On Having a Plan Postflop Heads Up

[DeathDonkey]

I was playing shorthanded recently with my brother watching and trying to teach him a bit, so I was talking through all my decisions and answering questions about why I do what I do when I do it, when I realized something that kept happening pretty frequently as I played (that was the longest sentence ever). I would often find myself heads up, in position, on the flop, usually against a blind, and I explained to him and realized to myself that poker is much easier when you are in these situations alot. In addition to that, there aren't that many things that can happen at this point in a hand, so not being prepared for every one of them is inexcusable.

What I mean is, your opponent can check, bet, or checkraise on the 3 remaining streets and you can react to those plays as you see fit - in all there are not that many possible actions that can occur. When you remove all the really rare lines that might occur you are left with (usually) just a few choices to make.

As I played these hands and talked through them out loud, I was able to say right as I saw the flop and my notes / stats on my single opponent what I would do for the rest of the hand, no matter what action my opponent would take. I think this is beneficial for a few reasons: you are not surprised by an event and therefore unsure how to react and then make a wrong decision in the heat of the moment, you can vastly improve your playing speed for the purposes of multitabling effectively, you clearly understand and can evaluate where you are in a hand and what to do about it vs. an opponent you have a good read on.

Here are a couple examples that are made up but certainly realistic. I was playing 6 max but this applies to any time you get heads up postflop basically.

I raise A /images/graemlins/club.gifJ /images/graemlins/heart.gif folded to loose passive non-tricky BB who calls. Flop is 8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif3 /images/graemlins/club.gif I decide I will bet the flop and the turn and take a free showdown, unless I improve in which case I will bet all 3 streets. If he checkraises the flop I will call and fold the turn unimproved, otherwise I will fold to a checkraise unless I improve and then I will call it down. Alternative lines would be to check behind on the turn and call a river bet (bad if he is passive and non-tricky), check behind on the turn and fold to a river bet (I think AJ high is too good to do that on this board, where many LPPs will peel and then fold the turn), or bet every street and hope he folds a pair or calls with worse (don't like this either against LPP).

I raise A /images/graemlins/diamond.gifQ /images/graemlins/spade.gif folded to somewhat LAGgy a bit tricky BB who calls. Flop is K /images/graemlins/diamond.gifQ /images/graemlins/heart.gif4 /images/graemlins/club.gif I decide I will bet every street and call down if checkraised. If I improve I will have to reevaluate but I do not expect to have to deviate from this line too frequently. Alternatives would be to check behind on the turn and call a river bet (miss value against LAG), fold to a CR at any time (hand is too good if he is tricky to fold), or bet the turn and take a free showdown (again I think this misses easy value against a LAG).

I'd be happy to give a "total postflop plan" given a heads up situation other than these if anyone thinks these are too straightforward. The point of this rambling is it really simplifies your life to sit there and think a second and say "ok this is what I will do" and as long as you have good reasons for it, follow through and not have tough decisions later in the hand. Some may say this is "autopilot" but when I am playing my A game I would say it is pretty much autopilot but with a very good CPU. Put another way, I win more money when I don't have lots of tough decisions and I think what I do on the flop gives me an easy time with the decisions later on. Maybe everyone does this but my brother seemed surprised I was able to make a determination about the whole hand basically on the flop so I don't know.

Thoughts? Is this an over-simplification of a tougher problem? I should note that the times a strange card or strange action occurs, I may have to adjust the plan on the fly, but I really think these times are quite rare.

-DeathDonkey

[GrunchCan]

Another great post from a micros Pooh-Bah.

[ QUOTE ]
I raise A J folded to loose passive non-tricky BB who calls. Flop is 8 5 3 I decide I will bet the flop and the turn and take a free showdown, unless I improve in which case I will bet all 3 streets. If he checkraises the flop I will call and fold the turn unimproved, otherwise I will fold to a checkraise unless I improve and then I will call it down. Alternative lines would be to check behind on the turn and call a river bet (bad if he is passive and non-tricky), check behind on the turn and fold to a river bet (I think AJ high is too good to do that on this board, where many LPPs will peel and then fold the turn), or bet every street and hope he folds a pair or calls with worse (don't like this either against LPP).

I raise A Q folded to somewhat LAGgy a bit tricky BB who calls. Flop is K Q 4 I decide I will bet every street and call down if checkraised. If I improve I will have to reevaluate but I do not expect to have to deviate from this line too frequently. Alternatives would be to check behind on the turn and call a river bet (miss value against LAG), fold to a CR at any time (hand is too good if he is tricky to fold), or bet the turn and take a free showdown (again I think this misses easy value against a LAG).

