I was think about some of the questions reguarly posted in this forum and in the general forum along the lines of "I'd like to play against better players" or "I wish players would fold their garbage against my raises."

A lot of us know why these thing are incorrect, maybe because we've read Theory of Poker or have an intuitive grasp of probability. But it seems hard for a lot of people to understand.

People can read the fundamental theorem of poker, but they still might not believe it or fully understand how it applies to playing against fish vs playing against experts.

So here's a different way of putting it.

Imagine for a given street one of your opponents shows you his cards and he has to do whatever you tell him to, but he will still get money if his cards win. Ask yourself, "What would I tell him to do in a given situation that would make me the most money?"

For example, if it is preflop in NL hold'em and you are playing heads up and your opponent shows you his cards, you tell him to push all in whenever your cards are stronger than his and tell him to fold whenever your cards are better.

You can also apply this to limit hold'em. Say it is on the flop, there are 4 small bets in the pot, and you have bet out with AsAc on a board of Th Jh 3c. Your opponent has 9c 2h. What would you tell him to do? If he folds, you win the pot there. But if he calls, you still win the pot most of the time and the pot will be bigger. And if he raises, the pot will be even bigger and you'll still win most of the time.

Anyway, sorry if someone has already said it like this, or if this doesn't help anyone.

that would be soooooo fun.


AA vs J4

raise, reraise, cap, call.

flop J2K

bet, raise, reraise, cap, call

turn T

bet, raise, reraise, cap, call

river J

bet, fold...lol

Well of course if you made every decision, you would win all the time.

Maybe you should restrict your power to non-river decisions.