While examining my play, Ed suggested that I need to get comfortable with a more aggressive style. If my goal is to eventually move up in stakes I need to pay more attention to habits in my play that make me transparent and vulnerable to exploitation.
One hand we discussed was when I was in the big blind with 4-7 of spades. There was a late position raiser, two callers and I called. The flop came 4-9-4, giving me trip 4's. As usual I check, worried that if I bet out it would scare off my opponents and thinking it would just be too obvious if I bet out in early position, hoping to either check-raise the flop or to wait and pop the turn.
Ed told me that a more effective play would have simply to bet out. He said that in general he advocates a very aggressive style of play where he is just always betting if he is in a hand. A major reason for this is that it forces opponents to constantly guess at what he has. If he deviates from this (like in my example) by checking, opponents are given the opportunity to wonder why. They say to themselves, "This guy is aggressive, he's always betting and raising and now he suddenly checks, what gives?"
Ed suggested that not only do I need to bet out when I have a strong hand but even when I don't. An example would be the habit I've developed of raising in position to try for a free card when I have a good draw. Ed told me that playing draws aggressively is proper but if I check behind when I miss on the turn I might as well turn my hand over. He said any decent player will quickly pick up on this play and whenever confronted with a similar situation he will check to me to see what I do. If I check behind on the turn he will feel OK betting the river no matter what card comes, confident I will fold when I miss my draw. Or, he won't pay me off when I bet because he will know I made my draw.
We also talked about my anxiety over playing big pots and the fact that I need to let go of my delusions of control at the poker table. When the pot is big, I need to be OK with putting bets in even if I think it's unlikely that I'm ahead. I need to focus not on specific hands my opponents might have but on the entire range they could be playing. Let's say I have pocket 8's on a board of Ad-9d-7s. My opponent could have an ace. But, depending on how he played the hand, he could also have a flush or straight draw, two pair, or even a 7. If the pot has 8 or more big bets in it I only need to be ahead of a very few of the hands in that range to play profitably when the pot is large. Yes, I'm going to loose 7 or 8 times out of ten but when the pot is large the 2 or 3 times that I'm good, I'll win more than enough to make up the difference.
Most importantly, I need to let go of the idea that I'm in control of anything at the poker table. The best I can do is objectively witness and evaluate what my opponents are doing and adjust my decision making accordingly. When I bet and raise, it's not to thin the field or to force my opponents to make mistakes. It's because I have a hand that will win more than it's share of the time and I need to press that edge, or because I've observed that my opponent may have a hand (like a busted flush draw) that he is not willing to showdown with.
Armed with a better way of thinking about the game I ventured forth to the Bellagio and a few other casinos and did quite well. For the trip I ended up earning more than 2 big bets per hour! I'm anxious to see how my learning will impact my performance at my local games.
