how do u take your game to the next level?

Ive been playing poker for about a year and a half, and I consider myself an average to above average player. I play a lot online( don't prefer to play this way) and have a home game about once a week. I feel like my game is not improving anymore and I am looking for some advice on how to improve my game....So for all of you veterans, what took your game to the next level??

Disclaimer i am a fish. There are so many areas of my game that need improvement i feel it's hopless. but, here are some ideas that might be useful.

Memorize every hand the guy to your left and the guy to your right show down. If you can allready do the whole table, my hat's off to you.

Call every flop for an hour. or for 100 hands. Bonus challenge: don't go broke.

{i forgot this one}
Play a few sit n go's with tape on the screen, so you can't see your cards.

Originally Posted by Mark twain

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.

I'd bet you're very good at avoiding difficult situations. Now, you have to find difficult situations and get yourself out of them.

Very good advice - fits right in with what I plan to try once I feel my ship is well patched.

- Jeffrey

Get good at figuring out what other players are holding. If you can do this well, the rest of poker is fairly obvious. I almost always try to guess what my opponents are holding during every stage of the hand so I know how best to play my cards.

find where ilikeaces plays and copy him exactly for as many hours a day as you can.

Originally Posted by Greedo017

find where ilikeaces plays and copy him exactly for as many hours a day as you can.

Thank you...Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by ilikeaces86

Originally Posted by Greedo017

find where ilikeaces plays and copy him exactly for as many hours a day as you can.

Thank you...Thank you very much.

by the way...

where DOES ilikeaces play? Wouldn't mind watching some FTR ownage at the $1/$2 tables

-Chris

Originally Posted by Sykedupp

by the way...

where DOES ilikeaces play? Wouldn't mind watching some FTR ownage at the $1/$2 tables

-Chris

Partyskins, I'm not sure if he wants to get his screen name to be known by everyone.. so PM him.

Oh, no 1/2, he's playing NL1000 with 5/10$

Easiest way to take your game to the next level? Find a warp zone.

Sorry pokerja3, the princess is in another castle!

Since nobody else seems willing to answer this in a reasonable way I guess I'll give it a shot.

#1 Pick your game
Do you like to chase?
do you like to play solid?
How can you make this pay?
Answer these questions and figure out your style. I'm LAGG. Love to play draws and bluff WAY too much for my own good. But I play NL for 2 reasons...I can play the players & I seem to know when to fold.

#2 The best way to take your game to a winning level is by playing the player. If you raise and they show weakness...capitalize. winning small pots often are what seperates the good players from the break even players.

#3 Play to win
Dont show weakness and only show down hands you are willing to show.
Hope this helps a little

Saxton says: Get good at figuring out what other players are holding. If you can do this well, the rest of poker is fairly obvious. I almost always try to guess what my opponents are holding during every stage of the hand so I know how best to play my cards



The above is good advice and can be difficult to do online since so many people aren't paying as tight attention to the game as they would at a live table.
Consider this: Look at one of your online sites' tables without playing it (your level or higher) and,
for fifteen minutes, guess what hands people are playing and see if you were right when they show.
If you're good at guessing this, you're well on your way.

Originally Posted by ville18

Originally Posted by Sykedupp

by the way...

where DOES ilikeaces play? Wouldn't mind watching some FTR ownage at the $1/$2 tables

-Chris

Partyskins, I'm not sure if he wants to get his screen name to be known by everyone.. so PM him.

Oh, no 1/2, he's playing NL1000 with 5/10$

$1/2, $5/10... its all the same.... just more money... :P

-Chris

just think about every time you had a set, or AA, and played it correctly, and the whole table folded without seeing your hand....

play the same way with 7,2 once in a while, preferrably after showing down some strong hands.

Originally Posted by poskid_1982

If you raise and they show weakness...capitalize. winning small pots often are what seperates the good players from the break even players.

I think you need to learn the players who show actual weakness. I would argue that a player like me, who uses the rope-a-dope (harrington's term) or weak bet trap technique, would have a hayday with a player like you.

I think the biggest thing you can realize as a player who is trying to take the next step up is mainly through experience. You can always be seeking new information and teachings but the real importance is how you integrate that into your game. This should be slowly and cautiously.

What I would suggest now that you're expressing the desire to boost your game is to get serious about introspection. Read through your hand histories and vigorously evaluate them. When you have a big loss, it's easy to call them all bad beats but is that what really happens? Introspection and total honesty with yourself (knowing and admitting your weaknesses) is what will make you a better player.

The other big improvement method which has been previously mentioned is watching good players. Good players are living proof of methods that work; they woudn't be good otherwise. OBVIOULSY BIGRED you're thinnking. However, I suggest you take it one step further. Talk to the good players. Pick their brains; find out what makes them tick. I personally would like to talk to aces. Corey gave me a second hand view into his game but I'd like to hear his thoughts from him. So aces, if I ever see you on irc, I'm going to hunt you down .

Good luck raising the bar.

Originally Posted by bigred

Originally Posted by poskid_1982

If you raise and they show weakness...capitalize. winning small pots often are what seperates the good players from the break even players.

I think you need to learn the players who show actual weakness. I would argue that a player like me, who uses the rope-a-dope (harrington's term) or weak bet trap technique, would have a hayday with a player like you.

I think that as long as you are smart about it, running full force into a slowplayed monster will not happen often enough to negate all the small pots youve bought.

I think that's pretty much what I said, be careful about it.

what is the rope-a-dope method???

Originally Posted by pokerja3

what is the rope-a-dope method???

A form of slowplaying that relies on knowledge of your opponent's aggression. You know how they will perceive weakness and what their response will be, so you just give them enough rope to hang themselves (and make you a ton of money). This works GREAT against overly aggressive opponents.

- Jeffrey

Originally Posted by pokerja3

what is the rope-a-dope method???

Let an aggro opponent bet for you.

-'rilla

Side note: rilla, I love Calvin and Hobbes and that is one of my fav strips

The rope a dope is pretty much what the guys before said. I can explain it by giving an example. You bet pretty big preflop, let's say with 99, and the aggro calls. Flop comes 449. Now, the aggro has to have put you on high cards with your pf raise so you throw out a decent bet, 1/4 to 1/2 the pot basically saying "hey i missed but i'm following up my pf raise with a flop bet". This shows u missed, ur weak, and ur trying to hide it. Aggros live for these kinds of bets and they should come over the top of you huge. Thus the trap has been set and the aggro has stepped into it.

If you also noted in my post I said to play the player. I do pay an extra amount of care in my play to not be suckered in. Yes it does happen sometimes. I've lost many buy-ins this way. But I also talk in many of my posts about my personal game strategy when I first sit at a table. I play an extremely tight game until I get a good read on the players at my table. Tricky players can be hard to avoid but they can be avoided. I consider myself LAGG not because of my overall percentage flop but because of my gamestyle when I smell weakness.

I dont play this way against a tricky player. Reads (even in online poker) are what will make or break your BR.

Originally Posted by Sykedupp

Originally Posted by ville18

Originally Posted by Sykedupp

by the way...

where DOES ilikeaces play? Wouldn't mind watching some FTR ownage at the $1/$2 tables

-Chris

Partyskins, I'm not sure if he wants to get his screen name to be known by everyone.. so PM him.

Oh, no 1/2, he's playing NL1000 with 5/10$

$1/2, $5/10... its all the same.... just more money... :P

-Chris

My party handle ie extratopping I dont mind if people know it.