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nunovaz's picture
Studying that helps

 
Hi guys.
First of all, sorry for my english. My name is Nuno and I´m from Portugal.
I play Poker for about 3 years, and HU for about 1 year and a half. I really think that studying the game is the way to go, and in the last year I´ve spent many hours doing just that.
I´ve read many books about poker. I read Collin Moshman´s HU book, Mersenneary Ebook, Caro's Book of Poker Tells, Harrington On Hold'em, Doyle Brunson's Super System 1, Negreanu´s books, among many others. I have near 100 books in my tablet.
Plus I signed in some foruns, like HUSNG and 2+2, I´ve read everything I thought it was interesting, I have bought HEM 2 to reaview my sessions, I´ve installed PokerStove, downloaded many end-game charts, I bought the standard membership at HUSNG (that videos really helped me a lot, thanks guys), and some months ago I even bought the HU course from TAG poker.
Last year I spend the days studying the game, watching videos, etc... but now I think that many of the books I´ve read didn´t really improved my game at all. Like Mers said in his ebook, there is studying that helps, and studying that wastes your time, and I feel that I wasted my time reading many books and watching many stuff that didn´t help me at all.
The question is, what can I do to efectivily improve my game? I´m trying really hard, I really want to learn, but I feel like I hit a wall right now. I have all this stuff but I don´t know what to do with that to efectivily get better at Poker. 
What type of material can I study to really improve? I want to learn more about expectation, EV, end game, adjusting to our opponent´s ranges, percentages, probabilities, but I don´t know how to do that.
Maybe I wasn´t clear enough and if that´s the case I apologize, but I really appreciate all the help I can get.
Thanks.
 
Nuno
 

Barrin's picture
In my opinion, good studying

In my opinion, good studying is the stuff that not only explains what you should do, but *why*. Knowing the *why* is the fundament on which you can build.
Another important piece of advice: once you know the basics, check your sessions (do the session aftermath) and check where you went wrong frequently. This will allow you to limit the amount of your mistakes in your basic strategy. After that, if you wish to improve, I highly recommend not to study to many topics at once, but to limit your studying on 1 to 2 topics.
Based on the flames which many many regulars sent towards Mers for publishing the ebook, it sure is good stuff.
Everybody studies different. You need to find your way. On a more personal note; if you wish to have a frequent exchange of opinion with active players, you really should prefer the 2+2 hu sng forum. The forum here is quite inactive and while questions often get answered, it is not right away.
Of course a membership here may help you. What package you need or which is the best for you, I do not know, which is because I don't know your leaks and also I don't know if you play regular speed, turbo speed or hyper turbo speed, but I am sure Ryan can help you, once you specified the conditions.

Hi.

nunovaz's picture
Hi, Barrin

Hi.
First of all, thanks for the reply.
Just for the record, I play regular speed and some turbos.
I really appreciate your help, and I think you have a point at saying that limit my studying to one or two topics at once will benefit me. That´s a mistake I usually do, I try to learn many topics at once and I end up learnig nothing.
That´s a great piece of advice and I will start doing just that, thanks!
And about knowing the "why´s"... that´s what I´m looking for... The problem is that I feel that I´m not asking the right questions and I don´t know where to find them.
I read books and watch videos about 6 hours a day, but in the end, I end up learning almost nothing that I can use to improve my game. That´s not the right way to do it, I´m sure.
I guess it´s time for some HU coaching, maybe that´s what I need to take my game to other level.
Thanks for the reply, Barrin, I really appreciate it.
GL at the tables.
 
 
 
 

ka5321's picture
Barrin's reply is the  "bread

Barrin's reply is the  "bread and butter" of poker essentials.....
when reviewing ur own hand histories... breakdown the hand into different parts,,,,,
 
1) analyze the hand in terms of SPR
2) analyze the hand in terms of various lines you couldve taken on various streets
3) calculate the various EV of different lines you couldve taken, and which line is most +EV
4) assign hand ranges to villain, basically what range is he likely to Check raise, DB, Check call u with>>>>
5) ask opinions from friends, and get various insights on one idea....., then ur able to put the puzzle together for a final product.....

pocaja's picture
I suggest to book some hours

I suggest to book some hours of 1-1 coaching, if you think you re stagnant Maybe you Have some foundamental leaks that a coach can pick-up easily. These will help you a lot, he can also suggest How to improve your game after seeing your play.
Gl

nunovaz's picture
Hi, ka5321. That´s the kind

Hi, ka5321.
That´s the kind of help I was looking for. How to efectivily improve my game and find my leaks. Thank you for your help, I´m gonna start doing that, too. I think Mers made some videos about that, but unfortunately they are in the premium membership. In the last couple of months I´ve lost too much time reading stuff that didn´t help me improve the way I was looking for, and it´s time to fix that leak and to be more objective in my studying. Thank you for your input.
 
