Preflop Guidelines

Preflop you can come in with the worst hand but because of the extra blinds in the pot (and especially antes) you don't need to win 50% of the time after the flop. Add in the ability to exploitation and you can play a lot of hands. OR you can come in with a hand range that has a 50% chance of being best and fight to split the blinds or better. Or you can play tighter than that and play aggressively to reduce any error you might have after the flop, and err on the side of aggression but still be cautious after a couple bets. Or you can play extremely tight and always bet and be much more aggressive representing aces.

I have outlined the 3 strategies by probability hand range is best for 6 handed and 9 handed play.

6 handed chart
		% chance of having the best hand preflop
	plys left	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.75
UTG	5	0.1675	0.13	0.097	0.056
UTG+1	4	0.2205	0.159	0.12	0.069
Cutoff	3	0.2632	0.206	0.157	0.091
Button	2	0.3675	0.293	0.225	0.134
SB	1	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.25
9 handed chart	plys left	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.75
UTG	8	0.1082	0.083	0.062	0.035
UTG+1	7	0.1227	0.094	0.07	0.04
UTG+2	6	0.1416	0.109	0.082	0.047
Lojack	5	0.1675	0.13	0.097	0.056
Hijack	4	0.2205	0.159	0.12	0.069
Cutoff	3	0.2632	0.206	0.157	0.091
Button	2	0.3675	0.293	0.225	0.134
SB	1	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.25

1)Play a better hand against more difficult opponents.
2)Play a better hand against looser opponents that will call you all the way down but also see a flop with more hands. BUT you also might limp in with some hands that are weaker to see a cheap flop against loose players hoping to hit a flop.
3)Play a worse hand against loose preflop opponents who are trying to hit a flop if you can bet and take down the pot and also against tight players who are tight after the flop. Also play looser if you feel opponent play tight and won't be able to let go of a big preflop hand if you hit the right flop.
4)If your chipstack is deeper relative to the size of the pot, you can play a lot more hands. If the chipstacks are short you want to play a much better hand. This is because of "implied odds" and if you hit a big flop you have a deep enough stack to get paid off.
5)Think about how you will respond postflop. This should govern your strategy before the flop as well.
For guidelines on what these hands actually mean check out this post.

Postflop Play and Maximum Patience

I am not going to lay out an entire strategy after the flop, but I think it's important that you understand some of the concepts. A TON of the game should be played after the flop. When you really learn to master poker after the flop and pay attention to your opponents you can have a huge edge to the point where you will want to be seeing a lot of flops.

The "maximum patience" on the flop of course depends on whether or not you get action when you have a hand. If you do, you can be incredibly patient.

If you can only get a single half pot bet twice on average and raise 3 big blinds preflop you will have a 7.5x big blind pot preflop (6.5 if big blind calls) and thus a 3.75x bet and then a 7.5x bet. You have to count the chips you add to the pot, not the total pot when you look at it this way. You risk 3 big blinds to see the flop then 11.25 on average to see until the river.

In other words 11.25/3 You can see 3.75 flops, and on the next one win it all back. This means you can call on 1/4.75 flops and break even. BUT you also have to pay the blinds and opponent will occasionally outdraw you. So EITHER you have to make a little bit more from the occasional hand while avoiding opponent charging you OR you have to call more often. I think to be safe you should call 1/4 or 25% of all flops as a general rule of thumb. The way to approach it is not on a hand by hand basis, (i.e. if you have 88 preflop either have a set, an overpair to the board, a 9 high flop, or a 567, 679,79T flop) but given the FLOP what hands are in the top 25% of your preflop raising range.
That is something that requires a lot of work and requires a lot of simplification and generalization to make the work something that you can accomplish. If you see the flop with 10% of all hands, the top 25% of that range would make up 2.5% of all preflop starting hands. You can then pick and choose which are the best hands given that flop that roughly meet that criteria so that you continue 25% of the time.

Simply flop cards as "low card, mid card, high card or ace". LOW:2345,mid:6789,high:TJQK. Ace=A. In other words a 259 flop would be Low Low Mid or LLM. MAP out all possible flops like this and then go through each one of them one at a time given maybe 3 hand ranges, about the mid position range, late position range and early position. You can come up with the top 25% of hands given the flop. Of course you would rank it like all sets, all two pair, all hands that will be pair with straight draw (OR made straight), then all overpairs, gutshot with overcards, AK,AQ,ACE and card in the hand range that either connects or potentially makes straight draw etc until you come up with the 25% of the preflop range.

Another thing you will want to do is come up with the top 50%. This is because that is the "Basic" flop strategy to be max patient in another form. The form is the most you can wait to be "not exploitable" That means you are basically playing HALF the flops, continuing half the time on the turn, and half the time on the river. In other words when faced with a bet you see 50% of all flops you see, 25% of all turns, 12.5% of all rivers. If you face a pot bet on every street this allows you to make up for it by just calling. If you face a half a pot bet you will have to raise and get called often enough when opponent has a worse hand to make up for the loss from folding, which may not happen but I think it will often enough from exploitative perspective to make it worth it.

Preferred postflop play
In reality if I am exploiting opponents, my PREFERRED method is coming out with the upper 50% of opponent's preflop range and continuing aggressively on NEARLY every flop. Technically min3bet raising preflop with that range is probably an awesome strategy and folding very frequently when he 4bets all in, but I don't use that really. You basically are increasing the pot that he will have to call with those odds with a better hand and a spot where it will be very easy to extract chips after the flop.

Most likely you will also continue aggressively on maybe half of all turns OR rivers. Only very occasionally all 3 streets. The idea is simple, start with a much better hand then the opponent, and continue with it and rarely fold... At times you might minimize the damage and of course if you have to fold it's certainly not the end of the world. But basically don't massively increase bet sizes as then you risk a smart opponent being able to fold a lot of flops continue on draws and big hands and get a lot out of it to make up for coming from behind. Instead you are looking for small bets and only a couple bets.

Instead bet for both value and for bluffing. If opponent calls the flop too much that is fine, if he folds too much that is fine. Without knowing how much he continues, I probably will actually check the turn, or check the flop and bet the turn or check the flop, call any bets and bet the river. Since I start with a hand better than opponent it's very difficult for me to make a mistake being too aggressive, I occasionally will run into a hand, but that's okay. Particularly if I don't go crazy beyond the first bet and really only get two reasonably sized bets into it overall with the occasional third. Typically I want 3 bets total when I have a draw.

