Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragon Ash
Some tidbits that have helped me go from a small loser to break-even, to now a winner (Ł20/hr over past 8 months, which is long enough for me to feel that I'm (hopefully) not just on a massive heater):
- read 2+2. POST to 2+2. Try to back up your arguments. Since just about every single question about any single situation in any given post could be accurately answered with 'it depends', understand that there is no single 'right' answer (although there may be a definite 'wrong' or 'worst' answer!)
- read Harrington on Cash Games (vol 1 & 2).
- Listen to Bart Hanson's podcasts (old ones still available for free on iTunes; premium service is now a $9 subscription and is well worth it). Also check out his live training videos at crushlivepoker.com. Also a subscription, $9/month and excellent value. No, I'm not a corporate shill for Bart, just a very very satisfied (and entertained) customer.
- Keep TRACK of your play. At the very least keep track of your bank roll, session wins/losses. The more detail the better. You're going to see a lot of the same people at the tables, so the more notes you can take after a session while it's still fresh in your head, the better.
- write up hand histories of interesting spots, post to 2+2 for thoughts.
- Remember that your read of the villain(s) in the hand and table dynamics ALWAYS trump whatever advice you may get from a book, 2+2 poster, etc. You're the best person to judge the person's image, your image, etc. All advice is always villain dependent. What may be a shove vs one opponent may be a call (or fold!) vs another.
Finally - and I hate to suggest these, because I don't want the guys at -my- tables following my advice, but since I've learned so much from these forums I guess it's the least I can do to say thanks:
- Play fewer hands.
- Play fewer hands. I mean it.
- Play fewer hands. I'm serious - this alone might push you from 'break-even' into 'winner' category.
- Try to have at least some mathematical basis for every decision you make at the poker table
- Your #1 priority at the poker table: Protect your stack
- Your #2 priority - find the weakest player at the table and launch an unrelenting assult on his stack.
- Learn how to value bet the river with made hands. The bigger the pot, the more willing you should be to bet. At lower stakes, people assume a river bet is either a monster or a bluff - so they'll call a good portion of the time thinking, 'well I can beat a bluff, and I don't want to be bluffed....call!'.
- Bit of a corollary to the above: don't be afraid to call river bets! You'll be pleasantly surprised at what people will bet with. If you're winning 80% of hands at showdown...you're folding better way too often. Conversly, if you're only winning 20% of hands at showdown, you're probably sticking around too long with worse. The bigger the pot, the more willing you should be to call.
- Keep track of stack sizes at all times. Don't raise from early position if you'd rather not call an all-in shove from the short-stacker in middle position.
- Poker is a game of PATIENCE. You don't need to chase any and all spots. You probably don't need to put your entire stack at risk on a coin flip - if you wait for the right moment, villains will literally push their stack to you by raising all-in to your nuts.
- Your big wins and losses will usually come from one or two big pots a session. You want to be in position to win the most possible when those spots come around. Yes, you might lose a lot as well, but you're more discplined than other villians so you're able to walk away from a hand when it's clear you're beat, right?
- If you get your money in good you'll win more than you lose over the long run. If you get felted, go back over the hand. If you got your money in good, congratulate yourself on making the right play.
- You will have evolved as a poker player when you can get outplayed and/or sucked out on, and say to the villian, "Nice hand"....and really mean it.
- Enjoy the experience. Treat the dealers, wait staff, clerks etc nicely. Tip well. Be friendly with your fellow table punters; the 'friendlier' you seem the more action you're likely to get.
- Don't tap the tank. Fish give us their money. We want them to stick around - which essentially means we want/need them to keep getting better (most fish don't have an endless supply of disposable income to donate...). If the fish start getting better....we have to keep getting better. And on and on it goes....
Most of that is good advice, but I'm going to suggest something radically different: Play More Hands. Alot more.
In the short run, unless you're good, this is not profitable; at a good table, this is not profitable. But if you're playing LLSNL, you need experience postflop against live players; thats where the biggest leaks are.
Ways to get more hands?
--Find a cheap homegame. My game improved a ****load when I found a .25/.5cent %50 buyin game in NYC for 1/2 a year. I played about 80% of hands everytime I went (and won about 80% of sessions). My degen play changed the nature of the whole game--it went from a social game where losing 1 buyin was rare for anyone, to a game where most players bought in twice or more (including me). AND, my play got a ****load better because: 1) I got 4x the postflop experience and 2) I got that experience against crappy recreational players
--on analysis, most of my profits came from crushing the worst player or two at the table, while I was breakeven w/ high volatility against everyone else (due to paying to see every damn flop)
--Homegames are your friend, cheap homegames with thinking players is even better
Why does this help?
You need to learn to beat your opponents, as profitably as possible; you need to know when its the right time to play 45% of hands to crush the whole table, and when its time to play 10% of hands to crush the whole table. The days of single-style poker are ending.
--it will help you quickly learn who never folds top pair, who can be bluffed, and how they can be bluffed.
--it will teach you to spot bluffs and call light
--it will teach you how to appear to be a maniacal spewtard (which you DO NOT want to do at a game with real stakes)
--it will teach you when that is actually profitable.
Other advice: Learn to control your live tells. People who play me get the wrong physical read all the time; why? Because I feed it to them. That makes them play much worse. Live players are 10X worse at technicals than online players; but MANY of your villains will be talented at reading body language (unfortunately for them, you can learn to short-circuit their systems).