So I was having the same thoughts…It’s been a loooooooong time since I had to put into words all the little things that I take into consideration at the table when acting preflop.
Position, stack size, image, opponents, etc all just comes naturally after years of degenning at the tables lol
I just recently taught 2 young excited players my order of operations for making a decision during a hand. They were so caught up in getting a "read" on the other player to determine if they were bluffing, and I had to explain to them hand strength, position, out percentages, table history, pot size, bet sizing, and table size (# of players). I don't think I had ever put any of this into words until then, and it actually helped me understand my "game" in a way that came natural to me.
PRE-FLOP
Position
If the player(s) directly to my left have shown that they raise a lot, or raise light, I will typically factor a limp so that I can re-raise their raise, typically by a factor of 4x-5x to really isolate.
If the player 1-2 positions to my right is a tighter player that has raised, I’ll typically just call the raise instead of re-raising so that I don’t face an all-in decision before the flop if I don’t want to.
I am more afraid of the players on my right than on my left in the majority of situations (which might be counter the typical logic, but that’s just my experience… they raise, then lead all-in on the flop and now I have no information except they are willing to risk it all… seems strong… it’s harder to factor a bluff from them in this situation, makes calling hard.)
Pot size / callers / game feel
Theoretically I’ve gotten a feel of the flow of the game after maybe 20-30 hands. Now I should be able to predict what each players pre-flop actions suggest. Most importantly, I want to know what will happen if I decide to just call a limp… will other players typically just call? What happens if I raise? Are raises standard on this table? 3 or 4 bets standard?
If most players are limpy and want to see flops, I’ll typically raise big on 3 out of 5 strong hands to isolate against less players post-flop. I leave 2 out of 5 strong hands (including AK) as limps that I can get away from and fold if needed post-flop…. that way I can sneak a really monster hand in multiway and 3-bet a bet or raise ahead of me and get a light caller leading to a really large pot win. Riskier, but definitely high payoff later.
However, if most players are consistently raising their premiums, I typically make more polarizing decisions… fold straightaway or raise big / all-in pre-flop. Limp-calling in this situation isn’t typically profitable for me unless I am closing the action which leads
(Semi) Automatic Decisions
If I am playing shorter handed (7 or less players) I’ll tend to open my range of “good starting cards.”
If I am the last player to act because the raiser is immediately to my left, I almost always call
POST-FLOP
I used to look at the board and try to determine my hand-strength and what I need to win the hand, outs etc… but now I almost exclusively identify the nuts, 2nd best, and 3rd best hands. Is it possible and/or probable that my opponent(s) could have one of those hands?
In a heads up situation I start thinking about pre-flop action and player image, and I start to create a range. I allow that range to adjust for the turn and river, so by the river I hopefully have 3 different pieces of information to compare to. If all 3 ranges are similar, then I feel confident with my decision to call, raise, or fold. If their pre-flop, flop, turn, and river actions don’t narrow down to a clear probable range, this is where I have to tank and decide to call what I believe is a bluff or fold to what I believe is a well laid trap.
In a multi-way situation, it is obviously more likely that there are ranges out there that include the nuts, 2nd best, 3rd best etc… so all I am doing is trying to determine whether I can utilize a successful bluff of having one of those hands. If I’ve raised pre-flop and my image is that I always show up with the goods, I am more likely to check-call to the turn and either bet the turn + river or just the river.
