Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

Hello people of two plus two...

Way back when I started playing poker (all of ooh 3 months ago now) I set myself a target of being a reasonable poker player inside of a year - I'm not planning to quit the day job and go pro - but I want to be good enough and bankrolled enough to comfortably play NL$1000 tables or higher so I can make myself a nice little 2nd income.

So far I have gone from clueless newbie little fish - to a slightly smarter fish that is beginning to realise just how big and dangerous the sea is...

It is slowly dawning on me just how complicated poker actually is - especially playing No Limit. If I could go back I start over learning Limit poker - but I am way to stubborn to give up now....

The point of this post is to ask what the average person ought to do to improve their game... and more specifically what I should be doing to improve my game...

so far I have read lots of poker books
HOH 1&2
TOP
SSHE (this was a bad idea - NOW I Know this is for LIMIT HE and NL is much more different than I thought it was DOH!)
and GSIH.

I keep track of my results with PT and try to spend at least an hour a day going through the plays I have made and trying to work out which are good and which are not

I spend at least an hour a day reading 2+2 forums both the current ones and looking through ye olde archives and occasionally post hands for feedback (and most excellent feedback it is too)

I play full ring tables 1 table at a time - I find that this gives me more than enough to keep track of - I watch every hand thats played - I take notes on players all the time...

I don't have a starting hand chart - I used to but I can pretty much remember it all now anyway and I am learning that especially in NL every hand depends on circumstances to a greater or lesser degree so a rigid formula for starting with is actually more of a hinderance.

I don't have an outs chart either - tho there are several in the books I have if I really need to read one - and I'm lucky in that I'm good at mental arithmatic and can work out ballpark figures at the table in no time anyway...

so far so good??

Am I going about learning this fabulous game correctly?

am I making glaringly obvious newbie mistakes?

What else would you advise that I do to accelerate the learning process?

and is my goal of being a reasonably good player within a year actually attainable - or will it take much longer?

Thanks in advance for all the help ..

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

Sounds vaguely like what I've been doing the last 8-10 months.

One possible DO: Work up a spreadsheet for starting hands by position. If you add in probabilities of each starting hand, you can monkey with your starting set and see what your VP$IP should be. Handy if you're thinking of modifying style a little.

One DON'T: If your first move up in levels doesn't go well, don't spend the next two months on tilt, playing every game, every level and every style you can find as an "experiment" until you drop half your roll. Not recommended.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

the games are constantly changing in player composition and dominant styles

i would say the greatest benefit comes from being flexible and adaptive, and that only comes with experience and taking conscious effort to step outside of your comfortable (working) game

more hands, more tables, less thought, fix problems as they emerge

1 yr is almost certainly not realistic

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

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What else would you advise that I do to accelerate the learning process?


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u can find a coach.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

Play as many tables as you can while still focusing on what you're doing, that's probably 2 or 3, it will grow to 4 in time. You need to get thousands of hands under your belt, best way to do that is multitable.

I'm at NL100 after 5 months, I expect to be at NL400 after a year.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

I've only played for about 1.5 years and now I'd like to think of myself as a decent $100NL 4-table player.

Some things that helped me are:

- Read every poker book in the book store (ignore Ken Warren)
- As sawseech said, try to get poker to automatic. I think when Brunson said to listen to your "gut", he meant play enough hands to know which is the right play.
- The PT hand review is great, I'm doing that as well
- Get Poker Ace HUD, very helpful
- Datamine your stakes
- No offense to other poker forums, but I ignore them. From what I've seen, only 2+2 has the right mindset, other forums don't get the essense of poker.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

i think u have the right idea so far. a few books that i feel are a must for NL are supersystem, HFAP, and the rueben & ciaffone(not sure how to spell that)books.

i would spend atleast as much time studying as playing if i were u. 2+2 is a great tool, but u have to use it to be beneficial.

im not sure what level u play at, but i would make sure i am practicing good br management, this is what holds a lot of players back. start looking into rb and bonuses to boost your roll, if moving up is what u want.

as for moving up to 5-10 in 12 months, it is unlikely. i personally would pay more attention to improving my game, so that i can be as good as i can be. i would work on adding tables and hand reading skills. good luck man...

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

It sounds like you are on the right track to me. Your post basically describes my last year. The only difference being that I play 4-6 tables at all times, unless HU in a tourney or something. I think it would be worth your while to try and play at least a few more, say 3, in order to get your experience level up.

You will lose the ability to take detailed notes on every player and analysis every hand they play etc., but I think your overall game will improve by seeing a crapload more hands. Also, eventually you will realize that you can learn to focus on the players just as much as you are right now, while playing, 3 or 4 times as many hands.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

BlackRain - I've just switched to $100NL from $50NL last week and datamined a lot (a few days), I noticed a lot of regulars who have played a couple thousand hands this week. I've been thinking of going over their known hands and jotting some notes on their play from Poker Tracker.

I know it's not much of an advice for $25NL and $50NL, where the player turnover is ridiculous, but it seems that $100NL is where the regulars begin. While multi-tabling, I generally can't take detailed notes, but I think reviewing PT hands may be my answer.

Re: Evolution - from Fish to Formidable inside a year.... (?)
 

I'm on 100NL now and I'm on my 8th month, i consider myself a decent-good play. Players like Xorbie have learned much faster. 6 max will greatly expedite your learning process, but you definitely need a roll to be doing it, especially if you are learning. Flop play and beyond isn't common enough in full ring I feel, switching to 6max has really forced me to adress playing on all streets since you're involved in so many more hands. Read Pot & No Limit Holdem as well.