Best thing youve done to help your poker career

cheverz

cheverz

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Atm I would say I'm a losing player at poker, but I'm slowly learning new things and improving my game. If you had to pick one key thing you've done in the past that has helped you to become a winning player what would it be?
 
Martingale

Martingale

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Tilt less, definately. I'm still in the process of learning this, started out as a kind of Hellmuth - Matusow love baby but by now have grown up to graduate from primary school.
 
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themosthigh

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Don't drink alcohol and play poker. When I first started playing I prob lost a couple thousand being a drunk idiot. Though live 2/4 limit with a bunch of other drunk people is fun.
 
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TIMNILES44

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agree with the dont drink and play but, what relly helps besides playing lots of live games as well as online is learning patience not playing too many hands!LEARN TO FOLD
 
shadow451

shadow451

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Best thing I've done is soak in as much as I can from anyone that had played seriously and was successful. And play tons of hands, because it helps you learn from mistakes then be ready for the situations as you are faced with them again.
 
the lab man

the lab man

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I Joined CardsChat and listened and followed the great advice here...You do have to sort thru some of it but you find it :D
 
PLAYINBIG

PLAYINBIG

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Endless hours of playing poker ,improved my game.Getting to be a better,winning MTT/cash player doesn't happen over 1 night or 1 game.
 
Poker Orifice

Poker Orifice

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Inquired about what might be the best poker books to read.
Acquired a poker book library & read many of them 3 & 4x.

It's hard to say ONE particular thing that helped me the most but I think by reading a bunch of the better (best?) poker books (for games/format I was interested in playing) it gave me a decent foundation to build upon.
 
Beanfacekilla

Beanfacekilla

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There are several things that I have learned over the years to become a better player.


The most important of all is understanding the importance of position (IMO).


Second is probably patience. Mistakes I see other players make is playing too many hands, and wasting chips chasing gutshots and open-enders with hands they should have mucked to begin with. Limping in, then calling a raise with rags, then check calling with thin draws and middle or bottom pair hoping to improve. Calling when they are not getting the right odds, etc.


Next would be not playing scared when you do have the goods. People will often test you. A skilled player may try to outplay you with nothing.


And last but not least, learn how to range people. It is very easy. It is just a different thought process than some players have by default. Instead of just going with your gut, always think about what they could hold. By the river, sometimes you can have your opponent on a range almost down to their exact 2 cards. It is very helpful. Bad players are often transparent.

Just my $0.02
 
MisterLongFace

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Originally Posted by Poker Orifice

Quit the pokerzz
 
P

Pokertron3000

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Stopped playing, mainly because I would just load up few games then surf the net or mass table trying to become a rb pro then get bored and tilt cash away. So I decided to quit for the most part apart from a step game here and there until I can become a real boy and lose my strings and save my creator from a whale. (oops I am watching ponochio with the kids).

Do not play unless you mean to concentrate, and that means on everything, when your not in a hand follow the game, the board textures and think about how you would play as if you where in the hand and try and put the other players on ranges and hands. After a while you will start seeing that you can place certain peoples ranges and sometimes the exact cards they have.

This is of course in addition to finding a game you like and researching it and finding the best players you can to bounce ideas off.
 
cdidit622

cdidit622

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I think there are many things that I have done and are still doing . First I started playing at poker rooms instead of my normal house games. House games are closer but poker rooms have more games, tables and tournaments. Also I tend to hang with people who I consider good players and ask for advice. I review my game everytime I play. I stopped drinking. I use forums , read books and YouTube a lot. I took a little break but I'm about to start back. I'm ready to take it where I should be!
 
Tropwen

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I would have to say reading would have to be the thing that changed how I played instantly just from all u learn cuz there's so much more than any beginning player can imagine about poker buy a good rated book about ether cash games or tournaments (cuz there is a very different approach for each) off Amazon for a few bucks and I guarantee you'll make ur money back
 
LCDaBoss

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Ithink the best thing for me that has really improved my game is coming to forums like cardscht and reading strategy articles and threads with hand history and studying how I should play and how others play and applied it to my game.
 
