(Edit: Shortly after posting this, I discovered the "Live Low-stakes NL" forum. I feel stupid for posting this now, sorry! I'll go look there for my answers.)


Preface: I'm not sure the right forum to put this in. If there is a better one, let me know. I considered the Beginner's Questions, but that seemed almost exclusively aimed at people playing micros online, and my question is specific to live play.


The main question: What is the best way to improve as a live player before just investing the money into sitting down and playing? Obviously playing more hands and examining them afterward is probably the best option, but it also seems like it could become costly, fast.


Background: I have no interest in playing poker as a job, for all the various reasons that get brought up on this forum. I am only interested in playing for fun, as a hobby. I am unfortunately underemployed right now (hoping to have that rectified soon), so I don't immediately have a ton of disposable income to invest into a hobby.

My current goal is to be able to regularly beat low stakes B+M games in my local nitty casino (Horseshoe Hammond). Right now however I have more time than I have money to invest in improvement, and I am looking for the most productive way to spend that.

Short of the obvious (like devouring information here on 2+2), what else should I be doing?

I played online microstakes to get a solid grasp of the game. Took about $150 to become a winning player there (2012). After that, it didn't take too much more in losses to transition to a winning low stakes live player.

Sound idea. That said, don't post the same question in LLSNL because it will be locked. The answers you are looking for are in the stickies. For further information, participate in the forum.

Locked.