Most important thing that improved your game?

Hi,

What is the most important thing you learned about the game and would like to pass on to new players like myself? Imagine that you were teaching yourself when you first started playing, what would you tell him? And what to focus on more and what not to focus on?

Hi stargeezer,

I think that all the concepts of poker are important and are related in learning poker, then there are common concept and different strategies related to the specific poker game: cash, sits & go, tournament, etc.

I recommend that you to start with the 30 days Poker Course of CC which is very complete:
"Become a winning poker player in 30 days". You can find it at the poker strategy at the menu above or in this link:
https://www.cardschat.com/become-a-winning-poker-player/

Enjoy it and improve your game!
Cheers!

my most important thing was learning the hands with which to watch the flop! studied the table and the game has improved 2 times !!

Patience, analysis of your game and the game of opponents in specialized programs, release from thoughts during the game.

Most important for me was the preflop action. Which hands to raise, 3-bet, 4-bet jam etc. After that comes understanding ranges for you and villain which will help you in preflop but also postflop.

I learned a lot by observing professional players, how they play, what behavior they use, etc., e.g. by streaming on twich.

stargeezer said:

Hi,

What is the most important thing you learned about the game and would like to pass on to new players like myself? Imagine that you were teaching yourself when you first started playing, what would you tell him? And what to focus on more and what not to focus on?

Click to expand...

For new player, need to know the hand strength, different table position, poker terms like pre-flop, flop, turn, river, etc. so you can understand well what you are reading and hearing.

In my experience, you learn a lot about poker in practice,even so tips like playing a small number of hands, being aggressive, and knowing when to fold a bluff can help

Hi, very good question.
I was starting a few years ago just reading articles about strategy, rules, basic tips and i just try understand it and write into my brain, then i started read some advanced strategy and finally then i started watching a videos about poker which help me a lot.
Strong, solid basics are most important. You must have solid base for building up and up your knowledge. Because that not enought just learn something, you must understand it!!

Probably what helped improve my game was staying within my bankrolls spending limits in terms of bankroll management. I would have times that I would deposit a hundred or two hundred and run it up to a couple grand, just to spend it on games that did not line up with having proper bankroll management and eventually going through all the winnings. Took me a few tries but at least I learned from my mistakes.

Patience, a lot of it. and only play when well rested, mind and body. Maturity.

Accepting the fact that there are no shortcuts or systems to help you get better faster. You have to put in the time and work.

Really Good Question

stargeezer said:

Hi,

What is the most important thing you learned about the game and would like to pass on to new players like myself? Imagine that you were teaching yourself when you first started playing, what would you tell him? And what to focus on more and what not to focus on?

Click to expand...

Be prepared to FULLY APPRECIATE OVER TIME the following famous quote from Mike Sexton:


You are about to embark on a continual state of learning and game refinement. I believe that there is not a "One Size Fits All" solution on how to maximize YOUR poker results. Of course there are the basics such as hand rankings, basic odds and position (this one takes a little longer to appreciate, just trust that what you read is true) that you should have a good grasp on as quickly as possible. After that you need to FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. All players have some natural tendencies on the spectrum of Aggression vs. Tightness. If you are too far towards either end of the spectrum you are going to have to train yourself to implement a few "control points" or "tricks" to move yourself just a little bit more towards the center in order to make your results more consistently repeatable (ie- good cards or bad / good luck or bad).

I digress, so the key in my opinion is to figure out how best to accelerate the learning curve? Playing Poker is necessary and helps. Reading about Poker whether it be on forums or books, is important and helps generate new ideas. Watching Poker is interesting and helpful. However, to me the most important and individually relevant ingredient is evaluating your own results. At a minimum, make a few notes after each game played as to why you feel you won or lost, what worked and what did not work. This will assist you in minimizing repeat mistakes, and reinforce behaviors that worked. Also, when you hit the inevitable losing streak, and you are scratching your head wondering what you are now suddenly doing wrong, this will give you something to refer back to and help get you back on track as quickly as possible.

In summary, TRUST THAT A LITTLE DISCIPLINE WILL PAY DIVIDENDS. Control the urge to play-play-play (easier said than done, of course). Striking a balance between playing and structured learning, will accelerate the poker learning curve.

Best of Luck At the Tables All,

CheezeWiz

Start with learning a good fundamental game of poker. Learn what position is and what hand ranges are. Keep building on the basic foundations and never stop trying to improve. If you study a lot and analyze your game you would be surprised on the results.

