Best Practice Regimen

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Dubbbin

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Hey folks,

Curious from some of the more seasoned players what your practice regimen looks like. Is their a preferred amount of time to spend doing different activities? Also, what activities do you feel you gain the most insight from (e.g. Studying hands, Figuring odds, etc.)?

Currently I am reading "Dan Harrington on Hold Em" and playing micro-stakes SnG's mixed with cash games. I want to try and focus my game on SnG's leading into MTT's. As a beginner should I just grind as many hands as possible and ignore other ways to learn until I get a better feel for play at the tables?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Deuces
 
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Dubbbin

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122 views and no suggestions? Just looking for a little guidance here. Been on a downswing currently at $1 SnG's on Carbon. What's a good practice routine to work myself out of a losing streak at micro stakes like that?

Thanks in advance.
 
Poker Orifice

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Stick to one format (for awhile)

If it's going to be Sit'nGos, read either Collin Moshmanns SNG Strategy 'or'
Phil Shaw's Sit&Go book.
 
Kenzie 96

Kenzie 96

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Playing a lot of hands is seldom bad, but, how you tend to learn best is also important.
 
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lukeellul92

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read, practice, read, practice, practice and more practice...

Analyze your hands you lose, and your hands you win, make sure you played it well etc, ask for advice on hands here on this forum. Attend the pokerstars online school (its free). You'll notice your game skyrocket soon enough
 
fletchdad

fletchdad

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You should take all your particular personal habits, traits etc into consideration. Some need to simply play a lot of hands and have a natural talent at spotting what they need to spot (the elite few). Some need to look at the hands themselves, some need others to look at them, some need to read a lot, some need to make notes on what they read, some need to watch a lot of coaching vids...etc etc etc.

What do you need? Who knows..... It is a trail and error. IMO one thing that wont be a wast of time is any time spent on your part trying to find out what is best for you to improve.

Getting involved in hand history discussion is always a good place to learn. Post your hands as well, and read the rules and suggestions for posting so you get the most out of it.

A good beginning is to have some questions, maybe on a piece of paper by your PC. You ask yourself these anytime you do anything in a game.

General:

1. Why am I doing this? (calling, raising, folding) What is my goal on this street?

2. What is my plan for future streets?

vs specific situations:

3. How do I think my opponent will react if I bet or raise? What is my plan for each possible reaction, and why? If I will call a bet from any opponent, why would I rather call vs raising or folding?

If you cannot answer these questions when in a game, then there is a good place to start your learning. There are many other questions to consider as well, but this is a good place to start.

Any PO's statement above is good advice. Start with one game format at first.
 
TeUnit

TeUnit

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watch some training videos
play some hu hypers(good endgame practice)
play some sngs/mtts
review hands in sng wiz
post question hands in forum
lather rinse repeat
 
dj11

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Very peculiar thing about reading books; You need to have something to 'hang' what you learn on. If someone who never plays poker were to read a book like HoH he would barely be able to understand it, You need experience, via hands, to be able to understand poker lessons.

So get in a gazillion hands, and somewhere around half a gazillion hands start augmenting what you think with books, and videos.

I am one who advocates play money poker. Cheapest way to get in a gazillion hands. You can learn most of what you need to feel less vulnerable at cash tables (either ring or tourney). Especially useful for changing habits. Thing is you need to identify your own habits before you can change them, and the cheapest way to do that is via play money poker.

To be fair the learning curve will be slower than if you jump in with an open wallet, but you won't bore yourself being a losing player. My guess here is that many have jumped in with that open wallet, realized too soon that they were not going to put in the effort to improve, usually drastically improve, and mostly left the game. It can be done, but it is a more serious effort than learning to enjoy the game the way play money poker players do.

I have BR's on many sites, but the game I play the most is Zoom on Stars, for play money. The beginning levels of play money poker are tortuous. But once you figure out how to play the higher buy play money games, you will find better and better play.

Sorry if I got off track.
 
fletchdad

fletchdad

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It has been said a gazzilion times, but play money is not gonna help you get better playing people for real money. It will help yoo learn the basics of poker, but once you have them, adieu play money if your goal is to improve. Things like level thinking, fold equity, bet sizing and many others you simply will not encounter in play money like you will at real money tables. I know you disagree dj, but disagree or not, it is that way.
 
