Did I play this right?
re-think your whole approach would be my advice, if u wish to get better then start to question/understand the concept rather than question a vacuum should i / shouldn"t i...
if ur happy just splashing about and having a good crack with your mates etc then ignore what i said above...
get a good up to date cash game book will help, HOH still is a pretty good start point, kill everyone etc etc plus a few more that many a APAT"er will recommend if u ask... devote just as much of your spare time as u possibly can to learning as well as playing...
here is an article that"s also a good start point in which to build your game/reasoning around, remember though its only the beginning of a lot of learning
Using Range Calculations to Make Better Decisions
By Brian "sbrugby" Townsend
Poker in all forms is a simple math game. You have a hand and your opponents have a range of hands. You then make a decision based on their range versus your holding as to whether to call, fold, or raise. You determine this by looking at the equity, or how often you win the hand, against the size of the pot to determine your best action. In no-limit hold"em, when facing a pot-size bet on the turn, generally if you have greater than 50 percent equity in the pot, you should raise. If your equity is between 33 percent and 49 percent, and no fold equity exists, you should call. If your equity is less than 33 percent and no implied odds exist, you should fold. This is a simplistic model, but a good place to start when learning beginning range calculations.
The best players in the world have an intuition about hand ranges that comes from playing hundreds of thousands of hands. They intuitively know if they should raise, call, or fold. Although it comes naturally to some, there are exercises you can do to improve your analysis of your opponents" possible holdings. In order to be a winning player, you need to be able to determine not only your opponents" likely range of hands, but what your equity, or chance to win, is against their range. For the sake of equity calculations in this column, I have used the PokerStove software, which can be found at PokerStove.com.
Let"s look at the following example to show us how an opponent"s range of hands drastically affects the proper decision. You are on the button with the 
and raise three times the big blind (BB) and are called by the player in the big blind. The flop comes 
. It is checked, and you bet 6.5 times the size of the big blind (the size of the pot) and are raised all in for another 45 big blinds. The decision to call or fold is rather simple if you can put your opponent on a range of hands. To begin, let"s say we know that the villain is an extremely tight player and will do this only with a set.
Using PokerStove to calculate the equity, against this player we have .265 equity in the pot, or we will win the pot 26.5 percent of the time. So, our expected value, or how much we expect to win on average, of calling is: EV = [(1 - equity in the pot)x(bet to call)] + [(equity in pot)x(pot size)]. So, in this case, our EV = [(.735)x(-38.5 BB)] + [(.265)x(58 BB)] = -13 BB. So, with a tight opponent, we should fold our nut-flush draw because our expected value of calling is negative. This means that we don"t have the pots odds to call his raise.
Now, instead of being up against a very tight opponent, we are up against a reasonably tight player who will do this with a much wider range, including top pair. Against this range (sets, top pair, and overpairs), we have much better equity, 46 percent. Now our expected value is: EV = [(.54)x(-38.5 BB)] + [(.46)x(58 BB)] = 6 BB. In this case, against the reasonably tight player, we gain six big blinds by calling, though a raise won"t be profitable (assuming we had more money), since our equity is less than 50 percent.
In the last case, let"s look at a hyperaggressive maniac. Again, using PokerStove and giving him a range of any pair, any draw, overpairs, sets, and bluffs, our equity really improves. In this case, we have 73 percent equity against his range of hands. Now, our EV = [(.27)x(-38.5 BB)] + [(.73)x(58 BB)] = 32 BB. So, a call is profitable. An interesting thing has happened in this last case. We have greater than 50 percent equity against the maniac"s range, so instead of calling, we should reraise if we both have more chips left.
I used these three cases to show how equity and range calculations can be used when learning a new game to help with the thought process. This approach can be used when learning any form of poker, whether it is no-limit hold"em, pot-limit hold"em, or stud eight-or-better. Learning to accurately put players on hand ranges and apply them to equity calculations is one of the building blocks to becoming a successful high-stakes poker player. Good luck, and drop us a line at CardPlayerQuestions@CardRunners.com if you have any questions.
Brian Townsend, 25, is a high-limit poker player who plays under the handles sbrugby and aba20. He"s been a professional since September of 2006 in the smallest of no-limit hold"em games. Now he can be found playing $200-$400 no-limit hold"em and pot-limit Omaha on any major site.
AE Jones blog quote - NOV 7 2010
You need a read, you need solid logic and it all needs to fit into a good gameplan. I hate making mistakes. If I focus on going with my read at the moment, I feel okay about my decisions. When I"m unable to make the best decision in the moment (and I figure it out later, or I realize that I wasn"t thinking about the right things and my judgment was clouded), it really eats at me.
The most important thing to note about figuring out the mistakes you"re making is that I don"t mean "stacking off too light" or "spewing," I mean that you make the best play you can possibly make with the information at hand. So, if you don"t bluff the river at some point in time when you"re confident your opponent is going to call turn/fold river-- that mistake is just as meaningful as the times when you tell yourself "he"s not gonna fold!" and then you bluff it in there anyways.
hope this helps...
