I started playing with $10 and a $10 bonus and I would play 1c/2c cash NLH. I didn't know anything, I had to put the list of high card, pair etc next to my laptop to remember.

I would simply watch how my opponents acted before the cards were dealt, after etc and if I thought they were usually aggressive but were playing a hand weak I would bet big etc. I would limit my playing hands to AA KK QQ JJ TT at an aggressive table and would play almost anything at a very conservative table.

I got up to $70 playing this way and decided to withdraw my winnings. Invest in PT4, get a copy of the grinders manual and start trying to learn basics like positions, ranges, etc. Since then I am $100 down and I just can't seem to do anything right.

I read a chapter of the grinders manual or watch a dneg masterclass video and it goes in one ear and out the other. I will sit and do pot odds calculations and EV calculations and then trying to apply any of it just seems to make me a worse player.

I am not dumb enough to think I was a naturally beilliant player and reading made me worse. Obviously I was god awful before hand and gaining a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing, has made me even worse.

I want to dedicate myself to studying full time for a year. I am planning on playing for 3 hours a day at 1c/2c NLH and studying 3 hours a day via dnegs masterclass, the grinders manual and with maths textbooks (I had no secondary school education but I am above average intelligence in general but not educated if this makes sense).

Any advice for how to study and how to make things actually sink in? Also any tips on the most relevant maths workbooks to get to gain a grasp of the most relevant math for poker?

One of the curious things about poker is that you can play badly and win, and you can play well and lose. We tend to use the word "variance" to describe how our results are impacted by luck. Variance means we don't get the same positive feedback or reinforcement you do with normal work or school exams. (If you do the work at school, you get the grades you deserve. In poker, you can work your socks off and still lose).

In the long run, you simply have to play better than your opponents to make money. And to play better, you need to study and be disciplined. Unless you have reason to believe your coach is a charlatan, you have to trust the advice he's giving, as he has more experience of the game than you.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you which study method will work best for you. Some people say that videos work best. Others say books, or doing their own work with a pen and paper, or a spreadsheet. Others say they just play a lot and learn from their own experience. I think ALL these methods have pros and cons, and I think using a variety of learning methods works best. To some extent, it depends upon your mood. If you're in the mood for a video, watch a video. Try and get into the habit of taking notes if you can. Note-taking is proven to help with memorization. If you want to do some maths, do that. There are several books and videos for "poker math". Just pick whatever has the best ratings on Amazon or YouTube.

Mostly, it's just about habits and repetition, and really WANTING to learn. If you just don't want to learn, you're doomed to keep failing.

Seems like you’re not applying the concepts correctly. There’s no quick fix, and improving takes a hell of a long time.

I personally find training videos more beneficial to me, so I’d suggest doing some research and getting a sub on one of the many sites. You should also filter out hands you are struggling with and post them in the relevant forum, along with your stats in the stats thread for help. Joining study groups also helps greatly.

GL

you need to
-learn good pf ranges
-learn basic hud stats and what is good/bad and why
-investigate GTO vs exploitative play
-run fold equity calcs vs different 3b/xr etc stats with equilab
-pick ~56 flops that have few isomorphisms and calculate the combinatorics of how your range hits vs his, this will show how often you should be cbetting/checking

-apply similar process to turn/river
****play around with ranges to see what changes and why
****play around with stack sizes to see what changes

-learn about pot odds
-learn about mdf and bet sizing, and how this affects our bluff/calling frequency.

