I'm relatively new to poker. I play in 0.10/0.25 home games, 1/3 Live, and 2nl online. I'm on the positive end of variance live over a tiny sample, and a loser online over a small sample.

I feel that I'm missing some fundamentals, and tend to overcomplicate some situations in my head.

For example, how do I interpret, say, an opponent's call to a flop check? Is it a purely passive action (I know the answer to this is no). Do I think something along the lines of "they could check back a lot of their strong TPs or 2p that don't need much protection, and maybe their weak holdings that they're going to x/f". I know this depends on the exact situation, but I tend to skim over these kinds of thoughts while playing.

How about when an opponent double-barrels a dry board? A wet board? How am I supposed to interpret these actions?


Because these kinds of deliberate thoughts are pretty challenging for me, it's easy to just not think of it at all and (more or less) play my two cards. I feel that thinking in this manner is just a logical precursor to thinking about my opponent's ranges (and my own range) and being able to narrow it down given any action. Apologies if this is too vague, hope someone gets what I'm talking about.

Honestly, read a bunch of threads in the Beginner section. You'll get answers to some of your questions

Thanks for the reply, I have been lurking here for a little, and even have posted some questions of my own. Any specific threads in this section that you find particularly helpful?

Poker is a lot about experience, recognizing spots and 'acting' accordingly. At the stakes you play there are a lot of 'card' players so your decisions don't really need a lot of thought most of the time. As you gain experience your mind will play tricks on you, looking for 'plays' to make or that your opponent 'must' be making. The fact is that most of your opponents don't learn, don't improve and don't deserve as much thought as you so badly want to put into spots.

The longer the session(s) you play with someone the more chance that there will be outlier plays made but for the most part you just need to put a label on each Player and then play back at them as it fits the spot.

I assume that 'an opponent's call to a Flop check' means that an out of position pre-Flop raiser check-calls a bet on the Flop. It 'should' be much different when a PF raiser c/c the Flop than when a Player who flatted PF then c/c a Flop bet. Those ranges 'should' be different, but in most cases they are exactly what they appear to be .. they have 'something' but not enough to withstand a c/r and happy with peeling a free card or paying a price to continue.

Use the search function here .. wet board, out of position, flush draw .. what ever spot you're thinking about that day. There is no one specific thread with all the answers and each of us learns differently too, so one thread that may be good for me may not be good for you. I would suggest just scan the BQ pages for key words and then take a look. There's nothing wrong with 'resurrecting' an old thread to see if there are any new responses or to get verifications that you understand some of the key comments. GL

Appreciate the detailed response. I suppose poker kind of becomes like chess; just pattern recognition for the different spots, piecing together past study.

This is a link to some very high quality threads that will take you where you need to go.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...llsnl-1168186/