Ways to Improve Your Poker Skills

[milencenov]

Books - yes (mostly articles, actually).

Videos - yes.


Poker friends - yes, they are really very, very helpful.


Poker forums - yes, but I confirm the validity of the downsides mentioned in the article.


Coaching - no. In my view, if someone is good in poker, he just plays the game and wins money. He doesn' need to earn money by coaching.


Learning math - no. I simply have no problem with odeling scenarios and computing probabilities. And math is neither hard, nor too scary to learn.


If you say "I love poker, but I suck at math", this is the same as "I love to drive an airplane, but I'm afraid of heights".

 

[damgold]

Read books watch vídeos about poker play a lot and learn from mistakes is the best way to improve your game.

 

[natsgrampy]

Harrington on Holdem. Read these 3 volumes in conjunction with time spent on the felt. The one thing any book can't teach is patience. This is a must and needs to be self taught as you play.


When I first started playing, it was very common for me to get eliminated from tourneys in 15 minutes. I would very rarely make it through the first hour. I registered in a tournament one evening and wasn't able to play a single hand. It was the best finish I ever had. This really taught me a valuable lesson on patience I still practice to this day.

 

[Debi]

Harrington on Holdem. Read these 3 volumes in conjunction with time spent on the felt. The one thing any book can't teach is patience. This is a must and needs to be self taught as you play.


When I first started playing, it was very common for me to get eliminated from tourneys in 15 minutes. I would very rarely make it through the first hour. I registered in a tournament one evening and wasn't able to play a single hand. It was the best finish I ever had. This really taught me a valuable lesson on patience I still practice to this day.

That is definitely something that it is important to master.

 

[Dejange]

Me as most of the CC members above, relying on reading strategy articles, watching videos on YouTube and practicing a lot.Discussing hands - not so frequently, I must omit. But if it is a matter of interesting hand or hand played in CC League team or from a staking thread - yes!
I think that forming a clear mindset and keeping it balanced during the tourneys is also very important. If you put feelings in your games and what could be worse - to show them on the table, then you are totally finished...
Reading and discussing weekly articles here is also some kind of education and way of improvement! That is why I like these challenges so much :top:

 

[demibar]

the most important is take the poker seriously no matter what articles you have read ,video ,training with a coaching etc you have to be focus ,needs also time to get the experience and believe in yourself to be a shark .I have read CC articles and watch some video it helped me but i have learned too from my experience and my bad decisions.

 

[whiskers77]

Thanks again for this nice article, I am using several possibilities to learn so far, like this forum, like youtube or other websites about poker strategies.
But what is honestly really new to me is using twitch as a mean of learning. Maybe I am too oldschool and I never did, but I will definetly do. Thanks for the tip CC!

 

[malakata19]

One of the things that has helped me most is to see the amount of ideas and opinions in our forum .. CC ... about the different situations that are presented to us, but I definitely can not leave behind two important aspects: the videos especially of analysis of hands and talking about my brother with the hands that we have played and what mistakes we have made and sometimes we have had differences in our opinions which forces me to look for the basic concepts of certain strategies in an article or in a book on our forum to make valid my comments.
The coaching part I have not considered for the moment, I base my preparation on analyzing as critical as possible my hands or those of other people. Excellent article I really liked it.

 

[Marj651992]

I've learned to be patient and study the other players first so i do a lot of folding

 

[mjarom21]

For me the most challenging part is not just learning the fundamentals and advanced strats, but to also stay disciplined. These go hand in hand and make you the best poker player you can be. I would say being sound minded and thinking logically in a table will help you a lot more than knowing what to do in a few tough spots.

 

[GRIN281289]

the most important thing that helps me to play is a sense of victory before the cards are dealt. watched a lot of games professionals EPT. also helps me analyze their hands after the game. in order to play well it is necessary to spend a lot of game but we must not forget to take breaks, day , week or even month. good luck to you at the tables, have fun playing

 

[playinggameswithu]

Think deeply about the game take each action slow there is a lot of present and future information to process. Review hands. Hire a non-loser coach or get coach videos from winning famous pros.

 

[demibar]

i like poker watching video ,participate on CC ,read articles its the way i improve my game i believe also that experience of each game is also valuable for me playing poker its learn and have fun .

 

[vpashuta]

I read books and play, alot! I often analyze all my losing hands to see what I should have done differently, if anything. I usually am able to identify my error and make notes not to make the same mistakes, though I find I have been making many of the same mistakes rover the last 13yrs. Guess I'm a slow learner.

