Ten important questions to answer in every hand of poker

Poker is a complex game that could have you calculating hundreds of different pieces of information every single hand. The best players are able to make these calculations -and weight them accordingly-almost on instinct, but for the rest of us it’s important to answer the following 10 questions every hand:

• 1. How strong is my hand?

Hand strength is important when you open a pot from early position or when you are confronted with limpers or a raiser.

• 2. What position am I in?

Most people simply view position as something that allows you to make better decisions, and win more/lose less money, but it also is the opposite of hand strength: What I mean is that the better your position the less important hand strength is, which puts the focus on some of the other questions below.

• 3. What is the previous action?

Previous action is always a secondary question, usually following what is the strength of my hand.

• 4. What is the game texture?

Game texture supplies you with information like what the standard raise size is, and what type of action you can expect if you enter the pot.

• 5. What are the players still to act likely to do?

This is another question that becomes more important as your position improves.

• 6. What is my table image?

Many players overlook their table image and get confused when players call them down with junk, or why they can never get a call. Always be aware of how you are perceived at the table.

• 7. What are my effective odds?

This question should never be left unanswered.

• 8. What are my implied odds?

A little more abstract than effective odds, you should always try to gauge how much more money an opponent will be willing to put in the pot should you hit your hand.

• 9. Do I have any physical reads on the players in the hand, or still to act?

Sometimes a physical tell will supersede all other information, but most of the time they will be used to sway you one way or the other in tough decisions.

• 10. What should my bet-sizing be?

Bet-sizing is typically the last question you answer, since it will be followed by your last actual action, but it’s a crucial part of stealing blinds -which is monumentally important in tournaments.

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This is still a lot of information to have to process in mere seconds, and unfortunately many players only look at one, two, or maybe three of these variables before acting. Good players will learn to cycle through this list very rapidly, and depending on the situation place more emphasis on certain questions than others.

This is perhaps the hardest aspect of utilizing these 10 questions: Correctly ranking them according to importance, which varies tremendously. For instance, if you are first to act in early position your hand’s strength is of utmost importance, but if you are first to act on the button than what the players still to act are likely to do should be your primary focus -along with your table image; your actual hand strength becomes almost meaningless.

Another example that would drastically change the importance of these questions would be if you noticed both blinds had already peeked at their hole cards and look very disinterested in playing. Once again, your hand strength becomes irrelevant because you have a physical tell that trumps all of the other questions. However, you would still need to put an emphasis on bet-sizing and your table image.