novice seeking advice (long post, sorry)

Hi - I'm a soldier deployed in Iraq with a bit of free time on my hands. So I started playing at pp on .5/1 and lost about 250BB. I was the textbook fish. As a result I've decided to learn how to play hold em profitably.

First I'd like to thank everyone who posts on this forum for already giving me a plethora of information, including how to raise my bankroll via bonuses.

I've read WLLH and SSH and TOP - I'm currenlty rereading SSH becuase some of the concepts went over my head the first time. I think I'm beginning to figure out whats going on - I've worked my way up 100BB the past couple weeks.

I've compared my stats with the stat info on this forum's guidlines topic and I'm pretty close to par. I started using PT when I was a fish, which made my stats look initially horrible but I think it helped me recognize that I was messing up, not the cards.

I am wondering where to go from here? There are still several books on my to read list - HEPFAP, SS1, Yao's "weighing the odds in hold'em poker".

1)Is there any particular order I should read these books?
2)Are there other essential books that I have missed?
3)How should I divide my time between reading informative topics on this forum/reading these books/playing/bonus whoring?
4)Are there any crucial topics within this forum that I may have overlooked?
5)Should I shut up now?

I say play as many hands as possible, and stick sith SSHE as you're trying to beat these games. I think TOP and HFAP are great books for trying to improve as a player, though much of it assumes that you're playing againts competent players. Though HFAP has a good section on loose games.

Thanks for the advice. I have about 5k hands in so far (first 2k or so in fish mode). I am thinking that a lot of SSH is geared towards B&M games due to it talking about 6-8 players seeing flop on average? I can't find tables on pp that are that loose - I generally aim for at least 30% VP$IP, anything higher I consider a Godsend.

If you would like to experience some 6-8 to the flop, give
Interpoker a shot.

While I cleared the bonus there, it was not uncommon to
see 70-90% to the flop (especially in the british lb.
rooms).

cmn

[GrunchCan]

In the sense that any poker advise is applicable universally, SSH "applies" to the PP .5/1 game. The thing is that by just reading the book you can't understand it. You have to read it, try it out, fail, read it again... etc. You need experience to know what concepts apply and when, and especially which concepts don't apply. SSH just teaches some plays, with conceptual concept behind them. So does King Yao. By running routes over and over again, you learn when to run them & how. (Sorry, footbal season has just begun)

So what you need now is experience.

[tiltaholic]

hi
the interactive nature of this forum and shear volume of archived information makes it infinitely better than a book for players who exploit it even partially.

read all the (content containing) posts in this forum for a month and engage people with posts of your own.

keep playing.

constantly review and think about your plays.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a soldier deployed in Iraq

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you for all you have done & continue to do in an environment I could never claim to comprehend. It's appreciated.

And welcome to the forums.

Now on to the meat of your post. You don't sound like a novice to me. You are persuing the game with intent and with the goal to learn. You've read posts here trying to improve, and you've read some good books. Novices haven't done this. You might be new, and you may not have figured everything out yet. But you aren't a novice.

My suggestion to you is to just play for a while. Play one particular game exclusively (say, .5/1 limit holdem on party), and treat it like training camp. It will be a lot of hard work, a lot of rote, and a lot of thinking about what you just did. But that's what you have to do. You can probably expect to play tens of thousands of hands before you feel like things are really sinking in. Along the way, there will be big losses, big wins, long boring streaks, and everything else. You may try another level. You might play in a few private 2+2 games and get taken to the cleaners. But then after its all said and done, if you have been practicing good BR management you should be able to look back and think, "I'm starting to get it."

Don't try to consume any more books for a while. Focus for now on SSH and King Yao. That's a pretty complete foundation. Later ToP will be the ultimate book, but I doubt you're ready to really absorb it yet, only becasue it takes a lot of personal experience for the concepts to even be relevant. No frame of reference.

Just get out there, play a gillion hands, and contribute to this forum. That last part is so important it bears repeating. Contribute to this forum. Add your strategy advice to other people's threads. (If youv'e been lurking enough, you know why I'm giving you this advice) That's the best way to learn the game.

[MrWookie47]

1. Playing = bonus whoring. Always play for a bonus when you can, and don't ever alter your play style when clearing a bonus. All "A" game, all the time.

2. Is 100 BB your total roll, or is that your profit on an otherwise comfortable roll? If you only have $100, you should be playing at the 0.10/0.20 game on Stars, Absolute, or others.

3. Posting replys to hand posts here without reading the responses of other posters ("grunching") will help your play leaps and bounds. Post with your complete thought process and reasoning for why you take the action you propose. Make it your goal to reply to 5 posts per day. After you post your reply, check the answers of the rest and see how you stack up. Ask for clarification if you don't answer the same as everyone else.

4. Books. Eh. SSH should be more than enough to get you by for now. After you've logged a lot more hands, you'll have a much better chance of gleaning more out of SSH, HPFAP, and Yao's.

[ QUOTE ]
2. Is 100 BB your total roll, or is that your profit on an otherwise comfortable roll?

[/ QUOTE ]

100BB is how far i've dug myself out of the 250BB hole I made first month or so of playing retardedly. My BR is larger - I am making sure I get the most out of every bonus.

Thanks again for the info guys - it sounds like I should be mostly playing and posting on hands here now, occasionally rereading the books I've already read (and read King Yao).

[MrWookie47]

Alright. It sounds like you're off to a good start. I really recommend posting replies to hands. Stats are ok, but they can't tell anyone if you're a good player. I'll have to see how you play hands to gauge that.