The obsession with loose and tight and aggressive and passive and 3-betting more or a (wtf!?) polarised 4-betting range or whatever is flavour of the day isn't what winning at poker is about, not in isolation.
Nor target stats that suddenly become sub-par when game conditions change or you don't know how or when to play the ranges these numbers suggest.
Poker is a series of situations with huge areas of common ground and subtle differences that are of incredible importance. Any situation is modified by a range of variables.AKs on the button facing a limp, a raise and a 3-bet before it gets to you. What to do? Options are call, fold, or 4-bet. All are correct - depending on the modifying factors.
And this is what becomes ever more difficult, identifying the table conditions and how they affect optimal decision-making.
There are standard or default actions. 3-bet AA from the SB vs UTG+1 open and two callers. These need to become obvious, instinct. But not simply by rote learning, instead by investigating and understanding why. Why is it bad to be out of position 5-way to a flop with aces? Why don't you want to be on the cutoff with 77 and calling an MP open and HJ call with three aggro shortstacks left to act. So what is better here? Fold? 3-bet? The more situations you have given in depth thought and analysis to, the more that the influence of modifying factors on any given situation will become clear.
I have spent loads of hours/hands grinding out huge volumes of low winrate sessions.
Then tilting and having losing sessions smash that win-rate. And, finally and thankfully, a period of variance in the "wrong" direction that has finally provided another poker a-ha moment.
Behind 15 buyins on All In Expected Value over 20k hands and tilting and moaning I read a post from Jyms about the why of decisions. And at the same time realised that being 15buyins behind AIEV over 20k hands should still leave me in the black at the stakes where it occurred - if I was playing well.
So, about ten days ago, I got to work.
Assessing default plays and realising the numerous positions/situations where these "standard" default plays were at best far from MaxEV, and at worst uber-spew.
And studying the why. Especially the why of calling. Realising that you need a damn good why to be calling anytime in poker. That anytime you call you need a why that explains it being better than folding or raising. And to this, you need to answer what - what is the situation, including the relevant modifying factors. Or, better, the modifying factors are in fact part of the situation.
And, from there, the journey continues.
