Studying cash game strategy?

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Tricky123bet

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I want to ask you guys how you study cash game strategy/poker in general?
I usually watch videos and analyze tricky hands I get into. I used to read a lot of articles, but that was mostly about basic concepts that I understand now (if you know of any semi-advanced articles applicable to the microstakes, feel free to point it out). I also take notes both when watching videos and analyzing my hands. How do you like to study, and do you have a special routine for it?

Also wanted to ask if anyone have watched The Poker Bank on Youtube, and if their older videos made in the years 2011-2014 are still good to watch?
 
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ccres

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Hi. Initially a book or two to get the basic concepts down (long ago). Since then for me hand reviews have made a huge difference, both reviewing my own hands and reading the hand reviews of other people.

If you're not doing so I strongly recommend following the 'Polished Poker Vol. I Study Group' thread in the Cash Games forum that John A started/administers. Lots of interesting hand reviews there.

Also the 'Aces2w1n The Sky is the Limit!' thread that Aces2w1n does in the Cash Games forum. Lots of hand reviews there as well, though it looks like that thread may be ended soon with the changes to online poker in Australia.

I come to on-line from live and both of those threads have helped point to some adjustments that I needed to make.
 
Sil3ntness

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I play a lot of 25 NL & 50 NL on WPN.

It becomes very tricky at those levels versus good players including many Russians. You really have to start being able to calculate range equities on the spot to stay competitive.

I also rail a lot of really good players online to try and understand their mindset throughout the hands they play. It's all about exploiting your opponents. Having the nuts obviously helps, but when you have 6 high on the river you got to know when firing that 3rd barrel is going to succeed or not. It requires experience, knowing your opponent, and knowing the right bluff/value combo proportions so you don't become too bluff heavy.

You can use CREV and PioSolver if you are truly diehard on balancing your gameplay, but that's a little overboard at the lower levels.
 
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Tricky123bet

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I play a lot of 25 NL & 50 NL on WPN.

It becomes very tricky at those levels versus good players including many Russians. You really have to start being able to calculate range equities on the spot to stay competitive.

I also rail a lot of really good players online to try and understand their mindset throughout the hands they play. It's all about exploiting your opponents. Having the nuts obviously helps, but when you have 6 high on the river you got to know when firing that 3rd barrel is going to succeed or not. It requires experience, knowing your opponent, and knowing the right bluff/value combo proportions so you don't become too bluff heavy.

You can use CREV and PioSolver if you are truly diehard on balancing your gameplay, but that's a little overboard at the lower levels.

Railing good players online sounds like a good way to improve, although obviously very time consuming, that's the first time I've heard that one. I watch twitch streams sometimes (like Pokerstaples and Tonka for example), but Twitch Poker is so dominated by tournament players, so it's not really as good content for cash players.

How many hours do you study per week, and what do you use to study? :)
 
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GreenHorn117

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I have yet to get a good cash game strategy. I do well in tournaments however after winning a small bankroll in the free-roll tournaments I go to cash side at .01/.02 and loose within an hour. Any ideas?:confused:
 
Sil3ntness

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Railing good players online sounds like a good way to improve, although obviously very time consuming, that's the first time I've heard that one. I watch twitch streams sometimes (like Pokerstaples and Tonka for example), but Twitch Poker is so dominated by tournament players, so it's not really as good content for cash players.

How many hours do you study per week, and what do you use to study? :)

I mainly study as I play (My PT4 Database). I do not play that many tables, so it allows me to review hands and watch hands when I'm currently not in a hand. However I also spend time watching high stake cash tables and $500 NL zoom just to see if I can find any standard lines to incorporate to my own game.

I have yet to get a good cash game strategy. I do well in tournaments however after winning a small bankroll in the free-roll tournaments I go to cash side at .01/.02 and loose within an hour. Any ideas?:confused:

Play fit or fold Tight Aggressive (TAG) style. Get a decent hand chart and follow it until you feel comfortable. Fold to aggression unless villain is a maniac. Playing ABC poker should get you through $.01/0.02.

3 barrel bluff at the microstakes in most cases is lighting money on fire unless you are against a thinking $.01/.02 regular player which is rare to find. Table selecting is also a good skill to learn. If you are playing against a group of people that are folding constantly and not splashing around in pots... LEAVE ASAP! There is no honor in battling other good players. The only true winner is the rake. The goal is to find the one or two fun players that came to donate their bankroll.
 
xkenjix

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Lots of online vidoes and even twitch has high stakes players
 
Masi2197

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I take notes from the leaders in chips as the final table approaches, I try to see their plays and their bets even if they are not on my table, and I pay enough attention to the players of my table with which hand they go and in which position
 
xkenjix

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Also lots of vlogs on cash game players on youtube, while theyre not to the end all be all, they go into depth about their hands and stratgies
 
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I study by playing. I play a lot and by playing I make experience. You can be better player only if you practice a lot. I suggest freerolls. :D Good luck
 
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Concept Of The Week on twoplustwo has a lot of good articles. 2013 is the newest though. Also The Poker Bank on youtube - think it's possibly the same guy who organised cotw
 
Dorugremon

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I want to ask you guys how you study cash game strategy/poker in general?
I usually watch videos and analyze tricky hands I get into. I used to read a lot of articles, but that was mostly about basic concepts that I understand now (if you know of any semi-advanced articles applicable to the microstakes, feel free to point it out). I also take notes both when watching videos and analyzing my hands. How do you like to study, and do you have a special routine for it?

