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Giving something back - my 2k FTR post
I've spent nearly 2 years and contributed 28,000 (mostly useless) words at FTR. I've learned more about poker at FTR than any other single location. For noobies, I've collected a ton of great posts, articles, blogs and threads on FTR that helped me learn to beat the micros.
In the last 7 months, I've gone from a barely-winning 10nl micro-donk-fish to taking my first shot at 100nl this week. In that time, I've watched less than half a dozen vids, read only one poker book and haven't visited any other poker sites. What I'm saying is that I've improved a ton just listening to the good players here. Noobies, you can win, too. Check out some of these threads if you haven't seen them before.
Renton's Theorem aka ABCD Theorem. Explains expert postflop play in a way beginners can easily understand.
ISF's Strategy Collection. Awesome strategy discussions by one of FTR's best poker writers. Read 'em all - twice.
BigSpenda's Five Biggest Leaks of a Losing NL Holdem Player Leak 1, Leak 2, Leak 3, Leak 4, and Leak 5. This is Poker 101 for noobies and intermediate players alike. Gives some theory and lots of practical advice. Tells how to think about poker.
ISF's Psychology: The Beauty of Admitting You're not Good is an awesome thread, and well written. Read OP. Rest of thread is meh.
ISF's Blog. Anything by IowaSkinsFan, aka ISF, is a must read imo. This guy gives great advice for beginners and advanced players alike.
BJaust wrote a series he called "Thoughts on Beating the Micros." Each one is worth a read.
Thought 1, Thought 2, Thought 3, Thought 4, Thought 5, Thought 6, and Thought 7
Rant Complaints about Bad Opponents. A classic Spoony rant. Read, laugh and learn something.
Lukie's List of Exploitable Habits asks FTR regs to state one of their habits that thinking opponents could exploit. Great thread since most common leaks are addressed, and done so by FTR icons like Rondavu, pgil, DaNutsInYourEye, mcatdog, renton, jackvance, biondino, givememyleg, and pyroxene. Find leaks in our own game or exploitable tendencies to use in the Reg Wars.
Dev's hilarious and insightful How to Become a Poker Player. Great read for noobies trying to make this whole poker gig work.
Dealing with Bad Beats. Long post but great for anyone who struggles with Bad Beat Anger Management Issues.
Blindstealing 101 and Raising Behind Limpers by Spoonitnow. Great stuff about playing late position hands in unraised pots.
Playing PP's Read Lukie's post, 3rd from top, and follow from there. Discusses playing small pp's in midstakes games, but the concepts are pretty well explained, especially in Fnord's, Renton's, Miff's, and Lukie's posts throughout thread. At the end, thread hits implied odds for sc's, and JefferyGB weighs in with more great content. This thread got me to dump the silly 10x set odds in favor of 15x at 10nl and 20x at 25nl.
Question regarding 3betting and 4betting by a reasonably good player with awesome insights provided by guys like Fnord and Spoonitnow. Good discussion of 3betting, where, when, why and how.
Should I Stop Raising Preflop. Bigslikk asks about preflop bets and bet sizes and gets a nice discussion of Stack-to-Pot Ratio and how effective stacks influence preflop strategy. Read whole thread - it's good.
Spoon's Good Example of When to Cbet. Also see A Good Example of When Not to Cbet. These are two threads that got me thinking more coherently about cbetting and started me working on my game. My work on cbets is linked below.
Fnord's Implied Threat thread. A simple example turns into a great discussion between FTR icons like Rondavu, Lukie, and Warpe. They talk about how to play in position after a cold call against a Kinda TAggy player on an Axx flop. Fnord suggests a raise and then asks what kind of hands would make that suggestion correct. A great thinking exercise. If you want to think like these winners, that is.
Fnord's Leading into the preflop raiser thread is another great flop-play thread like the one above. Same discussants as above with BankItDrew and Miffed joining in. Warning: will make you think correctly about flop decisions.
Playing a Set in Position. Spoon gives HH and quiz, and starts a great discussion about how to MAX EV with sets.
MCatDog is pretty good at math, so it's not surprising to see him offer a stab at a randomized, optimally unexploitable bluff-a-set line in his Mixing it Up: Pretending to Have a Set. Great ideas on how to exploit the regs when we set mine them.
BigSpenda's Advice for Beginners thread which starts off on how to play big hands postflop and meanders through bet-sizing for several different scenarios. Thread wanders a bit - read all posts by spenda and miffed, though.
Spoon's Betting Against a Flush Draw thread, with excellent discussion. Read BankitDrew's analysis toward bottom. Warning - short!!
Nutshino's Picking off Steals gives nice insight into when villain's line makes no sense compared to the board and game setting. Short, with input from Renton and Fnord.
Fnord's hilarious Why Poker Fucks with our Heads post starts a very entertaining discussion, which is insightful, too.
Inspirational Stories of Poker Progress from FTR Guys You Know
IowaSkinsFan's Swings of Poker talks about his experience grinding up (and down) at the micros. He lost all but $2 and eventually won his way up to the nosebleeds. He's won over $100,000 lifetime (probably way more, now) and posted some awesome content on FTR. Jack Vance chimes in at the end at a time when he had less than a grand in bankroll. He's got a bit more than that now. Warning: short!!
Renton's I graduated post from 2006, when he had just reached the $10k bankroll mark. A great story from an FTR icon.
Spoony's My Great Story (1000th post) thread from January 2008. From a guy who won his way up, learned and contributed at FTR, and has supported himself with poker income.
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