Best way to read SSH

[StuR]

I just got my copy of SSH and am in the process of reading it through once fully like it recommeds - but I can already see that its a very involving book.

My question is this - Could any of you who have already read the book suggest a reading plan so that I can begin to apply the concepts correctly - I'm already a little overwhelmed with the Postflop stuff - an area of my game that needs vast improvement.

Thanks in advance for any advice

StuR

[goodfelladh]

I just got through SSH and what I did was this... I read through it completely, rather than stopping and pouring over any single section for too long. But, along the way, I typed down important notes or things that were italicized in the reading. Then, when I got the quizzes at the end of the book, if I struggled coming up with the correct answers or did not understand why a certain answer was correct, I would go back to the specific section and try and clear it up. Hope that helps a little...

[John Biggs]

You need to think of your own reading plan. If you can't do that you're in over your head.

If you slow down and think about it, there's probably lots of ways you can make it easier to absorb the information. Don't let yourself get intimidated. Break it down the way you would a class assignment.

You've got to do the hard work yourself, otherwise you won't really be learning. If you find it's still too much, then the material may genuinely be too advanced. In that case go back to some more basic texts then try again later.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
Best way to read SSH

[/ QUOTE ]


Naked while standing on your head.


Okay - seriously, make your way through it and try to absorb the material as best you can as you go along.
The hand-quizzes at the end are great for reinforcing the ideas.
You'll pick up on the subtleties of the ideas eventually.

Just be careful not to go Super-LAG when you get back to the table by misapplying some of his back-door-outs concepts.
This seems to be a common problem around here with some players immediately after having read SSHE....grossly mis-using the concepts and incorrectly chasing a draw that has little chance of making it or of winning the hand if it does make it.

[sfer]

Read. Think. Read. Think. Reread. Think.

Rinse, repeat.

[ThePimpulator]

Hehe. Good point. I remember going rather psycho after Ed's "crushing" post.

[Wahoo91]

Read. Think. Read. Think. Reread. Think.

Rinse, repeat.

What about play?

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
What about play?

[/ QUOTE ]

Whoops.

Play. Experiment. Mess up. Think. Reread. Think. Post. Read. Think. Play. Experiment.

[JTrout]

I do my best reading in the reading room.

[Blarg]

First of all, expect to read SSHE or any solid poker book through more than once. Without resentment, too! With the expectation that each read will be genuinely valuable and a very productive use of your time, as your increasing play experience and conceptual sophistication let's you understand things you didn't quite get right at first, and see the deeper levels of things so you can add your own qualifications and arguments to the materials you read, making them richer not just because of what the text gives to you, but because of what you bring to the text.

This kind of book is not easy, but don't feel bad at all -- it's not meant to be easy, it's meant to be good!

Give yourself the time and self-respect necessary to get through it on your own speed. It will not be like reading a magazine article or even like reading less technical poker books. The time it will take you is the time it takes, that's all. Don't feel bad about that in the slightest; just adapt and keep working.

My advice is to write about the concepts. If you see a chapter -- what are the key concepts? I don't mean for the author necessarily either -- what are the key things that stand out for YOU as worth thinking about and remembering. Could you explain those things to others? How about explaining them to yourself -- think you can? Prove it. Get writing.

Putting things into your own thought and language can be a wonderful and practical way to learn even very abstract and difficult concepts. Writing about ideas forces you to re-conceptualize them in your own internal idiom, making them your own, part of your stockpile of goodies instead of just the distant, mysterious mumbo-jumbo of strangers. If you can't put it in your own words, your understanding of something is almost certainly much less than it could be.

So write down the key concepts you find. First, this will give you a list of thinking and review points. You can use these both now and later when you come back for re-readings.

Any arguments with the text or misgivings? Write them down too, and don't sweep them under the carpet. Worry at them like a gumless dog trying to work his sad silly way into a marrow-rich big fat bone. Don't give up until you understand, and if that takes a minute or a year, whatever. Chances are that many people who thought they understood things in a minute actually didn't and needed closer to a year in the first place. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I like to do flashcards myself. It's like the difference between exposition and poetry. You have to REALLY hone your understanding of things down to a fine edge to be able to put them in so few words they can fit on a flashcard, and the question/answer format of flashcards makes you think further too. And all of this extra effort has an enormously positive effect on your recall. By the time you get things down to a level of concision and clarity you can fit on a flashcard, you will have pounded it into your head much more than someone who has merely read it in a book many many times.

Finally, throw your clock out the window. If it takes you minutes, days, or weeks of re-reading to feel you've finally really to a great degree internalized concepts enough so that you can regularly play in accordance with them, that's fine. One chapter that might take you forever could be mastered easily by others, but you can't judge yourself by anyone else's progress. They could well stumble on things you find crystal clear and preposterously easy.

Just take the time you need and don't sweat it too much. Think about using learning tools like writing and flashcards that may seem to lengthen your learning time but actually shorten it. Play a bit, and don't hesitate to come back again for more of what you thought you already knew.

[BugsBunny]

"I've read this, played that, done this and I'm still losing...." (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Number=485301)

[MicroBob]

A well-timed re-run.
Thanks for digging that up.

[Luv2DriveTT]

[ QUOTE ]
Naked while standing on your head.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny.... i was going to reply saying that, sans nudity.

[ QUOTE ]
Just be careful not to go Super-LAG when you get back to the table by misapplying some of his back-door-outs concepts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Essentially Miller teaches us how to look and act like a LAG, but its actually all smoke and mirrors... we are actually playing tight and aggressive. Learn from this lesson! I went LAGgy... I was a solid winning player until I read SSHE, and ever since I've struggled to re-gain my footing. Whats funny is that I am a much better player because of SSHE, I will just attribute my previous play to dumb luck. I know its worth the varience to increase the quality of my game, I don't regret it one bit, and slowly but surely as the tighten aspects of Miller's reccomendations start to sink into my head my game is getting better and better - soon I'll be stronger than I ever was before I started to read the book.

Why you may ask? Its because the concepts presented within were so foreign to my previous playing style that I needed to learn how to loosen my game first.

Thank you Ed... Best book I have read so far!

In da club /images/graemlins/club.gif

[bernie]

Once you have a grasp on the weaknesses in your game, go to that section. If their are a few weaknesses, take them one at a time. Who knows, learning how to stop one, will likely have an effect on others. Don't necesarily try to tackle them all at once. Many poker books go street by street. That's a good way of seperating it out.

have fun.

b

[TheSheath]

i am also going through it for my first time and am highlighting everything i find is important and worth remembering. at times i highlight whole pages lol. but i do it b/c when i go to re read it i can just go to the highlighted parts and read those and skip some of the wordage. just wat i am doing.

[MicroBob]

I am specifically referring to a handful of posts I have seen that grossly over-value back-door flush 'draws' that aren't really draws at all.

More than once I have seen someone with something like....

6 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif (in SB perhaps)

flop A /images/graemlins/spade.gif J /images/graemlins/heart.gif 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

"okay. I have a backdoor straight draw AND a backdoor flush-draw"

Hello?!?!?!
McFly?!?!?!

Back-door flush draw with a single 6 of that suit??


So it goes a bit beyond the typical
"I'm getting overly LAG by chasing when I'm PROBABLY beat."
to
"I'm inventing outs that are almost 100% non-existent."


A couple of players seem to not distinguish between a 6h in your hand and 2 hearts on the flop AND 6h5h in your hand and just 1 heart on the flop (note - the 2nd one is MUCH better and I hope most of you can see that).

[uaw420rook]

Ive been reading it a little each day. My poops are taking longer than normal but I'm playing better.