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Apply Yourself!
I haven't made a long post for a while, so I'll write something down now.
This post is primarily aimed at beginners, but it wouldn't hurt for some of the veterans to read it.
So, you've just discovered Texas Hold'em, you start playing and you think it is fantastic, and you become addicted and want to get better at it. So then after some Googling you come across a site called FTR, and after some searching on the Barnes and Noble website, you see a few poker strategy books that you might want, so you order them.
But this is the mistake I see so many beginners make. They sign up for FTR and buy books, then they read the books and the FTR stickies. But they fail to actually absorb the information. For the advice given on FTR and in books, you must make the strategies you have read about sink in. A lot of beginners just (for example) skim over DavSimon's SnG strategy guide, and then they immediately thing they are the Ultimate King of SnGs, then they play 40 or 50 and lose a bunch of money. Then they think 'How the hell did that happen? I read a guide!'. Well I'll tell you why, it's because those people did not let any of the strategies from DavSimon's guide sink in, they did not absorb the strategies and consider how they can apply them to their own game. And that means they learn nothing, and they are still losing players.
So if you've just found FTR, I advise you to read the stickies on the games that apply to you, whether that be MTTs/SnGs etc. But most importantly, make sure the information you have read is really digested so you can really think how to apply it to your own game. As I said before, the mistake I see most often happen to beginners who want to learn more about poker is not really ABSORBING strategies they have read. You may want to re-read a strategy guide or a book if you must just to make sure you can really digest and understand the information (by the way, if you are really not sure what someone means by a point they have made in a guide on FTR, don't hesitate to ask them to explain it to you).
I hope this helps, and remember, apply yourself to your learning of poker!
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great thread. This one thing - applying yourself - is the difference, I believe, 100% of the time if you want to really play good poker. So many people - especially beginners - are looking for shortcuts. The fact is that you CAN improve your game very rapidly, especially online, but it takes laserlike focus and application. To do it quickly you have to apply all the advice at the same time and spend most of your waking hours thinking about poker. The advice to write down EVERY hand your involved in is critical. The advice to analyze hands you're NOT involved in is critical. You constantly have to ask how, how, how, what, what, what, why, why, why. Something as simple as AKs is an essay of how's and what's and why's. If you're not willing to sit and think and make notes and write and study for hours on AKs, then don't expect the kind of results you see from top notch players. But if you want to do it then IMAGINE what you would do in different situations, and what OTHERS would do in response and how you would react to them and they would react to you with various hands against AK. Do a search and read all the posts on FTR that have AKs in them, and THINK about them. Was that post good or bad, did it make sense or was it bullshit. How would YOU do it and more importantly WHY WHY WHY???
This is the kind of "apply yourself" that transformed my game, and I'm sure dwarfman's, and every other really solid, winning player. These are the kinds of things really good players think about and talk about and critique each other on. There is no such thing as "I had AK and push preflop in a tourney." PERIOD. There are 30 questions and variables at least and we drill each other on them until we KNOW what happened. Now some of us have differing opinions on whether some nuance should get more weight than another one - but you can bet we study the nuances. And THAT'S applying yourself.
The good news is ANYONE can do it. Whether you've played for 1 day or 10 years, any limit, any game, any ANYTHING. FTR is a great place to do it too. As you apply YOURSELF you'll draw others to you who are applying Themselves, and the next thing you know you're part of the amazing world of winning poker players. You're behind the curtain!! And let me tell you it's fun behind the curtain!!! We may disagree about subtle differences, but EVERY player who has dedicated and Applied himself to the point to having an A level winning game breathes air that's a little sweeter and walks with the confidence of knowing we can fire up a computer and make money whenever we want.
Good luck, and great post Dwarfman.
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ALLRIGHT!!! Welcome aboard gentlemen.
StyleMaster, you play golf? Then poker should be easier to learn, you aren't PUBLICly humiliated as much, and it's cheaper to play.
Perfect, good post buddy.
In sticking with the essential quan of this thread "Apply Thyself" I have only 1 piece of advice...
START A POKER JOURNAL IMMEDIATELY.
You don't have to write in it every day, but you can. It doesn't have to be philosophic, but it can be. Mine wanders from scribblings of what I made or lost in a given session; to strategy that I want to try; to notes from Poker Books I read; to bitching about 10 bad beats in a row; to saying "I suck"; then saying "I'm a Genius".
My favorite page is one where I recorded a bunch of SnG's - all professional and technical like (I was playing to pay the bills at the time). And then my 7 year old (she's 8 now) wrote in big crayon across the page " I LOOOVEE YOU DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!" when I wasn't home. (of course i beat her for touching my book .... rofl... obviously not)
But I'll tell you what it really does - and why you need to start one now. It keeps you grounded. It shows you where you've been, how far you've come and what's possible if you continue. It gives you something to read when the cards aren't coming or when you think you've "lost it". And after you've gone through a few cycles it reminds you that you've been down before and lived through it. It reminds you that you've been up before and nothing lasts forever.
It's a great calming influence, and it's a great game accelerator. Just the act of writing makes you THINK and the more you think the better you will be. And the act of Thinking gives you good ideas that you Should Write Down and Hone and try.
What poker sites are best? What is YOUR style of play? What did you learn in your last turnament ... "Don't fall in love with pocket pairs. Jesus how many times will I refuse to fold JJ when I know I'm beat. I'll write 100 times. 'I will not fall in love with pocket pair when being pounded with big bets and raises!!'"
Anyway, good luck guys. Poker is fun...
Don't worry about playing for money - although I wouldn't do it on Paradise. You SHOULD play for money, you MUST play for money. What's $50 to an adult human being? It's a night out. It's a round of golf and beers. If you lose it (which you will in the beginning, SO WHAT! but playing for point is to poker as Playing Monopoly is to Real Estate Investing) Go to PokerStars, FortunePoker, Pacific or someplace where you can play true micro Limit or NL ring or very low buyin Sng - Like $2.20. Paradise is a Party Poker skin and has lots of new players but no true micro stakes. Their cheapest Sng is $5/1 - which is too much and too high of a rake. Their smallest NL ring is $25, when you can play $2, or $10 on other sites.)
have fun.
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