Carefull bet poker

How to play hands post flop is a hard subject to write about. My answer to a simple questions about hands is often: "It depends", because much of the edge I have over my opponents comes from observing how they play and recognizing styles.
Before I can answer if I would have called or folded in a specific situation, I not only need to know how my opponent has played up until now, I need to know how I have played up until now. Therefore my answer to a hand question without reads often isn't more accurate than a novices answer. Without the reads much of my edge has dissapeared.

I will still try to write about the subject I think is greatly missing in poker literature: Post flop play in NL Hold'em, but it will take more than one article. I'll dub the way I play carefull bet poker and that will be the title of a series of diary entries on the subject.

Pocket Aces, always a welcomed sight, is the strongest starting hand in poker. Yet on most flops it is the second lowest ranked hand!
I have no qualms about putting all my money into the middle with a pair of Aces pre flop. But once the flop is out, if it didn't improve my hand, I often try my best not to get all my money in the middle. I know that this will come across as stupid advise to alot of people, but before you label me as a noob, consider the following.

What if, for a couple of hands, you could change the size of the pot through magical means. The amount of money you'd contribute to the pot would also change, relative to the pot size. Just before showdown, without knowing your opponents cards the dealer would ask you how big you would like the pot to be.
It is obvious that this is a profitable ability to have. And if you think about it, it is quite simple when you want the pot to be big and when you want the pot to be small. With a full house you want as big a pot as possible and with one pair you want to keep it small. Much of the time by the river, that is all that pocket Aces are, one pair.

With that in mind I try to control the size of the pot as the strength of my hand changes. With pocket Aces pre flop I am sure I have the best hand, so I want as much money in the middle as is possible. I have the nuts. After the flop, if I only have and overpair to the flop, the strength of my hand has been greatly reduced. It should be only natural that the amount of money I'd like to invest in the hand changes aswell.
I feel much more confident betting with [ Ac, Ah ] as my starting hand, than I do holding [ Jc, Jh ] . After the flop comes: [ 7s, 6h, Ts ] or [ Td, Tc, 9d ], the difference between Aces and Jacks has decreased significantly. Pocket Aces is still the stronger hand, but it's strength versus the unknown cards my opponent is holding isn't that much better than pocket Jacks.

I'll stop for now and remind you that this entry is ...to be continued.

I have changed my blog settings, so that people can leave comments, without having to register as a blogger. Feel free to drop me a line, be it criticism or praise. I don't see any statistics on how many hits my blog has, so my only measure is the amount of feedback I get.
It is unfortunatly still not sure if this month will end on a good note profit wise. I am not playing my A game after my loosing streak, but that should mean good news for my blog. As I'll spend more time reading and writing about the game.