i know the best way to get better at poker is to both play and study- but how much time should you be doing both things?
Should you study more than play or play more than study?
Getting experience is just as important as learning the game, so what’s the fine line in between both?
Your thoughts?
This is a pretty good question to ask Tim. I play poker as a profession and I'll give you my honest opinion on this.
How much you study can be determined on how seriously you take the game of poker. If you're just an occasional recreational player for example, you wouldn't necessarily have to study for hours and hours and hours. On the other hand though, if you're taking poker quite serious, maybe even playing poker to earn an income of sorts, I'd recommend studying quite a bit on and off the tables. I would advise anyone who plays poker seriously, and wants to progress their skills and up their game, to study off the table for a few hours per day. I myself would say am pretty good at Poker. Over time, I've become a better poker player thanks to studying. Before I even started studying poker, looking into all the different mechanics of the game, I thought myself to be a good poker player. Truth be told, I wasn't nearly as good as I thought I was. I remember there was a time, I didn't even know what all the positions people were playing, like UnderTheGun for example lol.
If you were to ask any professional poker player, they would tell you they've studied A LOT! Also there's different ways to study and everyone is different. For example some people can read instructions on how to do something, and be able to do it themselves first try, no problem. Others could look at instructions and be lost, but if shown how to do it physically one time, BAM they've got it down too now. You will have to find what study methods are best for you.
To answer your question though, I would suggest studying weekly, on and off the table. I myself study a few hours per day, but I also play cash tables daily. I also often go over key hands I've played, like maybe I lost $1000 in one hand... I'll go back to that hand history, and go over it and see what I could have done differently. What I might have done wrong, etc... Studying is an important aspect of the game if you want to become better at the game. I wouldn't recommend "Trial by Error", like playing all day, and learning from losing... Because you could prevent yourself potentially from losing as much, if you study.
You do learn a lot about "
online poker" from experience though, from playing. So it is good to play often too. You'll notice a lot of patterns in online playing. For example, in Online Free-Rolls, you'll often see people going all in and playing sloppy, left and right, in the beginning of the tournament. I simply look at this early stage of the the game, as "Weeding out the Amateurs". Because you can get into a Free-Roll for Free, you'll see a lot of "Rookies" playing bad in the beginning. But once you get down to In The Money "ITM", or closer to the Final Table, You'll notice how much different the game play is. People are playing more "By the Book" or making more reasonable plays.
At the end of the day, it all depends on you, and how much time you have to put into studying, and how serious are you taking poker. Some people play for fun, some play occasionally/recreation, some play literally for a living. Again, I would definitely suggest studying away from the tables. Studying away from the tables, helped my game X100. There's even some good study guides here at CardsChat, some good chapters to go over, and it even helps explain how much you should study, why, etc...
I hope you have Good Luck, on and off the Tables Tim. Sorry this was kinda long, but there's no specific answer to your question. I can't say, "Study 5hours a day, and play for 4". Good Luck though Tim, I wish the best.
PS. I'm going to add here a GREAT STUDY GUIDE, that CardsChat provides. Looking over this stuff alone, will help you to understand A LOT.
https://www.cardschat.com/poker-strategy.php
Sincerely,
ason
