How to look at the hand as a whole

• 30.06.2025 7:06 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

One of the crucial mistakes made by poker players is seeing each decision they make as a separate move. In the real sense, every move you make in poker has an effect on the route the hand takes. When you look at every move as a separate entity, you fail to look at the end result of the play. You are merely acting and you look surprised when faced with a rock hill to climb.

Any good player knows that every move they make before and after a flop will be a deciding factor on what will take place at the river and turn. This way, they will make moves that will favor them at those stages.

A good example of making decisions as separate entity is this one.

In a six max game $1/$2 with effective stakes at $200. There is a fishy player who raises to $6 under the gun and you immediately make a button call with  before all the other players fold.

You take a heads up flop of

An opponent places a bet of $8 as you raise to $16 before he calls.

Then comes the turn

He checks before you check behind in slow play

Then comes the river before he checks as you place a bet of $35

Your opponent calls and reveals

You have a full house that beats your opponent's draw thereby wining the $117 pot.

You still lose out on a lot of cash simply because you took all acts as individual entities. If you had instead planned the hand, you would have definitely played it differently. With big flops, you ultimately have to win the hands of your opponent. You need to make plans for that and make it happen.

Making decisions with a plan

In the same scenario above, the under the gun fishy players makes a raise to $6 as you button call with your

All the other players fold as you take a heads up flop of before an opponent places a bet of $8 as you make a raise to $34 and your opponents immediately calls

There is a turn which you opponent checks as you bet $65 before he calls

Then there is a river where again he checks as you bet the remaining $95 on your stacks

Your opponent calls as he reveals

You emerge the winner, this time since you put into consideration every act on the hand, you win a much bigger pot comprising of your opponent's whole stack. You see that changing strategy can win you four folds more that you could win with no plan.

Take another example of making decisions as single entities

In the same game above but with stacks at $500, an aggressive player on the button is folded on as he raises to $7

You place a triple bet to $30 with your as he calls.

Then comes the flop

You continuation bet for $40 as he calls.

There is a turn as you place a bet of $90 before your opponent calls.

Then comes the river as you bet $140 as your opponent makes a $310 shove

You are left in a hot spot as you call and he shows and ultimately wins the pot worth $1000.

You lose as you did not think of the hand as one entity. You made decisions as the game progressed and you landed yourself into a tough place and therefore making a move that lost you money.

The same scenario with a plan would happen this way

The aggressive players is folded at as he raises to $7 at the button

You notice that a single pair will play weak and you may win a small pot or lose a big one and so you decide to call in order to control the pot with your

There is a flop of as you check while your opponent bets a $10 and you once again call on the flop with the same idea as the one you had at pre flop

There is a turn before you bet and your opponent places a bet of $22 and you again call

There is a river as you check and your opponent once again bets $55

You realize there is a chance that your opponent might value bet with a worse hand and well as air triple barreling so you can fold an 8- 8 hand so you decide to call.

He reveals a and wins with a straight. You loose but only $95 instead of the whole $500.

You lose lesser amount because you though of the whole hand as one entity. You did not build a large pot as you realized that a pair can hardly play well in deep stacks and your opponent has the ability to lock you on a tight spot with a big pot.

You lost the minimum as you thought before you acted on the entire hand.

With the above examples, it is obvious that you need to think of the hand as a whole in every decision you make. Every move will change the way the hand goes and not knowing the outcome of the moves will land you in harsh moments in the hand.

You need to have a goal and plan I order to make big wins or the most minimal losses.