Maximally exploitative postflop play
So once you have played a LOT of hands with someone and you know what percentage they call continuation bets and how often they continuation bet how often they fold to a double barrel and how often they double barrel and 3bet stats as well, you can basically play every hand vs this guy and seek to make profitable bets. You will bet and get opponent to fold often enough for it to be profitable. The equation changes depending upon whether or not you call preflop because if you just call you are not betting to win what's in the middle but only win the 3 big blinds from opponent plus the small and big blind. So you can't look at a pot bet as something that only needs to win 50% of the time but much more than that since you are not winning the same amount you lose when called or raised, but risking like 7.5 big blinds to only win about 4.5. Thus, the POT bet has to work I believe 62.5% of the time. Instead you should bet about 4.5/7.5=60% of the pot, THEN it only needs to work 50% of the time given you just called preflop. If you raised and raise attempt preflop was profitable with any two, then the pot bet winning 50% of the time is fine. Most likely though it is not profitable with any two, but will still gain a few folds preflop. The pot bet then needs to work somewhere between 50% and 62.5%. Overall I like to go with the 60% of the pot bet. But against the big blind there is a pot of 6.5 and only 3 is mine opponents so I continue with only half pot against these.

The one thing missing is if opponent just calls and also folds a lot on the turn to the point where it's profitable, or just calls and checks the turn often enough for me to get to the river and potentially add equity via drawing out I can actually bet a little more often. But I like to have a margin of safety if opponent specifically adjusts his play to my game and even so I don't like to exploit maximally aggressive to the point it's obvious and opponent may change strategies or leave tables.

If the "standard bet" is about half the pot you will be able to take down the pot some percentage of the time at a minimum to break even, plus the equity if opponent just calls to potentially check/fold and potentially draw out if opponent doesn't continue. But the REAL formula for maximal exploitation has to be calculated as a very complex formula that I began working on and continued a second part of the poker formula but eventually I didn't have the energy or mindset to continue.

Maximum Patience to not be exploitable - Understanding RATIOs of action and percentages you should call.
This is a great baseline to establish. If opponent does something ask yourself "how many pots can you give up before calling and still break even? For example if you put in 3 big blinds preflop and opponent moves all in for 4x the pot or 6.5*3=19.5 big blinds you basically have 2 problems. Since all the cards aren't out opponent can still draw out when you call, and you also have to keep up with the blinds. With that being said if the hand was immediately dead once all in and the best 5 card hand won, this is how you would solve it. 1/((19.5/3)+1)= the percentage that you should call to break even.

For example he is moving in for 6.5 times your bet. You can raise and fold to that move 6.5 times, call on the 7.5th time and break even. 1/7.5=.13333 of all flops. In reality you might need to call a bit more than that in THEORY and more like 1/6.5 or 15% of all flops. But either way that is actually probably too loose because it is ASSUMING opponent is as reckless as can be. Realistically you will steal enough blinds be able to see flops without all in moves, fold these spots and wait for much more premium spots.  But the mental exercise is still important.

You basically can wait for a set if you only waited for pairs, plus aces or kings. If you had an unpaired ace you can wait for the non ace pair (against many ranges the better of the two cards to pair, but in this case you may want to just wait for the ace if you think opponent is capable of doing that with any two). But because he can draw out and you have to keep up with the blinds you may have to call looser if you think opponent would do this with any two. You might have to call with the pairs that are higher than the 2nd card, the overpairs and perhaps ace and second pair, and all straightflush draws and all ace high flush draws. However, realistically I would not even think about calling that loose because the assumption that opponent plays that recklessly is more than likely wrong. As such I will gladly fold a lot of very good hands and only after I decide that opponent will play that way will I lok to loosen up my standards against him.

BUT assuming opponent moves in with any two is probably an assumption that will cause you to call too loosely. You shouldn't raise him to begin with if you think that is the case, unless he has much more than 20 big blinds so you can bust him with a very good chance of doing so and so it is very profitable.

The idea is not to have to know everything but be able to figure that sort of thing out. And if you can, figure out what decision you can make that opponent won't be capable of making. For example, if opponent cannot call you that loosely, with even up to 25 big blinds you might call and move in with ANY draw, ANY pair, and any two overcards. You of course may want to fold the absolute worst 20% of hands and tighten up your standards a bit more as you have a larger and larger number of big blinds. Keep in mind that is NOT the "maximum patience" way to play post flop but instead a "nutball" strategy that may be able to beat those with the "maximum patience" mentality. ALSO what I might do is move in a little bit lighter than that by taking away the move ins with the most premium hands and also the worst 10% of hands and simply check fold those and what I am trying to do is maximize the value out of my sets and overpairs by playing like this (rather than reraising with aces preflop) and inducing opponent to bet and get committed.

VS the autocontinuation bet, the best play from maybe 25 up to maybe even 40 big blinds to call and check raise all in with any similar spot of any pair or better, any draw, any 2 overcards. Because he ALWAYS continuation bets, you are going to get a LOT more out of it. As a result you can actually afford to be a little bit more patient preflop and postflop and since he has more chips you may want to wait for a better hand. Also, calling the flop and shoving all in on the turn can actually work too but usually is less helpful because it gives opponents a free card.  This can work on a draw if you want to give up if you miss AND also when you have the best part of the range (top pair or better) and want to possibly check raise the turn if no scare card comes as well. But pretty much you will have to continue so overall it's probably not a good play unless you are hoping opponent can get something and think you are just making some kind of move thinking he would call the check raise. If you elect to do that you probably want to check fold bottom pair and all gutshot draws.

In truth, I like playing an exploitable strategy because I can adapt later and adapt to exploit my opponents. If I can exploit opponents I want to be extremely patient since I will be able to buy myself enough time to find a much better spot all in.

I can't really teach you much more about the flop without you actually doing the exercises of running through all the theoretical spots you could be in or at least the ones that count. Really the turn play is only one other card but it changes a lot with regards to equity, draws, and so on. It's hard to teach beyond the flop but if you have the flop down pat, you can then start to think about how the odds change and if you know things like how to avoid being exploitable and exploit other opponents even as just a basic baseline to deviate slightly from as situations change you will probably be way ahead.

River play is of course interesting. Usually if you called on the flop and turn you should be prepared to call the last one unless you think someone has drastically changed but you can actually still fold a decent amount of time and make up for it and set opponents up to think they can rob you blind by folding once or twice on the turn and river after calling a little too loosely. You can probably make it all back and then some. But the river can be really simple if you read enough books, particularly the book on pot limit poker by Bob Ciaffone and "kill everyone" by Blair Rodman and Tyler Streib and Elky.
That's all I can say.

