Secrets of the Amateurs

We've had some good comments already on here, check them out. One snippet is worthy of moving up into a main post. An anonymous poster says "I don't want to be ante'd away until my best hand resembles a Doyle Brunson special.". It's certainly true that you don't want to be ante'd away too low, but "the best hand" is not how you should be thinking. The four factors I have mentioned (hand strength, stack size, position, action before you) combine to form a situation. You need to ask yourself "Is this the best situation I will find ?" Not the best hand (or the best position, or any one of the factors in isolation). For all my words and hot air on here, if you just switch your thinking from best hand to best situation then that's half the battle.