand what's being said, and why this is the right way to play.

I think alot of people when they first start out are scared to make these plays, because it costs them more money when they're not sure if they have the goods. In reality, though, betting and raising for information is one of the cornerstones of good NLHE play.

I call.

Great post. Maybe needs to be linked every day.

-'rilla

I think information is one of the primary benefits of aggression in a poker game.