Starting over

Im not sure if this is the correct forum, but here I go anyway: I am a winning player, up 50% of what I put in, which was about a month and a half ago.(lucky upswing which raised my confidence.) So I realize that this may be a fluke, and that I wouldn't be a winning player at all without it. I perused TOP and SSH which i borrowed from a friend, but I didn't really read them. I mean reeeeaaaly read them. I read a lot of the micro forum stuff but i never post, mainly because I'm too scared that what I post will be ridiculed, (which is a good sign that I didn't really understand TOP or SSH). BTW, I was "Egocide" here until [censored] banned me, so this isn't my first post, just my first admitting im not as good as I think I am (which a lot of people have a problem with.) So I am going to start over, and I bought SSH today and will buy TOP later and I am really going to work on them. So my question is should I continue to play while I read, what sections are the msot important, etc. Thank you in advance for good responses.

The single most important thing while reading SSH is in my opinion to be VERY careful using the concepts for your own game because SSH often gives just too perfect examples for hands which one can easily misunderstand...

I would recommend to wether read WLLH or MLH first and then compare things and slowly let SSH influence your play.

[keetz555]

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The single most important thing while reading SSH is in my opinion to be VERY careful using the concepts for your own game because SSH often gives just too perfect examples for hands which one can easily misunderstand...

I would recommend to wether read WLLH or MLH first and then compare things and slowly let SSH influence your play.

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One of the best pieces of advice I've read this week.

[Perseus]

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The single most important thing while reading SSH is in my opinion to be VERY careful using the concepts for your own game because SSH often gives just too perfect examples for hands which one can easily misunderstand...

I would recommend to wether read WLLH or MLH first and then compare things and slowly let SSH influence your play.

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One of the best pieces of advice I've read this week.

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Especially since SSHE was written about low limit live games and now the low limit online games are much different.

Good advice.

My advice would be to post hands on the small stakes board and read ALL the comments you get. Also, respond to others hands before you read anyone else's responses.

[Perseus]

Also, don't worry about getting ridiculed. Chances are you will never meet anyone who responds to your post, so what do you care what they say? It can only help.

The first post I ever made was two years ago on the United Poker Forum under the title of "I don't think these 2/4 online games can be beat". Oh I got ridiculed alright, but then Roy Cooke responded with a great post telling me the games CAN be beat, but it would take more than a month of playing and many thousands of hands to hit a long run. From that point on I stopped wondering why I couldn't beat the low limit games and started thinking about HOW I could beat the low limit games.

So again, post and respond and don't worry about responses. If someone says to you "you are a total moron", try to look at it constructivly and think about what you might have done wrong.

GL,

Jon

[Harv72b]

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I read a lot of the micro forum stuff but i never post, mainly because I'm too scared that what I post will be ridiculed

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I got a lot of ridicule when I made my first few posts on 2+2. Looking back, I realize that it was because I didn't have a clue about the topics I was trying to argue. That's just part of learning the game (learning anything, really), and it's important that you take the comments and/or barbs as constructive criticism, and not personal attacks.

Seriously, while SSH and TOP will help your game tremendously, being an active & respectful member of these forums will help much, much more.

BTW, be careful about statements like "I am a winning player, up 50% of what I put in, which was about a month and a half ago.". A lot of people on the micros forum will point out, correctly, that this does not make you a winning player...yet. You go on to explain what you mean and caveat that statement, but a lot of people who've seen new hundreds of new posters come & go with statements like that will stop reading at that sentence. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[pokernicus]

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So my question is should I continue to play while I read, what sections are the msot important, etc. Thank you in advance for good responses.

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Personally, I think you should definitely divide your time between playing and reading. The right mix totally depends on what gives you the most enjoyment -- after all, you should be enjoying poker!

I would also suggest getting Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones. It's a lighter and much faster read than SSHE, and a great way to get started. Once you get through WLLH, you should move on to the SSHE.

I think the best way to read SSHE is just going from front to back. Pre-flop hand selection is extremely important (in fact, in a lot of weaker low-limit games, just knowing what hands to even play can make you winning player).

I also think you should read these books more than once, and constantly refer to them. There are a lot of things you might miss on an initial reading.

I like ToP very much as well. But, I think you'd get more out of it after you've read SSHE at least twice and logged a fair number of hands. Also, ToP includes examples from a variety of games (not just hold'em), so to get the most out of it, you should be somewhat familiar with other forms of poker.