Starting to study

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Fire_Womble

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Hi all,
I have recently began to take my poker more seriously as opposed to just playing for fun, I have had some success and I'd say my poker has improved quite a lot. Ive cashed a reasonable amount of tournaments including three wins. I know the only way for me to start getting more consistent results and make myself a more profitable player is to start studying more, I read some articles online about situations I know I need to improve on and I watch quite a few youtube videos about certain spots. I realise this can only get me so far and I know I need to start doing some more structured studying. My question is where to start doing this and how do I structure this better. I know one area I need to improve on is putting my opponents on ranges as opposed to a single hand, how would you advise that I start improving on this in a structured way?
Thanks for your reply and sorry for the long winded question.

(In a less long winded way my question is how and where do I start to study?)
 
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5pAce_C0wb0y

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First you need to study your hand history to find any leaks or areas to improve. Once you have this find relevant material and read/watch it. Then start trying to implement what you have learnt into your game. Follow up hand history reviews until you are confident you have the concept nailed then start working on the next thing to improve
 
Nikolay Nakhaev

Nikolay Nakhaev

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The main thing to start is to teach yourself to sort out your mistakes after the game and draw conclusions.
Many people feel lazy and unwilling to spend time studying their mistakes. and then repeat them again.
This is a good starting point for learning and upgrading
 
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NickNation

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i think the most important thing to understand are ranges.. you can download snapshove for free and get an idea of what ranges should be played from what position.. i think theres 10x3 freebies per day...

and if you're really serious about studying id look into upswing poker lab, or raise your edge... or any program of your choosing that has not only good pros but a good community (its nice to have people to bounce ideas/hand history at)

if you're really serious about studying, treat poker "school" like a real education... pay for it, put time in.. study, do your homework... study more than you play - and never play without studying the positions afterwards.. if you're ever unsure about a hand, tag it for study later.. go over it alone, and then with others.
 
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agriggy

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Fire_Womble said:
Hi all,
I have recently began to take my poker more seriously as opposed to just playing for fun, I have had some success and I'd say my poker has improved quite a lot. Ive cashed a reasonable amount of tournaments including three wins. I know the only way for me to start getting more consistent results and make myself a more profitable player is to start studying more, I read some articles online about situations I know I need to improve on and I watch quite a few youtube videos about certain spots. I realise this can only get me so far and I know I need to start doing some more structured studying. My question is where to start doing this and how do I structure this better. I know one area I need to improve on is putting my opponents on ranges as opposed to a single hand, how would you advise that I start improving on this in a structured way?
Thanks for your reply and sorry for the long winded question.

(In a less long winded way my question is how and where do I start to study?)
Click to expand...

Read some books by Doyle Brunson, he ilistrates well.
 
mitroff

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It is better to start not with articles, but more thoroughly and sometimes combine with the game or the analysis of hands. pokerstars has a good, and most importantly, free poker school. I advise you to try. And most importantly, what do you think about learning, and not just playing.
 
dedok0525

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Be sure to read the Little Green Book and Simple Poker Math. This will help you to take a fresh look at poker as a game from the perspective of a professional.
 
Luvepoker

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There are so many option to help you it will just depend on what way you want to learn. Since you say your just beginning this journey I would suggest reading Jonathan Little's tournament book series. Great book and great groundwork to start the journey for you.

Side not, be careful what you are watching on you tube. Not all people showing you how to play are winning poker players.

I do agree with the post above about the poker stars school being a great choice. The videos are from the Poker School Online site that was pretty popular in the 2005-2008 range. I played and learned from there and started to become a winning player from there.
 
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Fire_Womble

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5pAce_C0wb0y said:
First you need to study your hand history to find any leaks or areas to improve. Once you have this find relevant material and read/watch it. Then start trying to implement what you have learnt into your game. Follow up hand history reviews until you are confident you have the concept nailed then start working on the next thing to improve
Click to expand...

When you say study hand history how would you advise doing that? I guessing but sit down and analyse how I could have played it better etc, also how do you go about selecting the hands youre analysing, I can see the obvious ones like hands that you lost a chunk of your stack in a spot that was a bit iffy but aside from losing hands how do you select them? Once Ive selected hands I want to review, how would you suggest going about reviewing them, what structure do you use and is there any software aside from equilab that you can suggest that would help me out?
 
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Fire_Womble

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agriggy said:
Read some books by Doyle Brunson, he ilistrates well.
Click to expand...

