Creating/Formalizing a Strategy / Chart

[WhileTrue]

I know that to a large degree, every table is unique and we should play the player, not the cards.

Still, I enjoy the exercies of creating strategy guides for other games that I play, and I would like to tackle something similar for online MTT play.

I heard that Dan Harrington delivers somewhat of a strategy guide / hand chart in his book Harrington on Hold'em. I have both of his books on order but they won't be here for a couple weeks.


I am wondering what you guys have done to formalize your strategy.

Have you broken it down by Hand like AK/AA/KK/77/3d4d etc row-by-row?

If so, then what are the columns like? Are they 'Oppenent Loose / Opponenent Tight / Opponent Calling Station' etc? Or are they '# of bets before you' or perhaps it's 'Blind level in tournament' ?

What is the structure of your chart if you have one? If not, how else have you formalized / structured your game plan so that you can refer to it while playing.

I am looking forward to the challenge of creating the strategy and tweaking it almost as much as I am looking forward to the extra $$.

Looking forward to some great discussion..

--Daniel

[drmcboy]

I think you'll be disappointed, unless I missed it Harrington has nothing like you describe in 1 or 2. Great books, no charts. He doesn't even spend all that much time on starting hands.

Like Harrington, I have no chart. I'm sorta OK with the concept but I'd watch out for creating one way to play and calling it good. Evolving your game is +EV.

[DBL0SVN]

try pm-ing Aokrongly

[vqc]

ya AoK will hook u up with the holy grail.

[SnoT_III]

I believe the best poker rule is the gap theory. You can raise with small pockets, suited connectors, high pockets, or complete garbage. What you call with is a different story. Leave the tough decision to your opponents.

You'll also notice some people simply DO NOT raise preflop unless they have Q's K's or A's. however they will call almost any raise with whatever crap they limped in with.

[very_sneaky]

don't play w/ a chart that u only play those hands .. in Harrington's books he describes 3 styles .. choose a style that is comfortable for u.. i choose the conservative style for a reason .. my reason is get the table image of tight .. then when u get 5(d)6(d) .. u can raise .. and flop comes out 55 9 .. they think u have two overs .. u pay out .. now when it comes down to charts if ur new stick to charts if ur expeirenced .. let ur insticts take over .. pick spots .. pick a style... pay out

[a500lbgorilla]

The idea of a strategy chart makes me laugh a little.

Then I weep silently for you.

-'rilla

[Chicago_Kid]

The idea of a strategy chart makes me laugh a little.

Then I weep silently for you.

-'rilla

I think this will be pretty tough. It's so dependent on the game flow, opponent style, blinds, position, previous action, odds, etc. I actually think a chart might hurt your development if you lock yourself into certain plays under certain defined conditions, because you will mis-apply key pieces of information.

If you are interested in playing the player, it would probably be better to take notes on opponents during play, and practice putting them on hands when you are out of the hand. I used to do kinda play-by-play out loud to maintain focus when I was out of the hand. Kinda weird, but I had to do this, b/c I was SO bad at reads when I started.

Also, post-tourney analysis on hand histories helped me a ton.