Playing All Your Hands

Beginning poker players focus only on their own hand. They play aggressively with their best hands, passively with their draws, and fold their worst hands. Sometimes, they bluff. As they improve, they begin to pay more attention to their opponents' hands as well.

To maximize the value of a hand, however, a player must also think about all the hands he would play the same way. If you play a particular hand in a unique way, observant opponents will eventually catch on and you will lose money. For example, if you play very tight and only raise pre-flop with AA and KK, observant players will fold rather than pay you off. Likewise, if you play your drawing hands in a characteristic way, you will not be able to successfully bluff when you miss your hand. It is to your advantage to play different hands in a similar way. Poker is a war of information, and when you play different hands the same way, you reduce the information leaked to your opponents.

That's not to say you should play all hands the same way. Obviously, you'd be missing many value bets or paying to play poor hands. However, often in poker you could play a hand well in more than one way. When you have options, forget your particular hand and consider the other hands you would have played the same way—that's playing all of your hands.