Hey guys! I have a study group of two people, me and my friend, we can successfully beat 16NL but we wanna improve our win-rate since it is not spectacular, we would like to seek for the smaller leaks that could improve our win-rate. We got stuck not knowing how to improve our studying methods. We are familiar with solvers, filtering through HM2 and PT4.

What we do:
We do a detailed analysis of 3bet pots
We save every hand we are not certain about (sizings, preflop, post-flop, whatever we are not sure about) - then we discuss it - we do an hour every day or every two days.
We've filtered many different spots in software (BB defence, BTN c-bet strat., 3bet pots different positions)

We are now trying to find a new way or style of studying that would shift us forward, slowly but steadily. Maybe you could advise how to approach solvers or software in a new way. Maybe you can share how it works for you to study. We are open to every idea!

1) Apply 80-20 rule. Look what has the biggest impact on your game right now. Focus on that. In other words, no solvers. Working with solvers gives you impression of working on your game, but unless you understand (!) what you learn, it's purely intellectual babble, probably even hurts/confuses you.
If you play NL16, there is a 99,9% chance this is the case.

The chess analogy is blindly memorising opening moves. The problem is that unless your memory is perfect, it can be very difficult. Some memory is fine, but understanding - where possible - is a lot more effective.
I could go on how at chess you learn with other senses at the same time (motoric, visual, spacial etc), so even if you "memorise" it will be more sticky than poker.

With poker and solvers this problem is squared. There is less inherent "logic" in poker, so things that you memorise in one area cannot be applied in another area reliably/predictably.

There is a very fine line in using computers/solvers to learn.

How to:

2) Biggest impact, very easy. Look at the most frequent occuring spots and solve those. In other words, no button c-bet strat, i mean, it's a good thing to think about, but first learn c-bet general.

3) Find somebody better than you and ask those questions.

If you play chess, you will understand that having 1000 people rated 1600 will never beat a grandmaster. It will not even increase the chance.

More bad cooks don't make the food taste better.

Thank you so much for your wise words! I will definitely try to apply this to my studying habits, thanks a lot!