Three SSH Principles I See Misapplied

[davelin]

Hey all, I've noticed some trends on this board and I wanted to chime in with some thoughts. The principles laid out in SSH is a powerful weapon against these games, but with any weapon can be very dangerous if not used properly. Here are some common SSH principles I see misapplied by some newer players –

1) Pre-flop play doesn’t matter, only post-flop play does.

This is not what SSH is saying, it’s just saying that most of your money is made there so spend more time refining and honing your post-flop play but it does NOT mean to totally ignore pre-flop play. I’ve seen posts where the OP will say “guys, let’s not talk about my pre-flop play, it’s only post-flop play matters.” It still matters, not as much but it still does.

And I’ll tell you something that I think is 95% true. If you’re a weak pre-flop player, you’re probably a weak post-flop player. If you make too many loose limps and cold-calls pre-flop, you’re probably making loose calls post-flop. You don’t raise hands pre-flop where you have an equity edge, you’re probably not being aggressive enough post-flop when you have a good hand.

2) Don’t ever fold for one bet in a big pot on the river.

Don’t fold when you think you have a REASONABLE chance of winning. You have to consider a) what possible range of hands your opponent has that could be playing this way, does your A-high beat this possible range? b) if you’re overcalling, the chance you have of winning drops considerably and c) if there’s a possible raiser behind you, you have to consider the fact that you may have to put more than one bet on the river. This principle is a collarary to the pot-odds question, am I good one-in-(pot size) chances here? I think some players take this mantra too far.

3) Protecting your hands on the flop with good but vulnerable hands.

Having the flop checked through is not protection so stop thinking about the check-raise when you were the pre-flop raiser. You can’t raise someone who doesn’t bet. Sometimes you just can’t protect your hands no matter how much you want to try. Depending on the pot size, typically a bet on the flop protects you from 2-3 outers, raising a bet protects you from 4-5 outers. But OESD and flush draws are your companions to the end (thanks GrunchCan)! You can’t protect yourself against them so just bet for value. Bet and raise when you can, sometimes that’s just the best you can do.