Well, lately I've been running really (ridiculously) well, and it made me think about exactly what I've been doing differently. I've come to realize that lately I've been playing more by instinct, it feels like anyways, then straight up logical thinking. There are definitely spots where I use my hud stats when when deciding to make a move or not, or how big of a bet I think the person will call with worse then I have. After 30,000 hands I feel like I'm starting to think less about each hand and more so thinking about them in groups, hands that I want to juice the poy (sets +), hands I want to get to small showdown (TPTK-two pair) and hands I want to get there free (pairs, A highs).

I'm worried however that this line of thinking is just being reinforced by my running well however. I've been running, what I feel to be really LAG, at 34/28, but mostly at shorthanded (3-6) full ring tables. I usually end up pushing hard and calling down with what I feel isn't that strong, but winning at showdown, calling raise/bet/bet w/ TP good kicker or worse. I've been stacked by better too many times to push these hands hard I just try to get them to showdown cheaply.

It feels like lately my draws have been hitting and made hands holding up, way more so then they did for the first 20k hands.

Typing this out helps me think, usually I delete it, but I put some thought into this one and its a bit long so I think I'll post it and get anyone who cares .02.

OMFG, I typod the title, GG

I think as you play more, your instincts definitely become a bigger part of the game. I still try to hold myself to a 3 second rule though. Even if I'm sure I know what I want to do, even if it's just folding, I wait a few seconds before I click anything. That usually gives me the time to figure out if it's my instincts talking, or if it's some form of tilt (happy winning tilt can make you do stupid things too).

I want to make sure I'm thinking like... "I want to raise here because the flop looks good, my opponent is making a mistake, and I think I can get some more money out of this."

And not thinking like... "I just sucked out on a huge pot, I'm happy as hell, I don't know what the hell he has, but I got freakin kings and that A on the flop doesn't scare me!"

A better approach is to think in terms of relative hand strength - how well your hand is doing against the range of possible hands your opponent can have.
for example, tptk is likely doing much better against your opponent's range when they c/c 2 streets on K72r 8 than when you get crai in a 3b pot on 654tt


Along the same lines as this, you should always be thinking about what your next decision is going to be. Say you c/r a flop, thinking "please don't call please don't call please don't call" is not doing you any good. You need to be thinking about what you are going to do if they 3b small, if they shove, flat and the turn is a blank, the turn is an ace, the turn completes a fd, etc etc.

Thinking about what you would do in each possible situation is definitely a better use of your time and it will improve your game thinking about each one.

I tend to click buttons way too much, it works for the limits I play though, but its not good as you know.

One additional thing you should do is take your time on every river decision. You should already have a good idea of what your going to do on the river based on what David has said, but as the river is the most important street, you should strive to make your best decisions there.

I tend to do much better when I think logically and take time to ponder and think slowly. The longer I ponder, the more likely the answer is to come. Of course, I combine gut instinct with logic.

And the more reasons I can come up with in order to make a decision, the better I do, skill and luck wise. If you're good, you get lucky too. How many times I've check raised a loose betting last to act player with 2nd pr, because I know there's a good chance he is betting with a very weak hand, and he ends up having 2 pr, and I end up making trips! Whenever I make that play cold against someone that I have no evidence to make it on, it rarely works out! There's no reason to be making it!

you guys are great, thanks for the replies!