-look at different boards and the range you show up with in different spots on the game tree, and identify your best value hands and select best bluffs in accordance with MDF factors

-maintain good BRM and financial/tilt discipline
-begin looking into more advanced gto software like pio/ gto trainer

that should keep you busy for a few days

-run fold equity calcs vs different 3b/xr etc stats with equilab
-pick ~56 flops that have few isomorphisms and calculate the combinatorics of how your range hits vs his, this will show how often you should be cbetting/checking

This is where i get lost. I know what equilab is but the rest just goes right over my head.

if you look up fold equity calculation, and how to apply it to like checkraise/4bet situations, your eyes may be opened to a lot of things on the math/how to think about jamming/fold equity.

then if you research combinatorics , u will discover things about yourself, as well.

there are like 17,000 flops or whatever, some of those are isomorphic, as in A j t is essentially the same as A j t so that 17000 reduces to a lot smaller number. You can keep reducing the flop # to much smaller if you say , k72 is essentially the same as k73 etc etc. reducing it to a manageable amount of flops that cover most flop types, ie 56ish

now take all of these boards and look at whos range hits which one harder.

"isomorphic" is just a word math nerds use to look like they know what they're talking about.

In the real world, two board are isomorphic if they look alike.


Winning at low stakes require only the most basic concepts. If you run into trouble, it's because of insulting rake. You can win at the micros (almost any game type) if you understand:

- Preflop opening ranges.
- Preflop flat and 3bet ranges.
- Outs and pot odds.
- Value betting, bluffing and semibluffing.
- Positional awareness.
- Differences between HU-pots and multiway-pots.
- Check-raising vs slowplaying out-of-position.
- Basic ICM concepts (sit&go only, and maybe MTT) as well.
- Preflop push-or-fold charts (tournament only)
- Adaptation to different opponent types


At your current skill level, running things through solvers and equity calculators will do nothing but confuse you. You wil learn nothing useful by building a balanced range in a particular board if you don't even understand why you should balance your range in the first place. Also, beware of variance! The samples you've played are probably not big enough for results to be meaningful. Poker is a game of low edge, so results only add up in the long term.

It could also be the case that some of the concepts you've learned are not yet fully understood. You'll need time to fully incorporate them into your game

pretty sure if he followed your advice hed be underrepping his nodelock on every range check convergence of the game tree

Plenty of times that I'd wished that I knew less about poker after a few certain hands played out.

As others have stated you can play 'less correct' poker in 'the beginning' and still build a stack up. When you start to fold correctly more often in spots where you may have previously sucked out to win fairly large pots you will still have those times when an opponent wont fold correctly and they do suck out, which causes pain of course. Since these are fairly large variance spots they will more accurately expose your 'normal' play and possibly exaggerate a downswing as well.

Poker study is about 'spots' not results ... your results will ultimately let you know if you are picking more and better spots, but you still have to look at how those spots played out before the pot was pushed.

Depending on your site and software you can compare result graphs to EV graphs. Those will let you know if you need more study or if you are just running bad for a bit. GL


PS .. Thanks for not stirring the pot with online poker being rigged and that your losses are related to actually withdrawing money from the site and they are now punishing you for it!!

Hey guys so I have decided on how I will approach studying over the next year. I have zero knowledge. Zero. I am determined to make this a success but most of the advice of where to start is way over my head.

I am going to start a daily study routine part video, part writing and part reading. This will be 1 for 1 with play time. I aim to do 3 hours of studying per day and 3 hours of 1c/2c NLH per day.

I am not ready for using equilab, I don't understand how to put people on a range, board texture etc. I am a total newbie and pretending I understand stuff I don't is just planning for failure.

My study time will be split into thirds.

1/3(1hr) - extreme basics, learning winning hand rankings to heart, positions, terms etc.
1/3(1hr) - Maths - pot odds, implied odds - figuring out how many outs I have - fractions - basic math
1/3(1hr) - reading & writing out the thoughts - the grinders manual - a chapter a day, write it out so I understand the key points.

Play will be done after around a 1 hour break from studying, so the study is fresh but I have had an hour to have a coffee, a smoke and get ready to apply it. No SNG or MTT stuff, just cash games.

I am hoping there are journal or log threads on here where I can track everything.

Take a look at the Poker Goals and Challenges forum (aka PGC). https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...mp-challenges/
A thread there functions as a journal, where people post results and hand histories and sometimes ask for advice.
And then they quit posting when they are busto.

EDIT: Good luck though. Having a plan is the first step on the road to failure.

See https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-base-1752040/