MediaBLITZ

MediaBLITZ

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Taking notes - and I don't mean on other players - but on myself and the hands I'm in that were a bit troublesome for further review later on. This really helps develop a thought process for hands.
 
T-Dubs82

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fwiw, what helped me most was simply playing, and reflecting on my play afterward. learning multiple games also helped me. learning all the games of 10-game amongst others seemed to help my nlhe in a strange way
 
Egon Towst

Egon Towst

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One of my biggest influences was the book "The Poker Tournament Formula" by Arnold Snyder. I don`t necessarily agree with everything written in it, but it has a lot of original ideas and original slants on old ideas. It is thought-provoking and it started me off on some deeper trains of thought which led to refinements in my game. I should probably say - it`s not a beginner`s book and probably isn`t appropriate unless you have already played a lot of tournaments.

In that connection, and as others have said, lots of practice is good, especially if you analyse your play after each session and search out areas for improvement.
 
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inflnlte

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I can't really say Ive had a career in poker but something that has really helped me is changing up my play and not to be so obvious. I try to make opponents think im reckless and avoid having them try to bluff me a lot. Other than, I think patience is one of the biggest keys in the game.
 
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carson

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heeellllllooooooooooooo up there!

constantly beat my head into a metaphorical brick wall with stupid play and bad beets:eek: yup i've done almost nothing other then enjoy the game. so for me maybe getting more involved. cc is helping me drag myself out of my hole. good thread, all these replys are a great because they make feel like a lazy azzhoe. In stead otherwords, it helps me realiize i spend too much time on the negative things that have happened (and happening:mad: ) in my life that make me anrgy. attitude DOES go a LONG way, so see :D i'm really trying to have a good one Now if i could only remember where i put my brain :icon_scra.
 
domeburglar

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Joining CC has made a huge difference in my game.. Ive learned so much in the short time ive been a memeber.. Things like im sooooo much worse at poker than i ever thought i was..

Got me to really analyze my game, watch poker training videos, read through hand analysis, just treat your poker game like anything else that you want to be good at..

In school, sports whatever you always study and practice as much as you can to become better
 
SicKBeATz

SicKBeATz

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I got poker fever again here recently and starting watching poker vid's on youtube. I came across a online tourny that had pearljammer shipping the Sunday Mill I think with commentary analyzing his hands and thought process, I watched/studied it start to finish. Then last night the 2nd or 3rd freeroll I've played in months took 1/4793 for a whopping $13.50 using some of the same strategies....I know life changing money right there

But the win along with the way I played and got lucky when I needed to, held up when I needed to, and timed my steals well, were all very satisfying.
 
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Hardcorecake

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My biggest problem when I first started playing when I won money I would become a fish. so take my br from 25 to 200 and would fish it all away. Could have considered me an artists because I became a drawing machine...treated the won money as free money. Anyway to a degree I still get looser the bigger my br gets but I recognize it a lot quicker and loses are minimal.
 
IntenseHeat

IntenseHeat

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I'd have to say forcing myself to read some of the poker books that I own has helped me to improve my game considerably. I always had the hardest time trying to get through them, because they seemed to be filled with information that I had already been taught, learned through experience or knew instinctively even if I had never articulated that knowledge into thoughts or words. Even though there was a wealth of knowledge contained in those books, and I have learned and continue to learn a lot from them, the most useful knowledge that I gained was of how others think about and play the game. This is why I do so well against "by the book" players and have tougher time with "unorthodox" ones.
 
tokie36

tokie36

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The biggest thing that i did to improve my game was to learn to play limit poker first. I became profitable and then start branching out no limit sngs mtt. The second thing i did was learn to play small pairs in position and how to get away from them when i wasnt in position
 
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