Entire Tournament Maximum Patience Preflop

A list detailing the entire preflop strategy for tournament survival as well as a loose, tight, and equilibrium strategy preflop for cash games.

By hand range percentage (except 3bet which is % of opponent's range)

hands left	odds of hand being best	given range to equal odds of being best (maximum patience/all in to call or push)																		3bet X% of opponents range
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	0.111	0.889	0.667	0.519	0.423	0.356	0.307	0.269	0.24		1	1	1	1	1	0.92	0.81	0.72		0.888889
2	0.173	0.827	0.584	0.443	0.355	0.296	0.254	0.222	0.197		1	1	1	1	0.89	0.76	0.67	0.59		0.826823
3	0.342	0.658	0.415	0.301	0.235	0.193	0.164	0.142	0.126		1	1	0.9	0.71	0.58	0.49	0.43	0.38		0.658369
4	0.46	0.54	0.322	0.228	0.177	0.144	0.122	0.105	0.092		1	0.97	0.68	0.53	0.43	0.36	0.32	0.28		0.540194
5	0.544	0.456	0.263	0.184	0.141	0.115	0.097	0.083	0.073		1	0.79	0.55	0.42	0.34	0.29	0.25	0.22		0.455621
6	0.607	0.393	0.221	0.154	0.118	0.095	0.08	0.069	0.061		1	0.66	0.46	0.35	0.29	0.24	0.21	0.18		0.39305
7	0.655	0.345	0.191	0.132	0.101	0.081	0.068	0.059	0.052		1	0.57	0.39	0.3	0.24	0.2	0.18	0.15		0.345195
8	0.692	0.308	0.168	0.116	0.088	0.071	0.06	0.051	0.045		0.92	0.5	0.35	0.26	0.21	0.18	0.15	0.14		0.307534
9	0.723	0.277	0.15	0.103	0.078	0.063	0.053	0.045	0.04		0.83	0.45	0.31	0.23	0.19	0.16	0.14	0.12		0.277179
10	0.748	0.252	0.135	0.092	0.07	0.056	0.047	0.041	0.036		0.76	0.41	0.28	0.21	0.17	0.14	0.12	0.11		0.252217
11	0.769	0.231	0.123	0.084	0.064	0.051	0.043	0.037	0.032		0.69	0.37	0.25	0.19	0.15	0.13	0.11	0.1		0.231344
12	0.786	0.214	0.114	0.077	0.059	0.047	0.039	0.034	0.03		0.64	0.34	0.23	0.18	0.14	0.12	0.1	0.09		0.213639
13	0.802	0.198	0.105	0.071	0.054	0.043	0.036	0.031	0.027		0.6	0.31	0.21	0.16	0.13	0.11	0.09	0.08		0.198435
14	0.815	0.185	0.098	0.066	0.05	0.04	0.034	0.029	0.025		0.56	0.29	0.2	0.15	0.12	0.1	0.09	0.08		0.185242
15	0.826	0.174	0.091	0.062	0.047	0.038	0.031	0.027	0.024		0.52	0.27	0.19	0.14	0.11	0.09	0.08	0.07		0.173686
16	0.837	0.163	0.085	0.058	0.044	0.035	0.029	0.025	0.022		0.49	0.26	0.17	0.13	0.11	0.09	0.08	0.07		0.163482
17	0.846	0.154	0.08	0.054	0.041	0.033	0.028	0.024	0.021		0.46	0.24	0.16	0.12	0.1	0.08	0.07	0.06		0.154408
18	0.854	0.146	0.076	0.051	0.039	0.031	0.026	0.022	0.02		0.44	0.23	0.15	0.12	0.09	0.08	0.07	0.06		0.146284
19	0.861	0.139	0.072	0.049	0.037	0.03	0.025	0.021	0.019		0.42	0.22	0.15	0.11	0.09	0.07	0.06	0.06		0.138971
20	0.868	0.132	0.069	0.046	0.035	0.028	0.023	0.02	0.018		0.4	0.21	0.14	0.1	0.08	0.07	0.06	0.05		0.132352
21	0.874	0.126	0.065	0.044	0.033	0.027	0.022	0.019	0.017		0.38	0.2	0.13	0.1	0.08	0.07	0.06	0.05		0.126334
22	0.879	0.121	0.063	0.042	0.032	0.025	0.021	0.018	0.016		0.36	0.19	0.13	0.1	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.05		0.120838
23	0.884	0.116	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.024	0.02	0.018	0.015		0.35	0.18	0.12	0.09	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.05		0.1158
24	0.889	0.111	0.057	0.039	0.029	0.023	0.02	0.017	0.015		0.33	0.17	0.12	0.09	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.04		0.111164
25	0.893	0.107	0.055	0.037	0.028	0.022	0.019	0.016	0.014		0.32	0.17	0.11	0.08	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.04		0.106885
26	0.897	0.103	0.053	0.036	0.027	0.022	0.018	0.015	0.014		0.31	0.16	0.11	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.04		0.102842
27	0.901	0.099	0.051	0.034	0.026	0.021	0.017	0.015	0.013		0.3	0.15	0.1	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04		0.099273
28	0.904	0.096	0.049	0.033	0.025	0.02	0.017	0.014	0.013		0.29	0.15	0.1	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04		0.095714
29	0.907	0.093	0.048	0.032	0.024	0.019	0.016	0.014	0.012		0.28	0.14	0.1	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04		0.092614
30	0.91	0.09	0.046	0.031	0.023	0.019	0.016	0.013	0.012		0.27	0.14	0.09	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04		0.089628
31	0.913	0.087	0.045	0.03	0.023	0.018	0.015	0.013	0.011		0.26	0.13	0.09	0.07	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.03		0.086824
32	0.916	0.084	0.043	0.029	0.022	0.018	0.015	0.013	0.011		0.25	0.13	0.09	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03		0.084235
33	0.918	0.082	0.042	0.028	0.021	0.017	0.014	0.012	0.011		0.24	0.13	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03		0.081658
34	0.921	0.079	0.041	0.027	0.02	0.016	0.014	0.012	0.01		0.24	0.12	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03		0.07939
35	0.923	0.077	0.04	0.026	0.02	0.016	0.013	0.011	0.01		0.23	0.12	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.077166
36	0.925	0.075	0.038	0.026	0.019	0.016	0.013	0.011	0.01		0.23	0.11	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.075072
37	0.927	0.073	0.037	0.025	0.019	0.015	0.013	0.011	0.009		0.22	0.11	0.08	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.073151
38	0.929	0.071	0.036	0.024	0.018	0.015	0.012	0.01	0.009		0.21	0.11	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.071199
39	0.931	0.069	0.035	0.024	0.018	0.014	0.012	0.01	0.009		0.21	0.11	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.069349
40	0.932	0.068	0.035	0.023	0.018	0.014	0.012	0.01	0.009		0.2	0.1	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03		0.067744
41	0.934	0.066	0.034	0.023	0.017	0.014	0.011	0.01	0.009		0.2	0.1	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03		0.06614
42	0.935	0.065	0.033	0.022	0.017	0.013	0.011	0.01	0.008		0.19	0.1	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03		0.064644
43	0.937	0.063	0.032	0.022	0.016	0.013	0.011	0.009	0.008		0.19	0.1	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02		0.063115
44	0.938	0.062	0.032	0.021	0.016	0.013	0.011	0.009	0.008		0.19	0.09	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02		0.061751
45	0.94	0.06	0.031	0.021	0.015	0.012	0.01	0.009	0.008		0.18	0.09	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02		0.060354
46	0.941	0.059	0.03	0.02	0.015	0.012	0.01	0.009	0.008		0.18	0.09	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02		0.059019
47	0.942	0.058	0.03	0.02	0.015	0.012	0.01	0.009	0.008		0.17	0.09	0.06	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02		0.057825
48	0.943	0.057	0.029	0.019	0.015	0.012	0.01	0.008	0.007		0.17	0.09	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02		0.056598
49	0.944	0.056	0.029	0.019	0.014	0.011	0.01	0.008	0.007		0.17	0.09	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02		0.055576
50	0.946	0.054	0.028	0.019	0.014	0.011	0.009	0.008	0.007		0.16	0.08	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02		0.054447
60	0.954	0.046	0.024	0.016	0.012	0.009	0.008	0.007	0.006		0.14	0.07	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02		0.045512
65	0.958	0.042	0.021	0.014	0.011	0.009	0.007	0.006	0.005		0.13	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02		0.042061
70	0.961	0.039	0.02	0.013	0.01	0.008	0.007	0.006	0.005		0.12	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02		0.039096
80	0.966	0.034	0.017	0.012	0.009	0.007	0.006	0.005	0.004		0.1	0.05	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.01		0.034286
90	0.97	0.03	0.015	0.01	0.008	0.006	0.005	0.004	0.004		0.09	0.05	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01		0.030473
100	0.973	0.027	0.014	0.009	0.007	0.006	0.005	0.004	0.003		0.08	0.04	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01		0.027442
120	0.977	0.023	0.012	0.008	0.006	0.005	0.004	0.003	0.003		0.07	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01		0.022954
140	0.98	0.02	0.01	0.007	0.005	0.004	0.003	0.003	0.003		0.06	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01		0.019679
150	0.982	0.018	0.009	0.006	0.005	0.004	0.003	0.003	0.002		0.06	0.03	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01		0.018369

