I don't often comment on hands, because I'm just not that comfortable with my own ability to play and hence comment, and, two, hindsight is too easy after the heat of battle. On any given hand, you may have three good-to-expert players say they'd play it three different ways, and all may be correct. That's what makes Hold 'Em the great game it is. There is no ONE right way to play. "It depends" is our mantra because it's true. When the clock is ticking away--and you've got another good hand on another table and you don't even know what's going on at a third table--I defy anyone to say they make the correct calls all the time. (My defiance would be challenged vigorously on 2+2.)

This is in way an apology for not making more comments, and an explanation for why I don't. I think they're valuable, but one needs to be able to do it for themselves more than getting comments from others. I'd say keep posting them, with that understanding. There may be no correct way to play any given hand, and if there is, it may be hard to do so under the pressure playing. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged over the comments or how you play a single hand. Learn from them, yes, but it's only one hand in a very long session of poker.

Please give me your feedback on this.
(I'm going to copy this, eventually, for my own forum as it will wind up on the air, at some point.)

CJ

Personally I have found that comments given by others and attempting to comment myself have been valuable. I agree that there is seldom a "fixed" way to play a hand but then in my posts I would try to put my thinking process across. I feel that is the important bit, what are you thinking? What are the variables you process in this decision? A lot of players make the mistake of working with the wrong variables, be it wrong pot odds or missing the true value of their hand.

One of the great things about this forum is how you can feel free to put up a hand, even if you think you played it like a muppet, and get fair well thought out comments. That they might not all agree is fine since if each poster puts their reasons there can be healthy debate.

I don't comment half as much as I should really but when I do I try to see if my thoughts match others who I respect on this forum. Its something objective I can see since when I first started I would miss things or get it wrong and someone else would come in to correct my errors. Now I seem to be getting more in synch, even if I am laying several options. I think it is a great leanring tool to try to put a comment on a hand, even if you quantify it by saying you are learning at the start.

Spending time thinking about poker and putting across you thought processes can only be a good thing given the level of expertise on this forum, and if you take things on board that are posted you can only be a better player next time you are in the heat of the battle with the clock ticking down.

Rich

I don't usually comment on too many hands because many times I don't know what's the best way to play them. Then I determined that I was shorting myself by doing that. By taking some time to think about the hands, I would educate myself on how I should play hands that I will likely face in the future. A good way to learn how to better play hands would be to post how I think a hand should be played and see opposing views.

I definitely don't think I play all my hands correctly but as I play more and get to work on other people's posts, I find I make less mistakes than I used to.

I think posting and commenting on our play helps the learing process. I think you are forgoing a great opportunity to learn from this forum if you just lurk and dont participate. I agree with your position CJ that there are several ways to play many hands. Some are clear but others are tricky. Given enough background on the table conditions and opponents, there is a best way to play most hands. Trying to get there is what we are all striving for.

BK

I pretty much post any hand that I play that I have a bad feeling about after the hand is over, whether I folded or went on to play it out. Right now, its been PLO because that's what I've been playing and I'm much weaker there than at Limit. However, the same goes for limit but I'm more comfortable with my play so I have less hands I find to be questionable.

However, there are almost 1 or 2 hands from a session that I just have to wonder, did I maximize/minimize my gains/losses. Should I have folded earlier or called it down? I might feel that I can come up with an answer but seeing that I had to even ask myself that means I'm not sure and I should get other opinions.

I don't let embarrassment stop me because we got a great group of people here and I don't think anyone is looking for material to make fun of people. When have you ever seen someone berate someone over their play here? Never. We just tell them our opinion on what we think they did wrong. We are here to improve all players, no matter the skill level. Any other way to learn would be much more expensive as you will be losing many more hands til you get it right.