[HopeydaFish]

I couldn't agree with you more. Many people try too hard to turn Hold'em into Blackjack in that they believe that there's a concrete "optimal" way to play, and that playing any differently is -EV. Hold'em is a great game because every time you play it is different -- you need to play your opponents at least as much or more so as you need to play your cards.

Many players see every situation in black and white. They're the same posters who will respond with the one line "Raise pre-flop" or whatever whenever anyone posts a hand on here for analysis. The reason their responses don't lack any depth is that they really don't know *why* you should fold pre-flop, or raise pre-flop, or what have you -- just that their handy Texas Hold'em chart that they've printed off tells them that this is how they were supposed to play.