A word on how this list is made. The "maximum patience" is first calculated by determining the top hand range that you have a 50% chance of seeing. For example with 10 hands left you have a 50% chance of seeing the top 7.41% of hands which is roughly 88+, AQ+, ATs+, KTs+,QJs+. From there we recognize that with 2 opponents left the odds the preflop hand starts out as best is 85.72%. With 8 opponents left the chances are only 54%. So we determine this with 2 through 8 opponents left including 1 player left twice and average this total to get 74.8% chance that our hand is best. Based upon this we want to adjust our hand range by players left to EQUAL a 74.8% chance the hand is best. So we come up with the following hand range:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
0.25	0.14	0.09	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.04	0.0356

That means if you have 10 hands left you should be looking for that hand range given that many opponents. That is the BEST hand you should wait for or "maximum patience" hand range. I consider this to typically be your 4bet raising hand range. In reality you are so very likely to get called unless you are very deep stack that this can be the same as the hand range we also call a 4bet with or raise with intention of calling a 3bet push.

Sometimes you might loosen up this hand range a little bit for pushes vs keeping it the same for calls. If you think opponent will fold your 4bet or 3bet all in such as 50% but I didn't do that here. Now if you are going to move all in or call an all in with this hand range, you should raise with about 3 times the hand range. WHY? Without knowing our opponents if we raise and fold 2 times and move in on the third we give up 3 big blinds twice and on the third time we make 9 big blinds plus what's in the middle.

We need to make up for all the folding we do waiting for a hand and thus need to be able to take a steal per rotation on average. If we are raising once per rotation about, then we can give up 2 steals, pay 1.5 big blinds twice or 3 big blinds and then we will need to gain 9 back on the third.
 Another way of looking at it is forcing opponent to not profit from their 3bet. We let our opponent take 3 big blinds plus what is in the middle twice or 4.5 twice or 9 big blinds and then on the 3rd we take it all back plus a blind and a half. So if you would 4bet all in with 20% of hands, you should raise with 3*.20=.60=60% of all hands.

Finally, the 3bet range can be all in and effectively should be 1 minus the odds our hand is best as a percentage of opponent's range. In other words if the most we can wait for is a 10% chance our hand is best, w3e should 3bet (presumably all in) with 90% of his range. Or only fold the bottom 10%. If we can wait for a 90% chance our hand is best, we only want to 3bet (presumably all in) with the top 10% of his range. That means if he raises with 50% of all hands we should only 3bet all in with 5%.
Since in most cases a 3bet is either a bet in which we are pot committed to calling an all in or a large push all in we have a much better chance of opponent folding. I would say it is perfectly okay to 3bet with 1.5 times the range given or 50% more. As such, here is a modified chart of the 3bet that may be better:

hands left	3bet X% of opponents range
1	1
2	1
3	0.987553
4	0.810291
5	0.683432
6	0.589575
7	0.517793
8	0.461301
9	0.415768
10	0.378326
11	0.347017
12	0.320458
13	0.297653
14	0.277863
15	0.26053
16	0.245224
17	0.231611
18	0.219426
19	0.208456
20	0.198528
21	0.1895
22	0.181257
23	0.173699
24	0.166746
25	0.160327
26	0.154263
27	0.148909
28	0.14357
29	0.138921
30	0.134443
31	0.130237
32	0.126353
33	0.122486
34	0.119085
35	0.115749
36	0.112608
37	0.109727
38	0.106799
39	0.104023
40	0.101617
41	0.099209
42	0.096966
43	0.094672
44	0.092627
45	0.090531
46	0.088528
47	0.086737
48	0.084897
49	0.083364
50	0.08167
60	0.068268
65	0.063091
70	0.058644
80	0.05143
90	0.04571
100	0.041163
120	0.034431
140	0.029519
150	0.027554

