Hello from the lab where I am researching ways to play better next time.
Right now I am focusing on two things:
1) The
feedback that I get from looking at a spot. Let's call that
intuition. If you verbalize this, you'd get a baseline for a spot. Often, I've found that this is to check or to fold.
2) The
stuff that happens once I've got that intuition. Let's call this
conscious thinking. This may completely overhaul my intuitive gut feeling and make me do something else or even the opposite, for example instead of check folding I may check raise, or instead of checking I may bet.
The
content of these two sorts of packages is a different story, and an important one:
If you had a sort of mental PPU (Poker Processing Unit) then that Unit, like a CPU, would consist of several modules: Some sort of mental OddsOracle that generates output on range vs range equities and percentages of different hand types, and a sort of mental PIOSolver that generates a strategy from that. Then a hard drive with a database full of villain's hands and hero's hands and RAM, of course.
The conscious thought, on the other hand, happens based on certain Mental Models: One mental model is that of a polarized range, another one is that of Implied Odds. If you watch a Phil Galfond video (last time I checked), you'll find that he cycles through the same types of questions again and again. Those are the mental models, or tools, that he's using for the job of maximizing EV with his strategy.
And the goal of applying these concepts to hundreds of hands, which is what I am doing right now, is simply this:
To
play better next time.
Chat soon, friends!