Planning a whole hand before the flop
Every lesson so far grades one decision. Strong players assemble them: the preflop entry CHOSES the stack-to-pot ratio, the ratio chooses the sizing scheme, the scheme chooses the turn plan, and the plan tells each street's "tough decision" what its job is. This is whole-hand planning — deciding what the finished hand will look like BEFORE the flop arrives, so streets execute instead of improvise.
- Pick the entry for the destination.Raise bigger or 3-bet for low SPR with one-pair hands; flat wide for implied odds with pairs and suited connectors — the SPR topic's two views of one choice.
- Forecast the geometry.With the SPR known, compute which equal fraction reaches showdown in how many streets (pot geometry).
- Assign the sizing scheme.Static boards take small merged bets; nut-advantage boards take big polarized ones (the sizing-schemes topic).
- Pre-write the branch points.Name the turns that continue the plan versus abandon it — pairing cards, draw completions, overcards — before they appear.
Worked example: one hand, planned end to end
You hold pocket tens on the button at 100bb. PLAN: open 2bb aiming for a low-ish SPR against the blinds only; tens want a 3-bet-shaped pot or a small-ball one, never a bloated multiway one. Flop comes nine-high with two tones: scheme = large-ish c-bet (nut advantage, vulnerable value). Pre-written branches: a flush-completing turn slows to half pot or check-back; middle-card pairings keep barreling (they help my range's overpairs less than feared, hurt their pairs); a king or ace arrival switches tens from value to bluff-catcher and imports the barrel-facing checklist. Compare with the unplanned version of the same hand — every street improvises, sizes drift, and the river arrives with no story. The CARDS were identical; the planning wasn't.