Top 5 Questions I Ask Myself Every Poker Hand

Phil and the Top Five return to break down the most important questions to ask yourself with every poker hand.

Every time you play a poker hand, there are (at least) five essential questions you should ask yourself.

Phil and his good buddy the Top Five (along with a bonus tip!) list what is most important to consider when you're playing and subsequently how to achieve the best results once taking these things into consideration.

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Producer: Thomas Deming-Henes
Post Producer: Anne Johnson
Music: Epidemic Sound
Progressive Progress - Howard Harper-Barnes
Coffee And Unicorns - Henyao
Sublyme - Guustavv
chillin' under the moonlight - Sarah, the Illstrumentalist
Coqui - Auxjack
Fredagsmys K2 - Henyao
Buena Vibrafono - Little Island Leap
Startup - Auxjack

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00:00 Top Five Questions I Ask Myself Every Poker Hand
00:38 What is My Hand?
01:41 What Am I Trying to Accomplish with___?
03:14 What is my Range?
05:20 What is my Opponent's Range?
06:41 Bonus: Know Your Stack Size and the Pot Size
06:54 What is the Board Texture?
09:26 Bonus Follow-Up: Stack to Pot Ratio

[KiiroiSenko]

I counted. His top 5 questions = 197 questions.

[markcummings]

Phil your content recently has been literal gold dust for aspiring poker players! Thanks So much🙂

[JaxonHaxon]

love that the bonus point ended up being the longest one 😂

[robertshawnmitchell]

1. What is my hand?
2. What am I trying to accomplish with my next action?
3. What is my range?
4. What is my opponent's range?
5. What is the board texture and whose range does it favor?
6. Pot size, stack depth

[gusharalampopoulos]

What a joy it is to hear a top player who not only possesses immense knowledge about the game, but also has the ability to convey some of that knowledge to the listener in a manner that the listener can readily understand. Top players usually aren't great "teachers", for a variety of understandable reasons...and it's a real pleasure to hear someone whose personality and eloquence match his immense talent. Thanks a ton for all your videos here, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

[DanielRall]

Ideal level of topic complexity, explained simply.
Thanks Phil!

[brianpeters]

Thank you for the videos and good reminders of situations I over look or just forget. I mostly watch one or two of your videos before I start playing online poker & I've been able to take my time and make better decisions which has been giving me better results & a good time at the tables. Run good and have a great day. Big fan thanx you!!

[prescriptivegrammarian]

Listening to you speak about poker gets me fired up about the elegance of it. Thanks and keep ‘em coming.

[ianclark]

I play a lot of poker and I just discovered this channel, it's absolutely wonderful, thank you.

[allanbarnhill]

LOVE these short videos you keep putting out! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge.

[joeyfiuza]

This video remembers me about what I learned in the book dy BalugaWhale called Easy Game back more than ten years ago. Especially the part dealing with "What Am I Trying To Accomplish ?" Good stuff and good refresher ! Keep it up ! 🥳And Thanks 🙏🏻😎

[vincentlai]

The theory explanation of continuing iwth 50% of the range with a pot sized bet was great... thanks for that reminder on how pot odds relates to ranges

[adragonro]

I was playing micro stakes for years with a lot of breakes. Now getting 40, I feel like I changed mentally and will start over again. Allways loved your therotical way of looking at poker ❤ thu for this one

[Nathan-ljcj]

Thank you for your time invested in these vidz

[johnhammersmith]

You have many good videos but this is my favorite so far ... Great thoughts! Thanks Phil!

[knoxvegas]

Good to see guys who have accomplished so much giving back to the community.

[Dagonavleski]

Mr. Galfond I enjoy your videos, they give me better understanding! Keep it up <3

[spencerwinston]

"The key to No-Limit is to put a man to a decision for all his chips." - Doyle Brunson, RIP, legendary Texas "road scholar."

Ty, Phil for presenting your leading edge, poker educational videos. The amount of Chip Reese esque "deep knowledge" and nuance in your decision making process is off the charts fascinating.

With all the sophisticated game theory and analytics in poker now, there is one quotation from Texas "road scholar" Doyle Brunson that still to me is the North Star of guidance in planning the responses Pre and post flop.
"The key to No-Limit is to put a man to a decision for all his chips." - Doyle Brunson, RIP, legendary Texas "road scholar."

As a general guideline, I have found this rule to seriously consider just keeping the game in heads up to 6 person about pre flop and post flop, and trying if at all possible just to be all in by the second street if my "poker instincts" built over thousands of hands give the green light. With even a moderate of hitting the board on the flop, maybe holding a 10 7 and 10 4 6 os is the flop, and my "feel built over thousands of hands" is to just put the man to the test Doyle Brunson style, especially in 3 to 6 max poker tournaments, this plan an creates a tough decision in a tourney for opponent even if he holds AK AJ or maybe 62 on the wild side trying to be a "trapper." Of course, there are exceptions and I'm sure an expert on your level has a sophisticated counter to this "moment of grand decision" for all of one's chips. Crystallizes the decision making for me in the "fog of war" and I can see ol even how opponent has to take a long time in general to decide if he has "the gamble in him." Pot odds, pyschology, context all play are of course critical but the real test is that moment when a player has to respond to a direct challenge to his stack without all the signal from the whole board.

Found this Brunson aggressive "instinct" mindset most helpful and extremely useful as a heuristic in short handed tournaments at least, but seems relevant to cash games as well where Doyle first started. Not sure about the relevance to modern big game cash clashes, but even then with millions at stake can you call a huge bet with just high cards or a draw to the flush if millions are on the line, still very very hard decision and an extreme challenge to the opponent.

Thanks again Phil for all your pioneering educational efforts and expanding the game of poker worldwide. New US subscriber.

[Seadevil]

Thanks Phil this really helped me. My mind is always overwhelmed and racing I overthink spots too much. Been playing today and it's much smoother knowing exactly what to think about.

[richardswan]

1. Where's the cocktail waitress?