Getting Better At Poker

This isn’t a guide, because I’m not in a position to write one. Think of it more as a suggestion of how to make faster progress towards being less terrible (and have no illusions, 99% of us here are terrible). As with all of my posts, I would greatly appreciate it if you offer some constructive criticism of this.

We only have so much spare time to spend getting better at poker, so how is it best spent?

I’m assuming everyone here is aware of basic pot odds, buys in for 100bb and follows strict BRM, so I’m ignoring ‘basic’ stuff. The following isn’t in any particular order.

Game theory essential for determining your stacking ranges, you basically want a range that’s based on Nash Equilibrium that you use as standard before moving away from it as you spot exploitable tendencies in your opponents. Also applies to blind stealing, especially when opponents are playing back. Keep in mind when applying game theory to poker that it’s effectiveness drops dramatically with every street you play (i.e. more useable pre-flop than on the river).
Game theory applies to just about everything in poker. Read up on it, it's useful stuff.

Combinatorics it’s really important, in my opinion. It’s simple to learn and gives you edge. Think of playing poker and all you know is pot odds, and your opponents don’t understand pot odds. Then when they do learn pot odds, if you learn combinatorics it basically brings you back to knowing the odds when your opponents don’t. If that makes sense. Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics but as it applies to poker is ridiculously simple, you count how many combinations of cards can make up each hand in a range, and you get a much better idea of just how likely your opponent is to have each hand. It takes some practice away from the table, but it becomes quite second nature before long
It’s a basic skill, but like anything you can take it further, I made a bad attempt at explaining this in a previous thread (search the forum for “combinatorics” if you’re interested).

Psychology as far as it relates to the online game, I think it’s main importance is not awareness of your opponents, but awareness of yourself. You tilt, even when you don’t think you are, I promise that every single one of you does (me too).
It’s application for predicting the moves of opponents, without lots of history (thousands of hands), is minimal. A quick analogy is that you can check someone’s pulse while asking questions to tell if they’re lying or telling the truth, this is very effective, but requires some obvious questions “are you male/female?” “Is the sky blue?” to establish their normal responses, before its results can be trusted, it’s the same for poker; you need history with them that you just don’t have. You don’t know their culture, their age, their gender, their history, their education, their mood, you’re guessing, nothing more.

Ranges the difference between a fish and a shark is his ranges, put it down on paper, think about it away from the table. There are a near infinite number of situations in poker that demand different ranges, figure out the more common ones away from the table, think about how those ranges can be exploited and how likely your opponents are to adjust to them. This is, I think, the most important use of your time away from the table.

Time spent on forums I honestly have no idea how useful this is. For me, it’s been both incredibly helpful and an incredible hindrance. You can learn a lot of stuff that took others a long time to put together, but you can repeat stuff a lot, you see the same information a lot, you also learn how other informed or semi-informed players think. Most importantly the value of information gained through experience and information read is not the same.
Forums wont make you an unstoppable god of poker, but they will help you with common problems.

Game time invaluable. Just don’t grind without thinking. Keep your brain actively thinking, that doesn’t mean open 20 tables so you’re thinking non-stop, instead try opening 1 less than normal and THINKING about why you’re doing what you’re doing, the more in depth you think the more it will sink in.


Anything you think I’ve overlooked or gotten wrong?

Just to add some obvious stuff I forgot (who needs to revise stuff BEFORE posting anyway?)

Bet sizing I can’t be bothered putting together a chart, but every bb that goes in the pot pre-flop greatly influences the final pot size, since all post-flop bets are based on the current pot size. Every extra bb you bet pre-flop (3bb vs 4bb, for instance) results in at least a 2bb difference in the starting pot size if you get at least 1 caller, this has a major impact on the way the hand is played post-flop and the extent of the advantage the guy in position has, it also should effect the ranges that opponents call or 3bet with (often it wont, but that just gives you more edge).
For post-flop, it’s about two of three things: getting paid (when you have a hand), risk:reward (when you don’t), influencing villain’s actions (always). An example of what I mean by influencing villain’s actions is in checking to induce a bluff or light calldown, or making a blocking bet to get a showdown for a good price.

Post-session analysis I’m only mentioning it because of it’s importance, despite the fact that I’m really bad/lazy with it. So I’ll simply link to a very good thread for it. Guide: Analyzing your own hands

This all really depends on what kind of player or what kind of person you are.
Of course you need good fundamentals like basic odds calculation and basic game theory, but for the rest it can vary a lot depending on the player.
My game for example is based a lot on pot control, psychology and agressiveness. On the other hand I forgot everything I learned about Combinatorics in school.

It's a little vague, but all are good points.
Regardless of the rest, I think that if you're willing to improve your game with an open mind, the most important factor is number of hands played seriously, or as you put it, Game time.
Anyway, for the fact that it made me think about my game this is a great thread.

Refusing to be self-aware is the primary reason fish stay fish, even while they think they aren't.

for me the biggest thing I have been working on to improve my game is learning to be able to make big lay downs especially when I know I am beat 99% of the time. I would always make crying calls but know I must be beat, making big lay downs is essential

I think part of it is most fish treat poker like more of a GAMBLE than a SKILL.

Ya know?

What are your best suggestions for resources on Game Theory??? I know a couple, but I'd like to get outside my head and hear some. Maybe a top 3-5?

Stix

Everyone talks about these terms differently, but I use the terms as following:

Donkey - Person who just wants to gamble, throwing money around with any two cards.

Fish - Someone who thinks they are good at poker despite their ever-dwindling bankroll or frequent busts. They talk a good game, they understand some of the basic ideas, they even post at places like cardschat. But at the end of the day, their money is leaving their bankroll and they have to redeposit regularly.

So you're calling me a fish huh???

LOL j/k

Only your bankroll and your sharkscope and your earnings graph knows for sure

Hey! I Resemble that!

i woke up like 1 hour ago, decided to read on "combinatorics" and my head already hurts, but, i am not about to give up yet.

I like this thread a lot. Thank you. Will read again later and look in to a few of the subjects you brought up.