Thinking One Level Ahead: The Real Flow of Basic Poker Strategy

 The Flow of Basic Poker Strategy

I will spare you the details, but I have been playing low to mid stakes poker, mostly no limit hold ‘em, for many years now. As anyone that plays a fair amount knows, the game and strategies are constantly evolving especially for those that play at the highest level. Low to mid stakes games evolve a little differently, in my opinion. It’s more like a specific trend is learned and followed by most players. Once that trend is more widely known as a strategy, a counter strategy is then devised in order to combat that strategy. For instance, years ago the trend was to continuation bet (c-bet) after raising pre flop all (or at least most) of the time because there is a good chance that the other player(s) missed the flop. You could potentially get a better hand to fold so that you can win the pot even though you don’t have the best hand. 

As an example, let’s say that you raise from mid position with KQ offsuit and the big blind ends up calling with AT offsuit. The flop comes out J73 rainbow. The big blind checks, you c-bet, he folds and you take down the pot with the worst hand. You use the power of aggression and position to win the pot. Then a counter strategy was formed and used to combat the c-bet. Players started realizing that they are going to face a c-bet very often so they started calling the c-bet with nothing (which is called floating) and then would potentially try to take the pot away on the turn or river if the pre flop raiser showed any perceived weakness by checking. Then a counter strategy was formed and used to combat the players that were floating. Players that were c-betting and knowing that other players were floating with air (nothing) then started double barreling (betting the flop and the turn) in order to show more strength to get the players that were floating to fold. You get the picture.

This is just a simple example of how some general strategies are formed, learned and applied in the game. There is obviously much more to poker strategy overall, but this shows the thought process that goes into the decision making. In the end, it’s a matter of out leveling your opponents…I know that you know that I know that, so I am going to act one level above that to combat that. Make sense? Always make sure that you are thinking at the table and in the end, it will help you to continue to improve.

Frank DiRe

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