How do you approach learning new games?

[losttrem]

I would like to know about your routine when you decide it might be time to learn a new game.

I usually play NLHE turbo SNGs. Because of the often mechanical nature of these I throw in some other poker games to avoid boredom. I totally suck at NLHE cash games. (but I have rarely played those... in over one year of playing poker I played like 5 rathe rshort NLHE cash game sessions) One game I really gotten to love is Razz, especially tournaments. I have played some HORSE (cash games and MTTs) with mixed success and I love 2-7 Triple Draw (though I donate way too much at this game). At the moment I find much fun at Stud8. But I am a total noob there.

When I approach a new game I am always happy, that I forced myself to read ToP although my first naive glance at it made me think "man, this seems to be a tough read... plus... wtf...this is hardly about NLHE". ToP really gives you solid fundamentals for the underlying concepts in every form of poker. So whenever I approach a new games it is like "ok.. at least there are a few basic things I already know". Then I go ahead and try to find as much reading material about the game I want to learn as I can. Especially trying to find out what seems to be the "bible" for this game. (SOP for Razz, Hi/lo split poker for 7CS8, ...).

Then I go ahead and play some hands of course. Though this is a tough one, since I never really find the time to get in a lot of hands. As said I am usually playing SNGs most of time and mostly play othe rgames when I am in need for a change. How do you go about this? When you approach a new game, do you play this one variant exclusively for a while or do you just fit it in your poker schedule every now and then? And what about bankroll requirements? In the past I sometimes made the mistake of playing the level I am rolled for and not the one adequat for my skills. On the other hand if I played the lowest available limits I am in danger of not caring enough to give it my best shot.

So I hope to get some responses on this.

[spoonitnow]

I ratio my time when learning new games to something like 3 parts study to 1 part playing, and when I play it's usually just one or two tables for the first few thousand hands.

I do this for about a week with however much time I decide to devote to this new game, and then decide if I enjoy it and am intrigued by studying the game further. If so, then I continue studying whatever I can get my hands on, work out ways that the current game is similar to games I already know a bit about, and analyze hands.

The relatively little time that I put in actually playing at this point slowly becomes a bigger and bigger portion of my overall time spent on this game while I slowly push to become a winning player and then improve my win-rate to the point that I'm comfortable with moving up stakes, etc.

This is how I approached limit hold'em cash games, no limit hold'em cash games, limit razz, five stud, and no limit hold'em SNGs, and I became profitable at each at small stakes.

I really put a lot of time and effort into analyzing and refining my understanding of the process of learning, so discussion like this is something I really enjoy.

[BrassPoker]

You should focus on NLHE and get proficient in the varying forms of it. Get a good grasp on cash games and also MTT's. Focus on playing a better game, not just playing a mediocre game on a multitude of tables.

Then I think it's an easy switch to the other games. Other games have the same concepts just the cards are laid out differently. So if you can master odds, percentages, reads, etc. They all translate into the other games.

[Chopper]

i would tell you that spoon has the idea.

but, also, try and remember how you learned SNGs. remember the time it took to get comfortable. remember the time it took to learn when and where to be aggressive. remember the enthusiasm you had trying to figure out the little complexities of the game/structure.

it will be very similar in time, study hours, practice, posting, hopefully enjoyment, to learn the new game, too. get all the info you can from here, but rely on YOUR past experiences to figure out the best way to spend your time.

[losttrem]

Learning other games so far has nothing but improved my NLHE game. Different games accentuate different aspects of poker. I don't think one has to learn everything about one game (which is impossible anyway) before he can move on to the next one. From my experience it blends together perfectly and helps to become a better overall poker player and thereby also a better NLHE player. And a big plus is, that it helps avoiding boredom. Boredom can easily lead to tilt and tilt leads to losing. Therefore avoiding boredom is very +EV.