Postflop play may allow you to limp or minraise with a lot more hands and even call raises with more hands as well depending on opponent. Theoretically min-raising with more than 3times your 4bet range is exploitable, but with escalating blinds and plenty of time to adjust your raising range it probably is not in reality. Yet against liberal re-raisers it is probably not necessary nor the best course of action.  The minraise you are looking to see more flops in position and exploit or at least fight for the equity you have left by making loose calls, bluffs and semi-bluffs on later streets mixed in with large value raises as well. But if you are being "maximally patient" you probably could also see a TON of flops and give them up, finally hit a monster flop and get paid off the entire stack. Such possibilities may make seeing lots of flops acceptable.

Unfortunately I find it is also a distraction to play that many flops and unless you are extremely disciplined it may result in you getting your money in much worse, or much better, but overall it potentially will be a much more volatile strategy which you probably don't want if you are going for patience.

The thing about "maximum patience" is it's a strategy that is proven to work, it provides structure which will give you the disciplined, and probably will work under all conditions. It may not be the best possible strategy out there, or massively profitable as some strategies that walk the fineline between just loose enough to exploit opponent to the max, and having them adjust or you yourself getting too loose assuming they adjust.

Maximum patience very well could be massively profitable in some circumstances and is almost always profitable in tournaments. Think about it this way as you fold, a lot other people will knock each other out of the tournaments which may earn you money. You still will potentially see a flop in the big blind and a lot of walks which may get you chips. Those flops you see are free opportunities to potentially hit the flop big and earn a lot of money but most likely should be looked at as situations to simply hope to see as many cards as you can for free and if you get fold you can let them bluff you because the cost of doing business is already factored in. When you raise and get called, you basically should look at it as you are trying to break even on the hand rather than make a killing. Remember when you risk 3 big blinds, you can easily fold 2 times and then on the 3rd get 9 big blinds and not only break even but keep up with the blinds I consider it likely that you will gain much more than that.  Afterall the pot will probably be 7.50 big blinds after a 3x raise and simply two half pot bets will be 3.75 and 7.50 or 11.25. So if you can expect probably more than 11.25 when you have a hand worth going to the river to, you get to wait and fold 3 times on the flop and on the 4th you can play. Of course the problem with that is you do not have 100% equity when you play and occasionally you still may have to fold, so you have to basically see the showdown on the 4th time for that price BUT occasionally also make a big river bet and get action enough to make up for the lost equity.

The top 25% of flops is perfectly fine to wait for. Playing the top 50% of flops and 25% of turn and 12.5% of rivers is another way to approach it with a bet on every street. This means you lose 7/8 hands but on the 8th make up for all your losses. That strategy can absolutely work wonders especially if people notice and THEN you start playing to win 2/8 instead or switch up to be the 7/8 where you win and on the 8th your opponent catches a hand. If you are able to understand how to use each strategy post flop you can I like being tighter on the flop but giving appearance that I will call with nothing to potentially bluff some flops.

However, as a flop more clearly defines your hand it is often pretty silly to try to fight this hard for one card, and waiting for a better flop usually pays off. Of course that depends upon the opponent. If you sense that he will observe that you are playing fit or fold poker and not continue after the flop, you have to change it up vs this opponent.

In reality you can probably get a lot more out of a lot of those flops by flat calling about half the time or more if opponent bets and looking to take down with a bluff on the turn or take a free card if you pick up a draw. You can exploit opponent. You can call light because if you hit the draw you can move all in and rarely need to get called with a worse hand for it to be profitable, and rarely need to bluff if at all with the same move. Just understand both sides of the coin can work and don't be afraid to switch gears every now and then to adapt to the situation.

Break

I will be taking a break from this blog soon. I have just a few more things left to finish first.

I started this blog with the intention of theorizing some poker and seeing if I still could conceptualize high level poker and come up with a new approach. The first being playing a really hyper LAG style, the second being to really fine tune the patient style and patient "slow gear" late in tournaments. The idea was that if major legislation passed regarding online poker I wanted to take significant steps towards being ready and it required understanding the type of work I needed to do. One of the posts before I go will actually come up with a list of such things I would work on if poker was back.

Although there may be the ability to still do very well in the current environment, until we get some clarity about both the business environment and legality, poker is not worth the risks in my opinion. Offline poker operates at 20-35% of the speed of online play and that is IF you don't multitable.

Well, I suppose that's it for now.

Adapting Maximum Patience Strategy By Probability of hand being best

So in the post titled "How Patient Can You Be?"  We listed a table that listed the hand range in which you had around a 50% chance or better of seeing a hand in that particular range given X # of hands.
The problem with that list is it is a "one size fits all" list. In other words, AK is MUCH MUCH stronger when dealt to the small blind and it folds around then when you are first to act because the probability of it being the best hand with only one player left is so much greater. As a result, our strategy of patience should reflect this and we should adapt by position and players left.

Now what I have done is I looked at hand ranges if everyone folds and there are X players left and determined the odds that the particular range is best for each of 8 positions. I added 1 of them twice because you will be dealt a hand in the big blind as well. Both small blind and big blind have 1 opponent. I then averaged them. As a result I have the makings of a number that will lead to a strategy that can adjust by position. The number tells you the best average expected probability that your hand is best given such a hand range that you expect to see 50% of the time or more with X hands left.

Please note: The following range does NOT have anything to do with your actual chance of WINNING the hand, but is instead based upon the odds of a particular hand ranking being better than opponents, by percentile ranking. i.e. something in the "top 5% of hands" while not easily definable is better than something "outside of it" whatever that ranking actual is depends upon number of opponents, calling ranges of opponents and other variables. While A8s might be good against opponents who call with suited connectors and king high cards, it's not as good for those who really value 88+, and A9o+. The opponent actually will change WHAT hand should go in the rankings AND the odds of that hand winning IF called as well as the odds that it gets called.

