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 Math Test Poker; Anti-FPS Idea
Here's a different approach to thinking about poker for you to think on that might help for those who find themselves "mixing it up" without knowing why they're mixing or which spoon to use to mix (pun intended).
If you were taking a math test, and one of the problems is 24 x 13, you know a fairly quickly way to figure out the correct answer, so you answer it and go on to the next problem. Now suppose instead you knew a long and complicated way to figure out the problem that looked fun on paper because it took up more space and looked harder, except you weren't sure if you were getting the right answer or not. Which would you choose?
The first approach to the math problem is relatively simple, relatively easy, and relatively quick, but also has good accuracy -- much like what people consider to be "ABC poker". The second approach to the math problem is more complicated than necessary, harder than necessary, slower and more stressful to work through, and also has a lower accuracy -- much like "mixing it up" when you don't know what you're mixing up or why you're mixing.
Each poker session is a test, and each individual decision is a question. You're given information that can be used on each question if you want it, but you don't always need all of the information available to answer a specific question. When you answer questions right, you make money, and when you answer questions wrong, you lose money.
As an example, there's a lot of information missing in the following scenario that could change your answer, but if you don't know what the information means, you don't know how to use it: Suppose an EP player limps, it's folded to the CO who raises to 5x, and you have Q9s on the button. What is your play? This is like a math problem where you don't have enough information to answer the question.
If the original limper likes to limp/raise a lot, you're more likely to fold. If the original limper likes to limp/fold a lot and CO likes to isolate limpers a lot and doesn't 4-bet bluff much, you're more likely to consider a 3-bet bluff. If you're really deep-stacked and CO pays off hands with his entire stack with any piece of the flop, you'd be more likely to call. But in the absence of any of this information [and the ability to understand what it means in terms of EV] then it's just a fold.
Now obviously the goal is to keep pressing on and learn what different pieces of information mean and so on, but you shouldn't get too far ahead of yourself. If you don't understand pot-odds, then 5-bet bluff shoving over people with A2s is going to be too far over your head because you don't have the necessary foundation. It's just like math class -- you don't learn to do long division before you learn to add.
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Originally Posted by XxStacksxX
