Things I think I learned from HOH

[hummusx]

I just got HOH about a week and a half ago and read it over vacation this past weekend. There was lots of great stuff in the book, but in particular there were two general things which I applied right away to my SNG play that I think have really helped:

1) Reduced my post-flop bets. I was in the habit of almost always making my post flop bets about the size of the pot. I've reduced that to somewhere between 50-80% of the pot in most cases, depending on my holding and the board, etc, etc. It seems like there are a few interesting results. Firstly, I still win a large portion of the pots when I bet. In many cases it seems like people are folding to a bet of 200 into a pot of 300 just as they did to a bet of 285 into a pot of 300. Secondly, I'm winning a lot more money because I am getting callers now and then and my hand is usually considerably better than theirs. Also, it's easier for me to let hands go if needed because I haven't invested as much money.

2) Value betting. I'm betting much more often on the end. HOH stresses the amount of money lost by mediocre players as a result of not betting with the best of it, probably often as a result of being scared of lurking monsters. I think I got some real understanding of the 'only called if you're beat concept' and now see that in most cases it's really not applicable. I do much more betting on the end, whatever I think I can get my opponent to call, and most of the time I do have the best hand and it's just extra chips in my pocket.