The strategy is only meant as a means for constructing a robust, profitable strategy.

Hands left | Probability hand range you wait for IS CURRENTLY the best hand.
1 N/A
2 0.173177083
3 0.341631187
4 0.4598062
5 0.544378725
6 0.606950086
7 0.654804828
8 0.692465699
9 0.722821208
10 0.747782507
11 0.768655592
12 0.786361415
13 0.801564513
14 0.81475818
15 0.826313524
16 0.836517568
17 0.845592395
18 0.853715929
19 0.861029433
20 0.867648205

25 0.893115257

30 0.910371515
35 0.922834139

40 0.93225555

50 0.945553277

60 0.954488125

65 0.95793944

70 0.960904321

140 0.980323983

Note: The hands between 20 and 25 and 30 and 35 and many others were not included as the actual hands you play are effectively the same, and it seemed redundent. There may turn out to be minor differences if I really break them all down but it is close enough to ignore in my opinion.
-
Now, the next step will be reverse engineering this. Basically, if we know we can wait for situations that arise where we have a 85% chance of having the best preflop hand on average we want to FIND what hand range given X players left satisfy that...

This way, we can adjust for the known information and the changing variables that may allow us to play 99 on the button, as it will be more favorable than TT under the gun. By finding the hand strength equivilent (ranked by probability hand is strongest hand dealt given position and information) of the hand range we can wait for by position, we correctly adapt and will find more accurate decision making.

Once this is done, this is not even close to being the "end result". We still have to convert a baseline strategy FROM this information based upon what our "push range" all in equivilent is and thus our 4bet, 3bet (as a percentage of opponent's raising range), and raising range that allows for a balanced 4bet range (1/3rd of raising range to 4bet often enough to not be exploitable).

Based upon that, we still may want to initially open up with a wider or tighter range depending upon likelihood to be called and/or raised.

Ultimately, I still feel POSTFLOP is the best opportunity to get your money in good, but even that will depend on the amount of flops you get to see as a result of raising strategy. So this work is still needed even to determine that, and the probability of getting all in action after the flop is probably not nearly as good.

Either way, there is a stage late in a tournament where one should merely be trying to prolong survival rather than aggressively accumulate chips at risk of elimination, as ironically that will likely give you the best chance of winning through gradual accumulation and minimal risk of going broke, as there is a LIMIT to how many chips you can win over how much time you can win them. Having a faster win rate per rotation will only finish the tournament more quickly, not result in more chips or a better chance of winning. At any rate, survival also will drastically increase the payout as you move up the money, and get you in good position to pick up the aggression midway through the final table when your image is rock tight and the blinds are close to as high as they ever will be. The opportunity cost of missing such steals is not worth the bennefit of a more reckless strategy that eliminates you more than 50% of the time.

Probability you have best preflop hand

The game of hold em is complicated. Some hands are stronger in multiway pots where flushes and straights are more likely to be needed to win, other hands are stronger in heads up situations where ace high and any high pair has a very good chance of being best. Even so, some are better off choosing hands which won't run into kicker troubles and strong drawing hands, while others are more skilled with high cards. With that being said there are still ways to determine the best hand range and construct a rough estimate. What we are looking to do when playing a hand is determine what the probability of the hand being the best preflop rank. Nevermind that it might have another hand favored against it, poker is a dynamic game where against some ranges suited connectors play best, and against others, suited aces and kings play best.

But what we are after is
1)a hand range that either can come from behind, play in lots of pots looking to hit some sort of draw and find creative ways to pull equity out and bluff and use implied odds, but still has a 40% chance or better of being the best starting hand at the table.
2)A hand range that statistically has a 50% chance of being best or better. This is good for game theorists who balance their ranges and look to be very calculated.
3)A hand range that statistically has a 60% chance of being best. This is great for those who prefer to proceed aggressively. Since you are representing a tighter range of hands, opponents will have to give you respect and fold, or if they don't they will often run into a lot of situations where they pay you off. You can be very aggressive but still calculated with this approach
4)A hand range that statistically is best preflop 75% of the time in a given spot. With a powerhouse hand range like this, you don't have to really use much discretion at all and can play very aggressively.

The following data gives you the % chance of being best, then the number of players other than yourself left.
For those curious on the math, it is (1-% hand range you play)^number of players= probability hand is best. For example top 5% hand range and 4 players left to act is
1-5% or 1-.05=.95 .95^4 players left =~.8145 or 81.45% chance of being best preflop.

You can use this information when it folds to you, although keep in mind, it pays to be a bit tighter as the information that people have fold should actually change the odds of hand being good as the information of a fold provides enough information to adjust your assumptions slightly.


40% chance of best hand
8 77+, AJ+, KQ, A8s+, KTs+, QTs+,JTs (10.82%)
7 12.27% 77+,AJ+,KQ,A8s+,K9s+,QTs+,JTs,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,
6 14.16% 77+,AJ+,KQ,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,JTs,T8s+,98s,87s,76s
5 16.75% 77+.AJ+.kQ,Qj,JT,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,
4 20.47% 77+,At+,KT+,QT+,JT+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,
3 26.32% 22+,A9+,KT+,QT+,JT+,A2s+,K6s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T7s+,97s,87s,76s,65s,54s
2 36.75% 22+,A9+,KT+,Q9+,J9+,T8+,98,87,76,A2s+,K2s+,Q7s+,J7s+,T6s+,96s,86s,75s+,64s+,53s+,43s
1 60% LOL Everything except like Q2-Q4,J or lower with 6 high or lower kicker, and a few really bad suited cards.

