- Jun 9, 2003
- 8,337
- 21,678
I thought i'd start a thread where we can share tips about improving our poker. This isn't a thread for bad beat stories (that already exists) but one for the serious students of the game.
I'll readily admit i'm not a good player. In fact when I first started playing regular poker tournaments about 18 months ago i'd classify my standard as 'terrible'. 'Terrible' is, of course, a relative term. I did reasonably well playing with friends and other casual players but only because they were also terrible. The truth is though that I knew very little about the game. This became evident when I first started playing against regular players once a week at a local £50 tournament in North London.
There are no good players in these tournaments. Good players don't waste their time playing £50 live tournaments. The vast majority of the players I play against either lose money or break even playing online. A few make a small profit but not enough to give up the day job. These are the regular faces at the final table.
The standard tournament structure is NL Hold'em with a starting stack of 13k and blinds starting at 25/50 and unlimited rebuys for the first hour and a half. The blinds increase every 20 minutes.There are normally 50 players and the tournament is usually finished in 5 hours.
The first 2 months I played I only made it to the final table once but didn't cash. The next 2 months I made the final table 4 times and had a couple of small (£200) cashes. I started to watch some videos on YouTube and researched the best books to buy.
This didn't immediately improve my game. I'd say I have no natural aptitude for poker (unlike for example backgammon, where I won my first British Championship just over a year after learning the game). I knew more stuff but was still having trouble applying it at the table. Then after i'd been playing 6 months I was on the verge of stopping playing but then there was a big added money tournament that I ended up splitting 1st and 2nd prize for a very nice £1800 cash.
After this I became more comfortable at the tables. I didn't play more poker but I did more studying and started becoming a regular at the final table. I also started to become familiar with the players I was playing against and learning their playing styles and even picking up a few tells.
In the last 2 months I have made the final table 6 out of 8 times with no rebuys. I've cashed 5 times with 2 of those being outright wins. I'm still bad at poker but I no longer consider myself a total fish. Here's my recommendations for improving:
1/ It's really important not to learn stuff that is just wrong . Poker has changed a lot in the last 5 years. Most older poker books are just awful and a lot of the online videos are made by poor players. If you get this crap in your head you will have a hard time getting it out again.
2/ If you try to learn by just playing you will make slow progress and it will cost you a lot of money. I regularly play against players who've been playing the game badly for the last 40 years and will continue to do so until they die because they are just relying on their own experience. Study at least as many hours as you play.
Good online resources include anything by Jonathan Little. If you play cash games check out James "SplitSuit" Sweeney.
Good books include Jonathan Little's Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Vols 1-3. For the very advanced player Chris Moorman's Moorman's Book of Poker is excellent (but definitely not for novices). Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed is a good and easy read even if a little dated. Also good but slightly outdated is the Harrington on Hold'em series 1-3 as a lot of players still play that style at the decent but not great level.
I'm about to buy a HUD and have a crack at online poker. As I understand it the best sites are ones like 888 and Bet365 which have a lot of sports bettors and casino gamblers on. Any advice for online play would be much appreciated as would any general advice on books or online resources.
I'll readily admit i'm not a good player. In fact when I first started playing regular poker tournaments about 18 months ago i'd classify my standard as 'terrible'. 'Terrible' is, of course, a relative term. I did reasonably well playing with friends and other casual players but only because they were also terrible. The truth is though that I knew very little about the game. This became evident when I first started playing against regular players once a week at a local £50 tournament in North London.
There are no good players in these tournaments. Good players don't waste their time playing £50 live tournaments. The vast majority of the players I play against either lose money or break even playing online. A few make a small profit but not enough to give up the day job. These are the regular faces at the final table.
The standard tournament structure is NL Hold'em with a starting stack of 13k and blinds starting at 25/50 and unlimited rebuys for the first hour and a half. The blinds increase every 20 minutes.There are normally 50 players and the tournament is usually finished in 5 hours.
The first 2 months I played I only made it to the final table once but didn't cash. The next 2 months I made the final table 4 times and had a couple of small (£200) cashes. I started to watch some videos on YouTube and researched the best books to buy.
This didn't immediately improve my game. I'd say I have no natural aptitude for poker (unlike for example backgammon, where I won my first British Championship just over a year after learning the game). I knew more stuff but was still having trouble applying it at the table. Then after i'd been playing 6 months I was on the verge of stopping playing but then there was a big added money tournament that I ended up splitting 1st and 2nd prize for a very nice £1800 cash.
After this I became more comfortable at the tables. I didn't play more poker but I did more studying and started becoming a regular at the final table. I also started to become familiar with the players I was playing against and learning their playing styles and even picking up a few tells.
In the last 2 months I have made the final table 6 out of 8 times with no rebuys. I've cashed 5 times with 2 of those being outright wins. I'm still bad at poker but I no longer consider myself a total fish. Here's my recommendations for improving:
1/ It's really important not to learn stuff that is just wrong . Poker has changed a lot in the last 5 years. Most older poker books are just awful and a lot of the online videos are made by poor players. If you get this crap in your head you will have a hard time getting it out again.
2/ If you try to learn by just playing you will make slow progress and it will cost you a lot of money. I regularly play against players who've been playing the game badly for the last 40 years and will continue to do so until they die because they are just relying on their own experience. Study at least as many hours as you play.
Good online resources include anything by Jonathan Little. If you play cash games check out James "SplitSuit" Sweeney.
Good books include Jonathan Little's Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Vols 1-3. For the very advanced player Chris Moorman's Moorman's Book of Poker is excellent (but definitely not for novices). Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed is a good and easy read even if a little dated. Also good but slightly outdated is the Harrington on Hold'em series 1-3 as a lot of players still play that style at the decent but not great level.
I'm about to buy a HUD and have a crack at online poker. As I understand it the best sites are ones like 888 and Bet365 which have a lot of sports bettors and casino gamblers on. Any advice for online play would be much appreciated as would any general advice on books or online resources.