 

[Tulipaneiro]

To win any poker tournaments is many ways. The most factor is luck - without luck you can win. To improve my skill's I just play. human learns on his own mistake's. When I do some mistake I remember that and It never would be again

 

[hochido]

Improving

Johnathan Little's audible books

 

[Ivansito26]

in poker it is very important to study from time to time and also watch videos of professional players, to improve your game takes time, not only read and ready, we must start with tournaments where there is more variance and low levels and through improvements go up level, there are players who do not read or study but are born with that gift of gaanr and know how to read the opponents, but every day we must continue looking for ways to improve our game ..

 

[Tulipaneiro]

in poker it is very important to study from time to time and also watch videos of professional players, to improve your game takes time, not only read and ready, we must start with tournaments where there is more variance and low levels and through improvements go up level, there are players who do not read or study but are born with that gift of gaanr and know how to read the opponents, but every day we must continue looking for ways to improve our game ..

Specially for variety your game ;]

 

[es530]

Well, I studied, I already read, I analyze my hands, I think of the game, I talk about the game, and now none of this worked for me. Maybe there is not any talent in me that I begin to doubt that whoever does everything right in the long run is rewarded since I started whenever I'm playing correctly when it arrives on the final stretch they put me on a bad move, it may seem like a regret, but no, I know this happens to everyone, but these things always hurt my next tournament and it has become an empty cycle.

 

[wilywiles]

I mix my time up between videos and books. Daniel negreanu has a book that is a good source called small ball that fits well into a long-term strategy for tourament poker. I say long-term because in tournament poker, you are not gonna cash everytime. its about finding a strategy revolved more around survival than trying to hit big with big hands. The whole philosphy of small ball is to win more pots while keeping them cheap. The reason in because you will keep your losses cheaper and you will catch the aggressive opponents in traps in situations like checking top pair. But anyways.... I also like watching live streams. Poker is a various complex game with so many scenarios that there is really no one way to prepare for a certain situation. Watching the decisions top players make by watching their streams is an effective way to pick up adding ploys to the arsenal

 

[eberetta1]

In order to learn how to play well, you need to practice a lot. Play online, live at the tables, with friends, with ordinary people. And simultaneously study the technique of playing from different sources. PokerStars has a good poker school.

Yes, pokerstars school was incredibly helpful in teaching me important poker concepts. Did not mind the $5000 freerolls I'd get each month completing their courses, either.

 

[wilywiles]

That article definitely had some good resources in it. I had to bookmark the last for of the bottom of the page because I know they will be useful, the poker hand charts really simplify things. Also the atricle brings up good points about adding a mathematical approach to the game versus strictly intuition. I think that is definitely what my game could use. A better understanding to the deeper mathematics going on as far as achieving maximum equity on good hands. So far, most of my studying comes in the form of wathcing live poker over the streams. I like doug polk's youtube channel. He has a pretty good understanding of the game and watching his live stream the other day sort of reinvigorated confidence in my strategies. As far as books go, a good one I read was small ball by daniel negreanu.

The small ball approach revolves mostly around the concept of playing a lot of pots but keeping the pot cheap, taking advantage of situations for marginal sized pots rather than playing with the appraoch of trying to maximize value from each pot you play.


Tournament poker is a great way to practice your poker fundamentals.

 

[The_Times]

Well, as for me I think that the most useful thing to do would be to play with a much stronger player, or to watch their live games. It is said - if you want to improve yourself you should play with a stronger opponent. It is true for poker as well, but obviously you will loose your money, and that's a problem)May be reading books will be useful as well.

 

[king11682]

Almost every player would benefit from some study, but some players will learn primarily from sitting down and playing a ton of hands.
Poker is a game of improvement over time
And the analysis and the study are fundamental

 

[bablovod]

most interesting for me, in this guide I found in articles, chances for dummies, bankrolls and discipline. odds are what we expect from any hand. to figure out whether to bet or just throw away your cards. I never thought that the chance to collect a good hand is 4:1 and the monster hands are 10:1. of course, mathematics is an exact science, but during the game a person is guided most often by what he sees in his hands. if he sees ACE, he's like a tank, even if the Board is empty. if the average couple, then at all shoves his. based on a personal example. as for the bankroll, I still can't use it properly, but I will learn this science alone. discipline is tied to the points above the strongest ties. while it is generally beyond my control. quoting the author, " Easier said than done."Yes, it is. I wish myself patience in this painstaking teaching.