Thinking Ahead

I’m a little late in mentioning this, but my latest poker strategy article, “Thinking Ahead”, is now appearing in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. I’m a little frustrated that I couldn’t find a way to express myself quite as clearly as I would have liked, but I believe there’s some pretty valuable information in there if you take the time to digest it:

What many players do not fully appreciate, though, is the extent to which planning ahead can inform your ranges for the current decision point. In other words, players will ask, “What is the best plan for this hand?” when they ought to ask, “Given that I will sometimes check-fold, sometimes bluff the flop and then check-fold turn, and sometimes bluff by betting flop and shoving turn, with which hands should I execute each plan?”

I argue that the best planning doesn’t just make a plan for a hand; it chooses hands for a plan. This article will examine several examples to illustrate what exactly this means, why this kind of planning is valuable, and how you can integrate it into your game.

Please let me know what you think!

4 thoughts on “Thinking Ahead”

  1. Great article, I read it last night. Since reading PNL1 and SSNL I have been trying to grasp the concept of hand planning. Your article takes it to another level by using hand planning as a tool to inform preflop hand selection.

    I know I need to do it. Where I fall short right now is the actual practice of it at the table. The part where you say “and how you can integrate it into your game.” I have a hard time getting out of cruise control and auto-pilot when I play. I don’t do enough thinking at all decision points in a hand.

  2. Great article Andrew.

    I was wondering if this could be applied to analyzing hands you’ve played. Categorize the type of plan you executed for that hand and did it fit in with the range of hands that make sense for that play. Maybe that would help in forming better plans for future played hands.

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