For me, for sure it was my patience in the game at the beginning, I made very precipitating decisions that I had to win soon and it is not like that and a game of patience has to know how to wait for the right time for each move

what helped me a lot to evolve in poker was when I started to study a range of hands, it facilitated in some decisions.

Losing my bankroll twice due to not moving down when running bad and tilting. Now I'm ready to build my br again.

learn for first improve your game take control and etc

To become good at poker you have to REALLY want to succeed because you are going to have to put in alot of time to work on and improve your game. One of the absolute best things you can do for your game is to find/create a group of yourself and few people and study poker at LEAST once, if not twice a week.

After i had the basics down i did TONS of research from all the resources of free content i get ahold of. I read plenty of books and watched tons of concept videos, posted hands on here for review, etc. and eventually what happened was i absorbed all of the content i could and basically reached a standstill with my game as a whole. I joined a study group which i immediately loved and it was surely helpful. I knew I played well, but I also recognized my results were not where i wanted them to be. Recognizing this reality was immensely helpful, and though i played decently on some level back then, I was nowhere near as good of a player then as i am now. How did I achieve that? Well, for me personally, the BEST thing i ever did for my game hands down, bar none - was to get coaching.

The reality for grinders, both MTT and Cash alike, is that as we move up, skill sets in the general population improve and so there comes a time where if we are going to succeed at higher levels - we are going to need insight from those who are already beating those levels and in reality that information just doesn't come free. Coaching focuses on you as an individual and the mistakes you are making as a player, it tailors to you specifically rather than being part of a mass content training site -- not that they don't work, because on many levels they certainly do, but nothing compares to content solely focused on you personally.

As a whole, i would say for most micro games and even a lot of mid level MTTs and such that the available free content and the 30 day course here on CC are viable resources to get you playing well enough to beat these games -- the harsh reality is that as we move up in stakes -- there are more players putting in more work, studying VERY hard and working with tons of tools multiple days a week to obtain and keep an edge in their fields. Beating those games will require the same amount of understanding and game dedication for us to become profitable at higher stakes. I cannot speak for cash levels, but i believe a lot of MTT games $22 and higher are where we start seeing a decent few regs out there CRUSHING these games and without being on their level, its just going to be much harder for us to find the victory vs that edge of the field.

Hope this makes sense, and i hope this helps!

I particularly think that you have to respect your opponents.
not sitting around thinking you are the best player and especially considering the other complete idiots.
I believe that starting there your game will improve considerably, I say from my own experience.

So cool to have this community and the members are so helpful.

I took a month in playing poker without studying or learn any poker, it was stressful and no it didn't turn well at all. However, i did learn a lot and now i need to follow all the advice you guys have given me.

I will start the 30 day course cardschat provides.

Hope this will start something good! As i have only time to kill. 24/7 poker =)

Cheers all and Cardschat

The most important thing for me is patience.Waiting better times often saved me from crushes.

Honestly? The one thing that improved my game the most? Most important?

Lol. Definitely won’t be popular here but here it is.

I’ve talked a few times about past poker forums and the shit that was believed inside those forums. One favourite was “pocket aces should never lose and if they do, you got clowned by a donkey”

Other forums had ridiculous concepts on post flop play. How you should fire off big big overbets when you have as much as second pair because “it scares other players who won’t call a big bet with ace-rag”

This forum in particular seems to believe that freerolls offered by CC are somehow better than other places and will magically improve your game.

The advice, the one thing that improved my game the most........I stopped believing that random players on other forums were better than I was. I stopped trying to implement every stupid piece of advice that I read to my own game.

Poker is a game of constantly changing, moving parts. To believe that ONE WAY is the lock safe sure fire way to do every move at the table every time is definitely negative EV.

stargeezer said:

Hi,

What is the most important thing you learned about the game and would like to pass on to new players like myself? Imagine that you were teaching yourself when you first started playing, what would you tell him? And what to focus on more and what not to focus on?

Click to expand...

The most important thing I learned was to stay focused.
I used to have the TV on, texted on my phone, checked emails, had CC open...then I'd wonder why I was knocked out of the Tournament!
Now I have one focus with NO distractions. Everything else can wait.
Are distractions an issue for you? I was pleased at how much my game improved.
Hope this helps.
C.

Psychology is underrated in online poker and is a major edge booster rather than the strategy where everyone is more or less the same.