Forensic Detail

Just a quickish note to remind myself of how important every single detail is when playing poker. Particularly the midstakes where edges are small and variance is like a tidal wave.

I played the last couple of days and lost a shit ton of money. Spent the day reviewing the hands, and there's virtually nothing there that would really show me up as a noob. Everything is 'close', and bordering on 'standard', and at worse 'maybe a little spewy but probably OK in this spot'.

What I'm saying is that........ that level of analysis doesn't really cut it any more, if indeed it ever did. My default ~ B game at FTP 400nl is I think ok, but the thing is that the level of knowledge comprising that B game simply makes me on par with every other reg in those games.

Knowing to 3bet bluff, 4bet bluff, double barrel overcards, PSR, squeeze, squash, check raise, use stats: all the default 'weapons' of the game are not only extensively used, but the counter strategies widely understood and deployed by all players as well.

I believe where the decent edges currently lie are in the tiniest of details and acting on those details. Things like knowing that Gopheresque shoves every nutted hand on the turn regardless of board texture but calls weak hands and draws. Having such information and acting on it can easily make an instant 200bb difference to your bottom line.

I'm not just talking about reads. I'm talking about the small factors that you miss either when not paying enough attention or playing too many tables (the same thing obviously). Small things like:

• J7 bvb, lets 3bet. OH WAIT, I don't know much about this guy
• A6s UTG lets raise it up. OH WAIT, tough table and likely to get 3bet.
• Turn a full house with 33 on j73 7, bet bet bet. OH WAIT, think about my whole range, I'm always giving up or check calling medium strength hands in this spot.
• Facing a 3bet IP holding T8s, lets flat. OH WAIT, this villain always bets 3 streets and doesn't have that weak a 3betting range anyway, I can never see showdown profitably.
• Holding 22 OTB facing a BB 3bet, snap fold. OH WAIT, this guy always check gives up when his ~AK type hands miss, I can call and see showdown a lot.

It's the OH WAITs that are the super important thing. They go missing when playing too many tables or not concentrating.

Where this is going is that I think I'm going to drop to 4 tables for a while and just concentrate on absolutely everything. There simply won't be a decision too small to pause for at least a few seconds and really consider the situation carefully. I think I struggle to do this with 6 tables, never mind 9 and never mind 12 which has just accounted for a lot of $.

So review to follow.......... with focus on forensic detail in every spot

dan