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seghill

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I found small S & G (9 handed) the best learning tool in my early days (as the practical side of my game) as it ensures you concentrate on one game at a time, most hands need to be considered and the playing of 3 person and 2 person final tables, as well as bubble play, becomes not a problem as you will have played these so often.
Book learning and internet learning also helps as does checking Mike Caro's daily comments
 
Fknife

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[..]

1. Why am I doing this? (calling, raising, folding) What is my goal on this street?

2. What is my plan for future streets?

vs specific situations:

3. How do I think my opponent will react if I bet or raise? What is my plan for each possible reaction, and why? If I will call a bet from any opponent, why would I rather call vs raising or folding?

If you cannot answer these questions when in a game, then there is a good place to start your learning. There are many other questions to consider as well, but this is a good place to start.

This is really good. Really, really good (I actually saved those questions on my HD, I hope you don't mind :) ).

It has been said a gazzilion times, but play money is not gonna help you get better playing people for real money. It will help yoo learn the basics of poker, but once you have them, adieu play money if your goal is to improve. Things like level thinking, fold equity, bet sizing and many others you simply will not encounter in play money like you will at real money tables. I know you disagree dj, but disagree or not, it is that way.

Defnitely against Play Money either. Some even say that everything below 25NL cash is not "real" poker also... IMO 2NL cash is a better way to start than PM "games" even if you lose some money at the beginning (I know I did).
 
Poker Orifice

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Don't waste your time on play money. It is not 'poker'.
 
fletchdad

fletchdad

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(I actually saved those questions on my HD, I hope you don't mind :) ).


Not at all, I am glad it appeals to you. I owe you some information anyway. You were quite generous with info for me a while back, as I am sure you remember.

I ask myself these questions a lot, but just as much, or perhaps more, I forget to pay attention or allow my mind to wander. I find when I do remember to not only ask, but to REALLY think about the answers - which is tricky at times, especially when I have a few tables going - I do make better decisions. I also find that I am more aware of my mental state and better able to make a decision to stop playing when I am tired or not in a concentrated mood or some such.
 
natsgrampy

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I think one of the best pieces of advice I can give from my tiny pool of knowledge is, don't be afraid to FOLD!!!!! Most players, myself included. tend to get into way too many hands. We find ourselves in hands we have no business in after the flop, and now our chips are in the pot.

Oh, never stop learning!!!!!! Look back at your hand histories and examine your losing hands and see what could have been done to either A. win that hand or B. not lose chips in the the hand
 
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ilostmysoul

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Some great advice above! Really awesome. Here are my 2 cents:

Poker is mostly a skill, and to nail a skill you need hours and hours of practise, along with some theoretical studying. A good ratio for most people is 4-to-1 (4 hours playing to 1 hour studying). Analyzing hands in particular should be done after every session.

When reading books you want to understand a concept and apply it to your next session, see whether or not it improves your game, and if you can apply it to the game successfully. While analyzing hands, you want to see what errors you made by analyzing all the possible scenarios and their consequences in a certain situation (ex. Call vs fold vs shove etc) and trying to read opponent's ranges, along as doing equity calculations (ex. Using Equilab to see if you were ahead against a certain range).
 
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RodrigoCL

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Yeah, great advice from everyone, I agree.
I am not a seasoned player, but I can definitely recommend PATIENCE. I don't think there is just "one-size-fits-all" in what you've asked. Some players do well with many hours of play and just a few minutes studying/analyzing (although I believe those are really the exception), others will do better by putting in more hours of study. Whatever it is your preferred method, DO include studying sessions.

Compare poker to chess. It's so easy to play poker (as it is to play chess). You just have to learn the value of the hands, some rules and you are ready to play, just as learning the movement of the chess pieces gets you ready to play a chess match. Will you be a good player though? The answer is no, definitely. Knowing the basics won't get you far in either game. Strategy learning is involved, as well as a lot of frustration, losses, and times when you will actually wonder if you should keep on trying.

No doubt there are gifted players out there that started playing poker and hit it big in the first year or so. But the rest of us humans need to put the extra effort that implies studying (really studying, not just "reading"). And that effort requires lots of patience.

As for me, I am in love with this game (or "sport" if you fancy that categorization). And if it pays out to study and get my brains into the scary math thing, I'm totally in! And I'm in since just a couple months now. So from a buddy who is just in a very similar position than you, that's my 2cents, go dive into the poker thing, and do it with effort and patience!!
 
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