[/ QUOTE ]

In my opinion, the way you think through these hands -- and the fact that you think all the way down the line on the flop -- is possibly the most important characteristic that successful poker players have. Weather or not you come up with the right line in this train of thought is almost secondary, becasue after a lot of practice and EV studies, you will get to the right lines. But without this method of at-the-table analysis, poker is just swinging a bat with a blindfold on. You can only make wild estimates where the pinata is, and hope you land a blow that will score the candy inside.

I never really learned how to think this way until very recently, when I started playing NL. It seems that playing NL is the best thing that's ever happened to my poker game.

If anyone reading this post wasn't thinking to themselves "yep, that's how I'm thinking these hands through too," then this is something you will need to work on. Note that I'm not saying if you came up with the same action as DD. I'm saying if you are thinking in the same way.

And by the way, I think the lines you came up with are perfect.

[deception5]

Just to add, there was a great series in this post from Shillx regarding "set plays" he used (which he also determined on the flop):

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2206499&PHPSE SSID=&fpart=1#Post2206499

[Disconnected]

Good stuff. Of course you need to account for some strange card or action (as you said), but having a good grasp of the default -- against a particular type of player -- should allow a much better on-the-fly adjustment. Thanks for the post.

[Fantam]

[ QUOTE ]
But without this method of at-the-table analysis, poker is just swinging a bat with a blindfold on. You can only make wild estimates where the pinata is, and hope you land a blow that will score the candy inside.


[/ QUOTE ]

I just thought. Arent a lot of pinata's made to look like donkeys? /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

LOL. This was a good post. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Saint_D]

Bump. Good stuff DD. This is something I can work on a little more.

One thing I do when I sit out of a hand is try to guess what each player will do on each street. Especially when I play live.

For example. I have K/images/graemlins/heart.gif 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif in MP2. The tight player UTG raises. I fold along with everyone else to the calling station on the button. She calls and the blinds fold.

The flop is A/images/graemlins/heart.gif K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 10/images/graemlins/spade.gif

I say to myself, UTG will bet every street. Button will call them all, but should have already folded. The button won't re-raise even with the nut strait or a backdoor flush comes in. 9 times out of 10 UTG will win.

I also try to put them on hands of course.

I do this online when I single table. I find that I am right very often.

-D

[KingOtter]

[ QUOTE ]
But without this method of at-the-table analysis, poker is just swinging a bat with a blindfold on. You can only make wild estimates where the pinata is, and hope you land a blow that will score the candy inside.

[/ QUOTE ]

I either don't agree with this analogy, or don't understand it. Just because we don't commit to a particular line (or even consciously commit to a particular line), we certainly aren't making choices in the dark.

It's more like learning how to drive to work. You get in the car, turn on the radio and listen to the traffic report and decide which way to go to work. Once you do it enough, you learn the routes and you can make the choice as soon as you hear the report.

But before that you have to check the map, learn the roads, know where the turns are, and why to turn down them. But you're certainly not doing it blindfolded.

Take me, for instance. Playing about 9 months. I don't consciously have certain lines I follow based upon the hand/flop/etc. I'm still playing mostly full (or 9-max) so the flop is usually multiway still.

I'm partially there... my turn decision usually involves what I'm doing on the river. And some flop decisions involve the turn and river. But I wouldn't categorize it as 'most'.

KO

[GoHoosiers]

Awesome post.

I read this post saying, "Yes, that is how I think as well"

To some degree, I do this PF, but I think all hands basically begin to unfold once the flop hits. Your basic plan is a point of departure...in other words, something standard that can be modified to fit any particular set of circumstances.

Again, excellent post.


Rich

[SCfuji]

i think deciding quickly what cards you would want to see and not want to see are important when you think like this deathdonkey. having a preset plan to how you will react to actions given certain cards turning makes life easier.

[Redd]

I think you've earned yourself one of these:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/JM2005/baby.gif

[Redd]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd be happy to give a "total postflop plan" given a heads up situation other than these

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's say you're HU OOP against an LPP who has called your pfr with red 9s on a black, 2-suited KJ3 flop. Whats the plan?

[DeathDonkey]

OOP is harder /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I almost always bet the turn and check/fold the river. Make the flop even uglier and I check/fold the turn.

-DeathDonkey

[bottomset]

nice post DD

I've been doing more of this lately, not enough, mainly not focusing enough on reacting to my opponents moves ahead of time .. makes for the occasion slipup