How many of you good people reading this article have a driving licence and drive a car on a regular basis? Let's have a show of hands. Now keep your hands up if you have ever driven anywhere, arrived at your destination and have no real recollection of how you got there? I know I have dozens of times since I passed my test over 10 years ago. It is no surprise that there are more crashes and accidents near a drivers home than anywhere else on their journey because they are so familiar with their surroundings that they switch off, even if they do not mean to. Poker players do the same at the tables.
When you first start playing poker you have to consciously think about every single hand that you are playing; even if your action is simply folding. But once you become more experienced you will automatically fold your trash hands without giving them a second thought, you will do so automatically. This automation continues through your entire game until almost everything you do is done so with little thought but whilst it is great that you have developed your skills to such a level that you are able to play poker without much need for thought by doing so you are leaving money at the felt and probably losing money in many different spot.
This article is going to cover one specific area where poker players turn on the autopilot button and play without much thought at all; acting in early position such as under the gun.
Tight Is Not Always Right
From early in our careers we are told to play a very tight range from early position, especially under the gun, because we will likely be out of position for the rest of the hand if we are called. This means we would prefer to have a strong holding so that some of the disadvantages of being out of position are balanced up somewhat. This also means that many players are throwing away hands automatically that they could actually turn a profit with.
A couple of weeks ago I was in a six-handed tournament when I was deal Kc7c under the gun. Now usually I would fold this hand in a heartbeat, after all it is a weak holding no? However, I came in for a raise and I feel that it was entirely the correct move to make. You see, the players on my table were playing pretty tight and solidly up until you got to the two players in the blinds who were terrible -- really terrible. My raise from UTG was likely to go uncalled by the more solid players at the table because they would give me credit for a strong hand but the players in the blind were likely to call me with much worse hands such as Qc10s or Jd8h and other such hands that I was ahead of preflop. Also, the possibility of playing a suited king in position against a weak player or two outweighs the chances of being out of position against on solid player in my opinion. As the hand played out only one of the blinds called me and we got our chips in on a 6c-7h-Ac flop. Villain held 9d7s, and turned a nine but that's not the point, the point is he called preflop with a much worse hand then got his stack in with around 15% equity, something that would not have happened had my autopilot being flicked to the on position.
The next time you're playing poker have a quick think about absolutely everything going on at your table. If you do not have enough time then cut down on the amount of table you play because I am sure you will find you are playing automatically in common spots such as the one described above, when you are three-bet and when you have the chance to steal the blinds. Turn off the autopilot and increase your profits.