Carefull poker II

A title change and a new beginning

I wasn’t feeling well when I wrote my last entry. Now that I read it again I am surprised at just how bad I write when I am sleepy and feeling ill. I was planning on rewriting or editing the entry. But I think my energy is best used just writing a new post.
The first change I’ll make is renaming my style from Carefull Bet Poker to Carefull Poker. The “bet” part I feel is misleading. I’ll also try to explain how I play with a more general introduction than I did in my last entry.

I play poker carefully. Meaning that I don’t like investing alot of money in a hand, unless I am pretty certain it is the best hand. That doesn’t mean that I fold when I am unsure that I have the best hand and this is very important, it just means that I try to keep the pot small.
The reason I brought up pocket Aces in my last entry is because they explain this idea quite well. Pre-flop pocket Aces are the best hand, therefore I try my best to get as much money into the middle as I can. The reason again being that I know I have the best hand. Most often though that only means that I raise and get a caller or two.
After the flop however, unless an Ace comes, the strength of my hand changes. From being sure that I had best hand, now there are a number of hands my opponents can hold that beat me. I still have an overpair, so I am not trying to talk myself into folding the hand, I’ll just try to bet my hand in a way so as to keep the pot small, while at the same time not giving pot odds for draws to be correct.

Carefull Poker’s theory is that in the long run it is more profitable to play big pots with big hands and small pots with small hands. The idea is simple and I started playing this way when I figured out that theory. Since then I have found the style to be profitable, well suited to my image and having some extra benefits that are not quite so simple.
Like all styles of play, Carefull Poker has its disadvantages. Yet since the style hasn’t been widely explored in poker litterature, few players know how to exploit it.

I’ll end here for now. I have re-read this entry and already I like it much better than my post from the 21st. In future posts I plan to start including some sample hands of the way I play, both from my own sessions and from observed sessions from well known poker players.

Links of interest:

Poker strategy: Learning to win
Music: Ukulele magic