As it happened my flatmate bought one of Doyle's books today, will be sure to give it a read. Cheers
 
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5pAce_C0wb0y

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Fire_Womble said:
When you say study hand history how would you advise doing that? I guessing but sit down and analyse how I could have played it better etc, also how do you go about selecting the hands youre analysing, I can see the obvious ones like hands that you lost a chunk of your stack in a spot that was a bit iffy but aside from losing hands how do you select them? Once Ive selected hands I want to review, how would you suggest going about reviewing them, what structure do you use and is there any software aside from equilab that you can suggest that would help me out?
Click to expand...

If you'd like I'd be happy to do a study session with you and take you through the steps I take. My method is developed from hand history reviews with Simon Deadman and Arran Fletcher so is pretty well thought out.
 
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Fire_Womble

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5pAce_C0wb0y said:
If you'd like I'd be happy to do a study session with you and take you through the steps I take. My method is developed from hand history reviews with Simon Deadman and Arran Fletcher so is pretty well thought out.
Click to expand...
Id be very interested in this what type of thing would it consist of?
 
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xy23

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Flopzilla. It's quite an amazing tool for hand analysis off table.
After using this tool several times, it'll help you imagine the enemies ranges even when at the table.
 
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5pAce_C0wb0y

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Fire_Womble said:
Id be very interested in this what type of thing would it consist of?
Click to expand...


We can go through a sample of your hand history and I'll show you how to break the hands down to find where mistakes have been made and how to spot patterns of mistakes to form a study plan of areas to work on.
 
Benclarky1

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Im also in the same situation myself. I am currently reading the mental game of poker by jared tendler he covers 3 main concepts of studying not only mental game but on your poker game too, he also mentions that the concepts can be used irl if your interested in that also, worth a try.
 
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HaroldHouse

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Jonathan Little has some free content on ranges, videos and articles. Check out his website or pokercoaching.com. I have 3 of his books now from emails he sends trying to get me to buy a subscription to his sites.
Structuring learning has gotten easier for me since I joined pokerstars school. They have several courses with articles, videos, and quizzes.
I get all the free content I can, so I also download stuff from upswing poker and raise your edge. You can join for free and keep getting some free stuff along as they try to get you to pay for classes.
 
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Message "8

Mail books about the mathematics of poker, hand selection, and generally read more about poker at your leisure and learn everything will be even better than now gain experience in all aspects of the game. Good luck.
 
liuouhgkres

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Don't read Doyle Brunson's book, it is a waste of time. First and foremost, find preflop opening, 3betting and flatting ranges and memorize them. From there, get a flopzilla for postflop analysis.
 
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AJantwan

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liuouhgkres said:
Don't read Doyle Brunson's book, it is a waste of time. First and foremost, find preflop opening, 3betting and flatting ranges and memorize them. From there, get a flopzilla for postflop analysis.
Click to expand...

It sounds so simple. Any suggestions on where to find good preflop opening charts? Ones that take into account that you're playing tournament poker, not cash?

So you would need a different chart for playing on the button with 15BB vs 25BB vs 40BB. I have found very little that addresses MTTs and differing stack sizes.
 
liuouhgkres

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AJantwan said:
It sounds so simple. Any suggestions on where to find good preflop opening charts? Ones that take into account that you're playing tournament poker, not cash?

So you would need a different chart for playing on the button with 15BB vs 25BB vs 40BB. I have found very little that addresses MTTs and differing stack sizes.
Click to expand...

I think you can find decent opening ranges online for free, but I don't think you can find good 3-betting and flatting ranges for free. The best way for you would be to buy these ranges from a poker coach. Trust me, it worth it and I don't think coaches would ask for huge money.
 
johnhopkins

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learning from the threads

Enjoy reading the responses of experienceced players. Learning a lot but a long way to go.
 
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psuedosuited

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NickNation said:
i think the most important thing to understand are ranges.. you can download snapshove for free and get an idea of what ranges should be played from what position.. i think theres 10x3 freebies per day...

and if you're really serious about studying id look into upswing poker lab, or raise your edge... or any program of your choosing that has not only good pros but a good community (its nice to have people to bounce ideas/hand history at)

if you're really serious about studying, treat poker "school" like a real education... pay for it, put time in.. study, do your homework... study more than you play - and never play without studying the positions afterwards.. if you're ever unsure about a hand, tag it for study later.. go over it alone, and then with others.
Click to expand...


What are your thoughts on varying play against different stack sizes?
 
MatMackenz

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Many good free resources online, such as Cardschat, Pokerstars School and Youtube. You will also find many great free articles from upswing poker aswell.

Make sure what you are studying is related to the specific game you are playing. The strategy for cash game and MTT is very different, since you have various stack sizes, blind levels payout structures and antes that come into play.
 
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