Pocaja, yes, I am seriously thinking about that. I really think it would help me a lot. Thanks!
 
I love playing Poker and I really have the will to work hard to succeed, but I´m getting to a point that I need some guidance to take it a step further.
Thank you guys!
GL

crstn's picture
don't forget to play some

don't forget to play some hands of poker with all that studying...
 
not kidding, 6 hours of learning per day is way way way too much. 6 hours in a week of study and 30 hours of play still would be a nerdy approach.
The thing is that whilst it is important to study, it is also important to play play play, get into spots over and over again
 

GoGhostman's picture
the better you get, the less

the better you get, the less % of study time u need, since the most 'study' you will be doing is actually playing
but yes, theorethical study at 1st is very important and it should be a high % distribution between study and playing and then lower that with time.
 
btw im also from portugal, which city u in?

Barrin's picture
Yeah, I agree; to much

Yeah, I agree; to much studying in the beginning could be very demotivating and not really constructive. In the VERY beginning tough, one should focus on studying the basics intensly.
And then there are many little things which most people simply don't seem to get:
a) if you post a hand, it is important to post your toughts. People will tell you ANYWAYS how they would had played the hand, but by including your own toughts, you increase the chance of someone detecting a leak in your thinking.
b) a video or strategy article or any piece of theory, is not here to be watched/read/whatever, but to be worked with. There are many players that watch a video a single time and tell themself: job done! I've got it! But only if you watch a video multiple times, make notes, proof the content included in it, stop the video while watching it in order to make sure that you got *it* - you will increase big time.

Hi.

nunovaz's picture
Yeah, I agree too. The

Yeah, I agree too. The experience to actually play the hands it´s different from reading a book or watching a video. According to Sharkscope I´ve only played about 500 games. That´s because I´m still not confident about my game and I spend too much time studying instead of actually play the game. I don´t feel prepared yet. I will change that, too.
I just have one question. ka5321 said: "calculate the various EV of different lines you could´ve taken, and which line is most +EV". How can I calculate those EV lines? Which sofware do you guys use?
GoGhostman, I live near Lisbon (Póvoa Santa Iria). And you?
 
Thank you again guys, I really, really appreciate you´re help.

batman's picture
I think there's a cardrunners

I think there's a cardrunners ev calculater that's good for that, but I've never used it.
I think you can use things like flopzilla (not free) or equilab (free) to do similar things but it's a little more work.
 
Just think about what actions you could take on a street and what hands villain would call/fold/raise/shove against that action and how you can extract the most chips or get to showdown cheaply.
 
If you're just beginning I would suggest playing a bit as you will find that a lot of the stuff you learn will disappear when you first start because you're concentrating on other things a lot.
Also keep in mind other players (esp at micros) don't think like you so they are going to do some weird things and show up with strange hands sometimes. Don't let it put you off too much when they check flop and turn with aces and bet big on the river...

nunovaz's picture
Yesterday I bought the

Yesterday I bought the premium membership, I hope these videos will help me improve.

ka5321's picture
this is a post tht talks

this is a post tht talks about EV calculations, and optimal line
http://www.husng.com/content/15-4betshove-or-fold
 
try to take it in bit by bit

nunovaz's picture
Thanks, guys.

Thanks, guys.

coffeeyay's picture
Profitable Studying

Sounds like you might also be interested in my Math in HUSNGs video pack. I know you were getting sick of videos, but the videos in the pack are specifically made to make your study time more profitable--I talk about calculating the expectation of different lines, exploring population tendencies, using Bayesian statistics to make faster reads, and finding ways to optimize our shoving ranges based on your assumptions on the villain (as well as based on population tendencies)--all the kinds of things you said you were interested in improving and don't know how to do currently.
 
It's also cheaper than 1 hour of 1-on-1 coaching and is over 8 hours worth of material ;)
 
There are a few free videos to check out too to get you a feel for what the pack is about (2 coffee breaks and 2 long clips from the series) but it certainly sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for. 

nunovaz's picture
Hi Coffee. I will watch the

Hi Coffee. I will watch the clips. Thank you!