"I've read this, played that, done this and I'm still losing.."(x-post

[Lori]

Hello Microforum.

I'm not in the habit of cross-posting, but this one went down well in SS and I thought I'd take the chance of being rude to cross-post it in here as it is equally, if not more relevant to this forum.


Hi there SS'ers.

I would normally post this in the zoo, but I'm on a scouting mission to the SS forum today, so you guys are lumbered with reading it instead.

One of the things that crops up across the whole of the 2+2 forums is a varient on the phrase "I've read xyzPoker by abcGoodPlaya and I'm still not winning".

I may not be the world's greatest LHE player, but I sure know how to play other gambling games and I'm afraid there are some simple things many get rich quick merchants overlook.

Poker is a game, this has implications.

Poker is a game involving not only luck, but interaction with other human beings.
Reading books on the subject is a very good base to help your game, of that there is no question, but the book is a tool to help you, not the end of all your worries.

Let me give the example of chess.
If you read every chess book ever printed, would you expect to be the best player that ever lived?
If the answer is yes, you are not going to get on with the rest of this post and I suggest you leave the room now.

How a chess book works is very similar to a poker book.
It takes unique positions and expects the reader to learn the concepts, it doesn't expect the reader (unless it is a book on opening theory) to memorise every position, that would be ridiculous.

HOWEVER this is exactly what many of the people seem to expect from a poker book.
They want to memorise every single position out of the book and then do what the book tells them.
Well, for preflop (The opening) you can just about manage this, but I'm afraid after the flop there are <Insert BruceZ post here> combinations of the ten players' hands, flops and the interaction of playing styles and it would be utterly crazy to expect every single one to be in a book.

However, what the book can do is to explain the concepts of many situations and expect the reader to do some work in return, yes work, how do you think these good players got so good?

This means, that when you flop QJ3 rainbow with your AKo in late position against one other player who called your raise preflop, YOU have to decide what to do based on the factors in the specific pot.
I know this doesn't seem fair, after all, you just spent 40 bux on a damned book to play this for you.
Sorry kids, ain't happening.

In fact, in this pot the cards you have are not nearly so important as what is going on.

While you are fumbling for the AKo has missed the flop page, think again. How about the page that discusses 1 caller of your late preflop raise.
You might want a quick look at a heads up section.
"But it's a full table Lori"

Listen dumbo, there's two of you in the pot, why are you reading about AKo in a six way situation?

The AKo page needs more info, the page about only one other player in the pot might not.

The book is a tool kit, applying the wrong page is like applying a hammer to unscrew something.

The end of this rant is this 'formula' to help you use the toolbox.

Read your book. If something doesn't make much sense, turn the page and keep reading. Not all of it will make sense first time through.

Don't read it again just yet, are you really expecting to remember it all?

Play some poker, make some notes.

Read the book again.



(Did you really think I meant that? In that case, you are exactly the sort of player I'm referring to)

Don't read the entire bloody book again.
Use your notes from your session and become accustomed to which situations give you problems the most often.
STUDY (As opposed to read) the relevant (as opposed to irrelevant) chapters or pages or even single page that helps fix the largest %age of your problems.
Have a quick skim through some of the other things that come up, but don't try and fix everything now, because you are a human, you are not going to take it all in, fix ONE problem at a time.

Go back to the tables. Take notes.

Read the whole book




(Surely you know this time what is coming?)

Dont read the whole book dammit, do the same as before, plug the most consistent worries and leave the occasional problems for later.

Doing this will iron out weaknesses faster than trying to become a genius overnight.
Don't be embarrassed to have weaknesses, just fix them in a logical order and they will get better soon enough.

You can't learn it all from a book without playing, the books have too much information.

The human mind is naturally inquisitive and you will learn faster if you fix things that have you interested rather than reading x-hundred pages about something you don't really even understand yet.

Rant over, hope someone gets something from it.

Lori