What is a poker script you might ask? Well, poker players are constantly concerned with making correct decisions at the poker table. Everyone else is concerned with helping you make mistakes at the poker table. A poker script is a sort of flow-chart of possibilities that can happen during a poker hand. It is a plan. It can be math-based or intuition-based, but it is always based on the information that you have about a player, your position, and your chip stack. At least it should be. It is a script to help you get maximum value and help you get through emotional moments without as much of a possibility to get outplayed (make you call when you should fold, and vice-versa).
Let me tell you about a sample script that happened during this tournament. It should give you a good glimpse of what is going through my head when I'm in a hand.
I have pocket kings under-the-gun (first to act after the big blind). I figure I have the best hand. I'm excited because I've raised several times this tournament, only to be re-raised by someone in later position. This time, I have the goods. I make the same raise that I've made several times, which is 350 with 50-100 blinds. I get one caller. He is an aggressive player that I've seen push someone off of queens pre-flop. He is also Asian, but I'm still not sure if he is as aggressive as an average Asian, as I've only seen one hand with him. Everyone else folds.My starting stack: about 6800
His starting stack: about 8500
My hand: Kd, Ks
The flop comes Jd, 10s, 4d
I figure I still have the best hand. I am going to bet here, 2/3 pot sized (400), and I want a call. I'm ahead at this point. There are lots of scare cards in the deck that complete flushes and straights, but I figure to have the best hand at this point. If I get raised, I will be inclined to either push all-in or call, as my opponent might have A-J, K-J, K-Q, or two diamonds. Obviously two pair (most likely J-T) and a set are possible, but not likely. The guy calls me.The turn comes the 7d.
I have the King of diamonds, which gives me a backdoor draw (which may or may not be live). This card completes the jack-high straight and the diamond flush. I fire the same bet of 400, in order to see where I am at. Again, I figure I'm probably ahead, but I might get away from the hand if he raises at this point. He calls again. At this point I figure I'm ahead. I think he is still drawing in some way. I think there is a good possibility this is floating me, and he might try to take the hand away from me on the river.The river comes the Tc.
This card pairs the board. It looks like a scary card to most players. I don't love my hand anymore, but it could be the best hand still. I planned on checking and calling whatever bet he made, as I thought this guy was very capable of a bluff, and I really wanted to get away from it as cheaply as possible.He pushes all-in, which is a huge overbet. I instantly call. He says, "Do you have a full house?" And I said, turn your hand over, sir. He meekishly turns over the Ad-7d for the nut flush. I fold and exits sheepishly with his tail between his legs.
So, what went wrong? My script was horrible! I have spent most of my tournament life playing short-stacked tournaments. Rarely in one of those do you have enough chips to make a huge mistake like I did, as you are pot-committed (meaning you aren't going to fold after you've made a certain series of decisions that were hopefully correct) much more quickly. I usually can plan my hand with a script like this with relatively great success at a smaller-stacked tournament. But this was a deep-stacked tournament. I really needed to modify my script at the end to something like this:
This card pairs the board. It looks like a scary card to most players. I don't love my hand anymore, but it could be the best hand still. If my opponent bet 1/2 of the pot or less, I would always call, as I have a good hand, and he could have a worse hand that he thinks is best. If my opponent bet between 1/2 and pot-sized, I would probably call, unless I get a read that he had a really strong hand. If his bet was bigger than pot-sized, I don't have sufficient information on this player, and I don't have a good read, so I should just fold and move on to the next hand.As I said, my script sucked on this hand, but I didn't plan my hands even this well in the past. If you want to work on your poker scripts, I would like to recommend Phil Gordon's Little Green/Blue/Black Book[s]. They are all available on Amazon, and I'll be referring to them more heavily after this embarrassing moment.
