And if you have an ABC image, I'm sure it works like a charm if done sparingly.
Table image is another super important aspect of all this. A HUD helps a lot with this too cause you can see your own stats from that session, and it will help you become self-aware of how others are perceiving you.
It doesn't even really matter what your table image is, as long as you are aware of it and know how to exploit it. If you realize you've been playing super tight, others have probably noticed, and you can start to exploit that by bluffing and floating and 3 betting pre. If others think you are a maniac, tighten up and then bang it with a good hand. Note that both of these shifts in strategy will bring your VPIP and PFR into line with the overall tight/aggressive style you want to be playing.
Like, drpugilist said he only saw 3 flops in an hour (or whatever). About a half hour into that, your solid image was established, and you should have been bluffing more...thereby upping your VPIP to be more "normal" and less predictable. If it stays too low you won't get any action on your monsters.
Part 2 is really good too. He covers a lot of what I talked about in my windbag post about sizing - betting for value only when you can get called by worse.
http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/thinking-poker-getting-started-with-hand-reading-2-19529.htm
One of the biggest mistakes I see players make (that I find rather funny at times), is betting their hand according to the strength of the hand, and therefore not inducing a call.
If you have the best hand (after the river), you want to size your bet so that you'll get called.
When I was playing in Tahoe a couple weeks ago, some guy had a full house after the river, and made a huge bet, and everyone folded. Someone made the comment
"Why such a big bet?" And he said very matter-of-factly: "I had to bet huge, I had a huge hand." And he showed the full house. I chuckled to myself, because
he thought he made the right play, when he clearly did not, and he cost himself a chunk of money/value. If you have a hand like that, you want the calls. It's free money.
If I remember right, I was thinking that there were at least 2 players in the pot that would have called if he would have bet something like 1/3 of the pot.
If you have the best hand (after the river), you want to size your bet so that you'll get called.
When I was playing in Tahoe a couple weeks ago, some guy had a full house after the river, and made a huge bet, and everyone folded. Someone made the comment
"Why such a big bet?" And he said very matter-of-factly: "I had to bet huge, I had a huge hand." And he showed the full house. I chuckled to myself, because
he thought he made the right play, when he clearly did not, and he cost himself a chunk of money/value. If you have a hand like that, you want the calls. It's free money.
If I remember right, I was thinking that there were at least 2 players in the pot that would have called if he would have bet something like 1/3 of the pot.
It's also very common to see players call small bets on the river and say "I don't have anything, I just want to see it." Free money there as well. If I have a read
that someone has nothing after the river, and I have a monster (or just the best hand). I'll put a small bet out there for this very reason, bad players just want
to give you money to see your hand.
VPIP = Voluntarily Put Into Pot = %age of time a player voluntarily puts money into the pot preflop. An overall measure of how many flops they're seeing. Somewhere between 15 and 22 is normal/optimal IMO.
PFR = Pre Flop Raise = %age of time a player raises preflop when given the opportunity. An overall measure of preflop aggression. Somewhere between 10-16 is normal.
The great thing about VPIP and PFR is that they are a great overall measure of how good/bad/passive/aggressive a player is.
It also helps with hand reading. Someone with a really low VPIP will likely have a better range of hands, someone with a really high VPIP, you have to consider that they play almost anything.
Your HUD will be set up to track these 2 stats and more.
google holdem manager 2 free trial. You download the HUD. It should walk you through the steps. Then run the program while you have tables open and it does the rest.
