jjd323's blog

Today I played a tiny amount of 2/4 stud in the morning when the NLHE tables were relatively dead, and this evening I played one session of NLHE. I prepared admirably – I had a glass of water, was well fed, and even a back-up liquid supply to refill my glass. I was definitely not at maximum concentration, but I do feel that I have increased the frequency I check the blinds before I play a hand. This is probably the last time I’ll mention blind observing for a week or two. I’ve put a reminder to myself to check back on it then.

In my next session I want to set a new goal. I want to consider my turn actions more carefully. I have a pretty decent grasp of pre-flop and flop equities; I can nail most direct hand comparisons to within 2 or 3% of their actual values through experience with PokerStove, and also from counting outs and knowing the rule of 4 for flop eqities. However, turn play is far more complex and I have found that you can’t just know your equity versus a range (or even a specific hand) using experience alone. You have to count your outs and weight villain’s range using hand combinations. That is, you have to

count your outs, and count their combos. There is more to this too, you can consider how the river will play out versus each part of his range on each card and estimate your EV – but I won’t go into the shortcuts you can use to do that at the table today.

I only play two tables, and I see the turn approximately 10% of the time; I should have plenty of time to jot down my opponents’ range and count my outs. This is my new goal: to always STOP, and count my outs on the turn. Maybe you should be counting your own too.

j