50% chance of having best hand
8 8.3 88+, AJ+,ATs+,KTs+,QJs
7 9.43 88+, AJ+, KQ, ATs+,KTs+,QJs,JTs
6 10.91 66+, AJ+, KQ, ATs+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s
5 12.95 66+, AJ+, KQ, ATs+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,65s,54s
4 15.91 66+, AJ+, KQ,QJ,JT, A8s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,54s
3 20.63 55+, AT+,KT+,QT+,JT,A7s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,54s
2 29.29 22+, A9+,KT+,QT+,JT,T9,98,87,76,65,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,54s
1 50 Just a bunch of hands. Any king any ace, gap connectors, suited 2 and 3 gappers, etc

60% chance of having best hand
8 6.19 99+,AQ+,AJs+,KQs,QJs,JTs,
7 7.04 88+,AQ+,AJs+,KQs,QJs,JTs, T9s,98s
6 8.16 88+,AJ+,AJs+,KQs,QJs,JTs,T9s,
5 9.71 88+,AJ+,KQ,A9s+,KJs+,QJs,JTs,T9s
4 11.99 88+,AJ+,KQ,A2s+,KJs+,QJs,JTs,T9s,98s
3 15.66 77+,AJ+,KQ,QJ,JT,T9,A2s+,KTs+,QTs,JTs,T9s,98s
2 22.54 22+,AT+,KJ+,QJ,JT,T9,A2s+,K2s+,QTs,JTs,T9s,98s
1 40 22+, A2+, K9+,Q9+,J9+,T9,98,87,K2s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,86s+,75s,64s,54s,43s

75% chance of having best hand
8 3.53 JJ+,AK,AJs+
7 4.03 JJ+,AQ+,AJs+
6 4.68 JJ+,AQ+,AJs+
5 5.59 TT+,AQ+,AJs+,KQs
4 6.94 99+,AJ+, ATs+,KQs
3 9.14 77+,AT+,A9s+,KQs,
2 13.40 66+,At+,KQ,A2s,KQs,QJs,JTs,T9s
1 25 22+,A8+,KT+,QT+,JT+,A2s+,K7s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s

Do You Want Superior Results?

The pros in any field have the following in common
1)Superior preparation
2)Lots of experience under correct knowledge... meaning following their plan made during preparation.
3)Constant tracking performance, superior analytics.
4)Constant slight tweaking of results
5)Constant RE-evaluation of performance given the tweaks.
6)Constant and never ending improvement. (superior management)

In other words, they prepare, they execute, they review, they adjust and they see if their adjustments were positive or negative. You can get it done with or without books, with or without mentors, and with or without some particular style but certainly in many cases that can give you a huge shortcut so you can avoid making the mistakes.

Think about it, authors and membership programs have teachers who have spent their lifetimes making money and studying poker. Rather than go through your lifetime, why not leverage SEVERAL lifetimes of work by reviewing a proven working system? Also, why not do even better and use mathematics, statistics and even computer simulations to help solve a decision on "which is better" and then in a limited sample size go about seeing if you can test it and get proven results?

Look, 1% of the people in ANY field are probably going to have over 90% of the money. The top 10% will probably have 90% actually and the top 1% could have 99%. In many cases the top 20% have 80% of the money. In poker because of "the rake" I would imagine that only 10% of poker players are winning players in the long run. I estimate that some of these players are barely break even but the top half of them make several times more than the rest.

In many cases although the top 20% of those profitable might make several times more per year earnings than the rest, they are not proportionally several times better, nor do they spend several times more hours at it. A CEO who makes 1M a year does not work 10 times more hours than someone who makes 100k a year. Instead, he has just enough skill set to have an edge over the rest and the field is willing to pay him.

In horse races the difference between 1st (who perhaps makes 10 times the money as last)  is not being 10 times faster, but only "just enough" to get ahead. In sales, the difference between getting 100% of the sale and zero% is only the minimum required to surpass the threshold of the best salesman who fails to get the sale.

The point I am trying to make is if you can make small improvements and work just a little bit harder and do the work that no one else is willing to do, that is how you will get superior results as a poker player.

1)Superior Preparation.

• I would say spending 2-6 hours to complete an entire book, and perhaps a few more to review it will get you enough knowledge that will in many cases be worth hundreds of hours of experience. In other words, someone that reads a lot rather than practicing will be about 10 times ahead of the person who plays poker during that time period. HOWEVER, it only works if that player also is able to go in and apply what he's learn and evaluate the effectiveness of it. I would say that spending a few hours on a forum and 10 hours on a training membership site is worth far more than hundreds of hours as well.
• Superior preparation is also about doing the work that no one else want to do. That means coming up with hand ranges that give you a 40% chance of being the best, a 50% chance of being best and a 60% chance of being best from each position in the poker table and theorizing GIVEN each particular hand range how you will have to act postflop. That means evaluating a simplified set of permutations of all possible flops facing various bet sizes and also coming up with various "equilibrium" pushing strategies for a potsized push, 2x pot size, 3x pot sized and 4x potsize shoves. That means leaning to evaluate given opponent calls with X% of hands and continuation bets Y% of flops and assuming his continuation bets represent the strongest Y% of flops given those hands, which flops can you shove for 1x,2x,3x and 4x all in to yield a positive chip expectation? Also given those same flops and YOUR hand ranges, what represents a hand that exists in the top 50% of flops and thus in equilibrium solution can call a pot sized bet to force opponent to break even on bluffs? What's the top 67% that can call a half pot sized bet and the top 33% that can call a 2x pot sized bet.
• What's the chances that a certain set of cards given a certain set of hand ranges will represent a "bluff out" and thus in some situations allow you to call or minraise with a gutshot when you don't have the pot odds to make your hand, but because of the additional equity from a bluff out makes it worth it? Please note that the odds of the card hitting is not your only concern, but you have to discount the odds that opponent HITS that card and thus gives you no chance of being successful. From the extra "bluff out" equity times the likelihood that opponent will fold and equity in such a bluff you can also add in implied odds if you hit your draw and factor in these decisions strategically, rather than waste 400 hours of poker play before you even come close to understanding a correct strategy and even then, be unaware of the adjustments players can make to neutralize the strategy and how to respond.
• Another MAJOR component of preparation means "scouting" poker rooms, then "scouting" opponents and identifying the right table selection and seat selection after spending plenty of time developing the notes on players before you even sit in and play yourself. This way you come in with a huge advantage of knowing how opponent will play and how capable he is of adjusting and you can go to work immediately exploiting them, developing a loose image (since you know exactly which spots it's profitable to bluff) and then against the smarter players staying away from them unless you have a hand, and thus getting paid off.
• Another MAJOR component of preparation means BUYING and using software that helps keeps detailed notes and puts them on display. Using such a software to prepare your heads up display or HUD to quickly assess the player for maximum exploitation, or even coming up with a spreadsheet using such information along with a formula to determine the best way to exploit and the widest hand range you can use and still be profitable with a given strategy.
• Having "equilibrium" or even swinging back the other way and being "tighter" than equilibrium and thus a tighter strategy to revert back to after a few steals may be a good idea in the event that players adjust to COUNTER exploit. If they don't, then you can go back to exploiting them to the max again and then revert back to tight for awhile until you get a feel for how much you can get away with it. Or perhaps you want to start somewhere that is less obvious that you are exploiting them. Either way you need to get yourself prepared at a very high level if you want to be an elite poker player.