So far, so good. You might want to try Ed Miller's Poker's One Percent. Don't take everything he writes about literally, as he does exaggerate sometimes.

Also wanted to ask if anyone have watched The Poker Bank on Youtube, and if their older videos made in the years 2011-2014 are still good to watch?
The Poker Bank is good, and, yes, the older vids are worth watching. Valid information is valid, and the game itself hasn't changed. It's more important to figure out how your opponents are playing right now, get a line on their play, figure out where the exploits are when you're playing a pot with them.

I play a lot of 25 NL & 50 NL on WPN.

It becomes very tricky at those levels versus good players including many Russians. You really have to start being able to calculate range equities on the spot to stay competitive.

Never played on WPN, so I can't say one way or the other. 25NL and 50NL on Carbon play exactly like 10NL, the only difference being that the fish at 25 and 50 have more to lose.

The fishiness of the play -- if anything -- is even more horrid at 50NL than what I've seen at 10NL. This applies especially to players who overplay over pairs and top pair, even if they don't have a decent kicker. I mean all-ins with these hands, and for deep stacks. Also, clueless players. I've seen the nittiest players come away with far more winnings than they were entitled to. They'll stack off against that guy, you know, the one who hasn't played a hand in two hours and now wants to bang it in. What do you think he has? Nuts, of course, or very close to it, and they'll just hand him their whole stack.

As for good players, I count two (excluding myself).

I have yet to get a good cash game strategy. I do well in tournaments however after winning a small bankroll in the free-roll tournaments I go to cash side at .01/.02 and loose within an hour. Any ideas?

Over how many hands/sessions? How are you getting beat? Are you getting out played, or are you losing stacks to suck-outs? If call all-in with a pair of aces after a (Q,T-o) that flopped a pair of queens with nothing else to go with them bangs it in deep and he binks a ten on the river, that's nothing. Just hope he keeps coming back and he never runs out of money. That's not a prob. If you are that guy, then there's a big problem. Keep overplaying pairs like that and you've got yourself a one-way ticket to Tap City.

Runbad can last a lot longer than you'd like. Last May, June and July positively SUCKED -- lost over half my 'roll. Flop straights and flushes and lose to runner-runner miracle draws, GII good with aces or kings and lose to flopped sets, lose every coin flip. I didn't fully recover until October. It happens, and there's nothing you can do about it except play through it while making certain you're not contributing to your misfortune by tilting.

If you are playing against a group of people that are folding constantly and not splashing around in pots... LEAVE ASAP! There is no honor in battling other good players. The only true winner is the rake.
No. You steal, steal, steal until they figure it out (if they ever do) then you leave. What you're describing here aren't good players, but weak, passive, nit-fish. I'll gladly stack these types, one big blind at a time. The rake is irrelevant if your site uses the no flop, no drop rule.
 
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Tricky123bet

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So far, so good. You might want to try Ed Miller's Poker's One Percent. Don't take everything he writes about literally, as he does exaggerate sometimes.

The Poker Bank is good, and, yes, the older vids are worth watching. Valid information is valid, and the game itself hasn't changed. It's more important to figure out how your opponents are playing right now, get a line on their play, figure out where the exploits are when you're playing a pot with them.

Thanks for your response, I'll check out Ed Miller for sure :)
 
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rushdaman

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I think the best way of studying cash games is not by reading a book or even playing in cash games yourself. I think the best way is too study how the big dawgs play cash games by just taking notes and watching a high stakes table( sb $5 bb$10) for hours.
 
Dorugremon

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I think the best way of studying cash games is not by reading a book or even playing in cash games yourself. I think the best way is too study how the big dawgs play cash games by just taking notes and watching a high stakes table( sb $5 bb$10) for hours.

No, just no. Emulating high stakes players at much lower stakes doesn't help. Those players are designing plays around the fact that they are against thinking players.

You don't want to be making plays that depend on a thinking opponent where the vast majority of your opponents are basically playing Group Solitaire, barely thinking about their own hands, let alone your possible holdings. At the Micros, I've seen two players who can level. The rest are doing things like calling off their entire stacks with gut shots, or worse than even that, just crazy stuff that defies explanation. I see the biggest nits get their nutted hands paid off because their opponents aren't even noticing that that guy who's now eager to play for stacks hasn't played a hand in two hours. You don't level the clueless and thoughtless: you show 'em the best hand and hope they don't show you a white blackbird.
 
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To avoid asking Harrington's questions like that again, everything is described. Every hand, how to play correctly, what to play with what is not, personal examples from large tournaments, final tables.
 
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pietpikel

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The biggest study in cash games is yourself. Cash, is slow dull and boring. You need to study how you react to different situations. What pisses you off, when do you get impatient. What sets you on tilt ? Who sets you on tilt ?

Easiest person to evaluate is yourself, and it is the only 100% thing you control.
 
dimon4ik89

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There are very useful books about poker such as

There are very useful books about poker such as:
1. Applications of No-Limit Hold 'em
by Matthew Janda.
2.The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky.
3.Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky.
4. HARRINGTON ABOUT HOLDEME by Dan Harrington.
And others. It is very useful to watch the world series of poker, the wsop, where you can see how professionals play different hands. And it is very useful to analyze your game after each tournament or games in the cache.
 
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Rational Madman

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Grind free money poker. Nothing teaches like trial and error, it is in the human DNA that mistakes are the best teacher.
 
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