For someone such as myself trying to improve their poker game I am curious if there is a checklist that could help me to go through each hand.
For example a list of questions you ask yourself to slow down and play each hand properly.

An example question: on the flop, is this a dry board or a wet board?
Sometimes I catch myself checking and forget that on a J23 rainbow board I should be cbetting vs some opponents.

I'd like to hear if anyone has a list of questions they ask themselves during a hand that helps them make the right decisions.

Most of my mental energy is trying to range my opponents by on reads and action, since that's where I'm weakest.

Preflop I've largely internalised. 99% of the time it's a trivial decision (usually 'fold').

Board texture is often irrelevant if I missed, since there are typically multiple callers who are sticky so cbetting for the sake of it is generally bad. Position and being HU makes a difference of course.

I try to keep an eye on pot size and know roughly how much effective is behind. This helps a lot when deciding how to size to get it all in, or when we're going to be committed anyway or how to size to be able to fold.

Pot odds come into play when I'm facing a bet and have draws. Something I need to work on is that it would be pretty obvious to an observant opponent when I'm drawing because I take longer to make a decision and my gaze goes unfocussed while I do some maths.

I guess my checklist would probably go something like:

- Check tells for folds ahead
- Check cards
- Assess value based on position
- If not auto-folding, assess based on action ahead, reads, likely behaviour of people not yet acted, including ranging opponents
- Act
- Reassess if action is re-opened, ranging process continues before and after next action
- When we're going to see a flop, start to plan hand, considering opponent's likely holdings and our position

- Assess flop for our relative hand strength, board texture and range opponents
- Decide on action
- Reassess if we're still in and action reopens

I don't have a formal check list, but I think you should be considering the following

- who is in the pot
- how much do they have
- what sort of range do you think they have
- Do they look like they liked the card that just came
- how much is in the pot so far


Then I start thinking about my hand, stack, and potential action

Rumors is good for in-hand analysis, especially stack depth. But one big one I've been doing recently is trying to take more breaks (can't stress this enough, take a walk every 30 mins, splash water on your face, etc) on this break I say "what is my image to the table tonight? Who can I bluff. Who should I never bluff?"

These are very important and away from the table it becomes very clear. This way you don't get bogged down in a particular hand. You just have your list of people you should never bluff (probably at least 60% of the table) and go from there.

I've done this alot recently and twice this past week ignored my list in two particular hands. In each of them I credibly represented a strong range...and proceeded to get snap called by 2nd and 3rd pair respectively.

So pay attention to your list, and follow it.

OP: notice how much of this is about other people, not about Ava.

For me, one of the key factors to always consider is SPR. Very small SPR and we have TP? Probably work towards playing for stacks ASAP. Medium sized SPR and we have TP? Probably ensure that we don't work towards playing for stacks, probably by checking a street somewhere. Big SPR and we have TP? Probably lean towards smallish bet/folding. Obviously not a reason to turn off our brain (have to factor in other considerations such as board texture, number of opponents sticking with us, their tendencies, our position, our image, etc.) but overall I find SPR really helps us with the general ideas of "small hand, small pot / big hand, big pot" / "don't stack off with one pair" / "they're not playing back at us".

GcluelessNLnoobG

The reads on other people that Ava / Rumour came up with is spot on. I am *constantly* on my iPhone during my time at the table: I take notes on all my opponents in PokerJournal and constantly update their profile with hands of interest to help clarify how they play.

GtakingnotesonyouG