2)Lots of experience under correct knowledge:

• Preparing isn't enough. You probably want to run through a few theoretical examples of players, perhaps even after watching some online play and tracking them to theorize how best to exploit them. This is a good way to SIMULATE experience but isn't going to be as good as the real thing. Step up to play money and test it and then the micro stakes. You need to EARN your way up the latter and PROVE that you can do it WHILE developing the experience to be absolutely great.
• It has been estimated and mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers that you need at least 10,000 hours to acheive "mastery" in any field. That does NOT mean that 10,000 hours in itself is enough. There are plenty of people with OVER 10,000 hours of experience that are still chronically losing gamblers. If you have 10,000 hours of experience playing incorrectly, you may just "master" poor play. THAT is why preparation is key and the experience GIVEN correct knowledge. 10,000 hours seems to be the amount of time the brain needs in order to fully emmerse themselves in the topic long enough and focused enough for the brain to simulate all past experience and construct a "knowing" of the game at a high level. In most cases in the fields given , it was early success that got people superior coaching and I believe some of those hours can be short cut through faster play, calculations and mathematics which can determine the exact expected results that someone with 10,000 hours won't even know with certainty without doing. Additionally, mastery represents the elite of the field. If you don't play against the elite, but instead are just a very good "peewee" poker player, you can still be among the best at that level I believe. There are plenty of allstar teams in baseball that certainly haven't mastered their craft, but given the level of competition still have a substantial edge. I think the same thing is true in poker. Don't expect to shoot up to high stakes without risking going bust and dont even suspect that it will be worth the higher stakes. There are plenty of people who make more money in the 5/10 level where the play is still considerably more exploitable than the nosebleed 50/100 levels and high stakes poker games.
• LABOR UNDER CORRECT KNOWLEDGE: L.U.C.K. is an acronym for labor under correct knowledge. Do the work to prepare and then gain the experience, and although from hand to hand you may get unlucky, over a long enough period of "labor" you will reap the benefits.

3)Constant tracking performance, superior analytics.

• There are pleny of erroneous assumptions that for years have been made at poker. Statements like, "since a fold is an unseen hand we can only calculate the odds given the known information" In fact, that causes the assumptions that "opponents fold randomly with no regard for their cards. Although it may be an erroneous assumption to assume they play 22+,AJ+,and any suited broadway, it CLEARLY is a better assumption than "they play 0% of hands or fold all cards randomly. What really happens is the low cards are folded and thus less likely to be available while the high cards usually are not, increasing the likelihood that ACE KING will be a favorite over small and middle pairs as more and more people fold. As such an assumption that "I got my money in with 99 over AK or over a particular hand range that included AJ+,KT+ therefore I had a positive expectancy and made a profitable decision" may actually be incorrect.
• The above shows why you must track performance. Over a long enough period of time, if you are a net loser with pocket pairs in late position, it may not just be "luck". If you are a net loser with particular hands, and they are not theoretically VERY strong, just remove them from your playbook, or in the case of AA and KK, you might have to consider folding postflop more, playing more cautiously or just shoving all in preflop if you can't manage to develop your ability to make money with it. Performance by particular hand, by particular strategy, and by position can help you make adjustments
• Performance tracking can also help you determine which hours of the day aren't worth your time, and which hours of the day should always be spent playing because of the results you get from them.
• The human mind has far too many biases for an unscientific approach to tracking. You must track your results and thus begin to see more subtletees in what works and what doesn't. In the short run it may not tell you much, but over a few months of play a particular way you will start to see differences.

4)Constant slight tweaking of results

• So your performance is good, so what, it can always be better. Tweaking your behavior and seeing how your results change is a great way to constantly improve. You tweak the results and you monitor the behavior. Perhaps one style of play does better on friday nights when the play is looser. Perhaps another style does better on Tuesday afternoon when only the pros and gambling degenerates without a job are playing. Or perhaps there is a certain time of day when college students are on more often then not. Track as much detail as you can and try doing something significantly or perhaps a handful of small adjustments. If you can't tell if it improved or not or only marginally changed, tweak it so it is only slightly different, or only one adjustment.

5)Constant RE-evaluation of performance given the tweaks.

• Did the tweaks help certain hands and hurt others? Perhaps playing more hands lost you money on some hands, but gained you money on others. Perhaps showing bluffs turned some of your worse hands to go from marginally profitable to unprofitable but also improved the results when you did get a hand. Perhaps you can re-evalute your performance. If the tweak didn't help overall results, perhaps it still will improve if you tweak the performance some more. For example, show a few bluffs but take away a few cards from the hand range that become unprofitable because opponent's are more likely to play back. Does playing fewer hands but getting more action from your good hands improve your performance, or is it better not showing and keeping more hands profitable?
• By seeing if the tweaks help you are able to continue to adjust as the rest of the poker world does as well and stay ahead of them.

6)Constant and never ending improvement. (superior management)

• Ultimately all of this is done for constant and never ending improvement. You may take 3 steps backwards and ultimately eventually take 4 forward, but the overall trend is towards better, more profitable play. Once you have already created a very winning style your adjustments will be more subtle, but you will still seek to learn more and possibly learn to make the required adjustments to beating higher stakes even.
• Superior Management is extremely important. Managing your money so that you eliminate the risk of ruin completely becomes more and more necessary the better you get and the more dependent you become on poker for a larger and larger percentage of your income. Even reducing and minimizing the volatility to make a certain goal of X per year with less and less bankroll volatility as you increase your ability and bankroll becomes incredibly important towards being able to emotionally handle the streaks.
• Superior management is not just about money management, but managing your time more effectively and managing your ability. But also EMOTIONAL management. You should work very hard to eliminate making mistake. A mistake in this case is defined as doing something other than the profitable system you have developed without a particular and specific PREDETERMINED reason before you even sat down. If you are not disciplined, all this work is not worth it and you cannot win anyways. I estimate there are a lot of pro poker players that are extremely talented, but still go broke way too often because they can't manage themselves, their emotions, etc. Some lose all the money they win sports betting and play at far too high of stakes rather than just grinding out a comfortable living in the mid limits.

If you REALLY want superior results in poker or anything else you HAVE to do the things others are not willing to do so you can get results far superior to them and get the results they can only dream of. You must have a tremendous skill advantage to overcome, luck, rake, varience, and your own personal mistakes.