Time it takes to get good

[KasyakoFF]

I've been playing for 7 years! and i'm still a bad player

 

[Matt_Burns88]

I was just wondering how much time it would take for a person to get the skill needed to be considered "good"

This is a question that gets asked quite a lot and people often expect to see answers in terms of weeks, or months, or years.

Actually, you should be thinking about it in terms of hands played. The reason being, Player A could sit down once a week to a live game and play 15-20 hands an hour for 4 hours for a year. At the end of the year Player A will have player approximately 3,640 hands, or 208 hours. Player B could play 4 tables online around 75 hands per table, per hour 8 hours a day, every day for a year. Player B will have played approximately 876,000 hands, or 2,920 hours, 240 times the number of hands played by Player A.

They've both played for a year, but player B is vastly more experienced, having played so much more poker.

This also doesn't take into account natural ability for the game, or time given to studying away from the table.

I would say that a player starting from scratch can become a good player within about 400,000 to 500,000 hands, or if you prefer - Player A will take about 123 years to become good, while Player B will take around 6 months.

 

[caracaski220]

caracaski220

some people have hte nack , and perfect it very quickly others take years, and others take years and still cant get it. Discussing with your player friends is a great help and study of the game is the most important.

 

[Spannerdeth]

Could that also depend on who you play poker with? You could be considered a good player to those who lose to you regularly, and a bad player to those who you lose to.

 

[Syltan]

It will take a completely different amount of time to achieve the result. It all depends on how willing you are to work hard on your game.

 

[Evan Jarvis]

I was just wondering how much time it would take for a person to get the skill needed to be considered "good"

It's not a question of time, it's a question of the quality of effort and learning you are putting in.

If you are going thru good courses (like the fr one here on cardschat) you will learn much faster than someone who is just playing and doing no review

You can become quite 'good' in less than a year certainly, but that would mean putting in many hours per week. If you are only putting in an hour or two each week it would likely take much longer.

I took about 3 months to start winning at poker in the beginning, but I was reading a ton of articles, strategy books, and watching lots of videos. I was probably putting in 4-6 hours pr day during that 3 month preiod.

So it totally depends on you and your approach :help:

 

[Evan Jarvis]

The length of time to "get good" is inversely proportional to the amount of effort put in. If you play one hour per week and don't study, you will never "get good".
You will need to *find your edge* and *identify your leaks*.
You will need to study as much away from the table as you spend at the table.
You will need to accumulate intel on your opponents (and this takes quite a long time to get a diverse and reliable data set.)
You'll need to identify the game which you have the greatest edge and perfect it.
This can be months to years to never.
You will require significant volume to get past the variance in order to be sure that your strats are working and that they will be effective in the long run.
Being the best in your monthly home game means very little in the context of *real* poker. (I am an example of that. I crush my friends because I have all the data and they just have a picture of who I am and how I play over the past 5 years. But in the past 6 months, I've started working, reading, playing more, taking notes and accumulating intel. So I win about 50% of our now weekly tourney's outright. But this means very little in the random games for me at present.
I'm still spending a bit more than I win. So basically, I'm still funding the global poker market. But there is a LOT of intel on this site. Both about the game, and about individuals. Every post made by a CC member is essentially giving away intel... This is a treasure trove. (But CC players are often growing and improving and so you cannot assume that the picture you build is entirely up to date.)

Best of luck.

Cheers,
ObbleeXY

Great post Obblee!

Thank you for sharing this

Glad to see you are crushing it. I remember that time when I started studying and getting ahead of my friends who weren't doing the same, it's a great feeling eh!?

Keep up the good work my friend!

 

[Evan Jarvis]

These are some variables that affect how long it takes to become an average winning player:
Time you spend playing poker;
Time you spend reading strategies;
Where you get your strategy from;
Your brain capacity and so and so.

It's a wide range I would say from months to years.

As the old master said: "Poker takes five minutes to learn but a lifetime to master." - Mike Sexton

Great list, Love it Rob!

 

[Poker Orifice]

When u can distinguish risk and reward.

Poker in not a hand or a tournament, but a bankroll.

I mean "good " is enough bankroll for every day of poker.

I find it ironic that you're even attempting to answer OP's question. :hahaha:

 

[ChickenArise]

My son has been playing 2 years with me coaching him. He doesnt have any desire to study out side of the hours he puts in playing and watching videos with me, but I am impressed with the solid foundation he has built. He has a good grasp of multiple concepts and can hold his own. He is positionally and range advantage aware.

He is putting in about 6-8 hours per week on average playing micro to low stakes Texas Hold Em Tournaments. We focus on exploitative and add in some GTO principles.

I can anticipate the future spots he will have trouble with, the problem is that they dont arise during play often enough to really tell if he can make the big folds when they do finally happen.

I do my best to make him aware of these tricky situations that he will surely encounter sooner or later.

We have not really reached a point where he can triple barrel bluff with full confidence but I consider this an advanced technique which makes one a beast but is not exactly needed to win.

At this pace in another 2 years he will be a force to contend with.

 

[suitedsadness]

I would probably guess if you play a lot of poker and focus your studying, you might be able to improve significantly in about 6 months, but obviously this depends how good you already are. If you have never heard of pot odds in your life, you might improve a ton overnight, for example.

 

[1nsomn1a]

each player has their own time, some have more, some have less, the main thing is never to stop learning, because there is no limit.

 

[pvenditto88]

I think it depends on your genetic ability. Someone who is very intelligent could learn very fast.