How to learn Hold'em

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I ran 4BB/100 over 6500 hands at 1/2 back in December, but was playing a weaktight game postflop, and flatout running really good

got forced to drop down to .5/1, tuned my game up a fair amount, and am doing well at 6max now

spend time in the achives, post responses to hands others post .. think about situations, work on reading your opponents

[Aaron W.]

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Here is my main problem: How do I learn to play better hold'em???

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So, for those of you who have learned how to "crush" the 0.5/1 level: How did you learn to do it? What step-by-step approach did you take? Did you start with something like Wilson Turbo Hold'em and quiz yourself to death (this would do me well if there was a reliable program on the market, is there?) Does a coach help?

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Consider a more structured approach.

TTH is a nice practice tool, but the advice it gives isn't spectacular. If you're drilling yourself or tinkering with a specific hand under various game conditions, it will be good enough to get you grounded.

[bonaparte]

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You really need to be able to compute equity at the table. I've recently explained how to do this, but I don't have a link on me right now.

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Did you mean this post?

link

I will read this tomorrow and report back.

[aK13]

Take a break for about a week, and just do reading/2+2 forums. Re-read SSH and the 180 page microlimit post by that one Carpal /'Tunnel. The hand quizzes are VERY helpful, as they are very basic and typical situations, and if you can't get most of those right, then you need to re-read some more. I also find myself replying mostly to the easier posts on the 2+2 hands (ones with blazing errors), but not to the more difficult situations.

[MooFrog]

The things that have helped me lately (note : I'm still at 0.1/0.2, have only played 1500 hands, but have hit a number of identifiable "wow I understand this now" points recently).

1 : Buy in to some cheap NL sit n go tournaments. Gets you a ton of NL hands per buyin, and read "Darse's SnG primer", should give you a decent idea how to play. I blew $20 on these in a couple days with a BR of only 50, and was totally worth it. Made me realize that I became a calling station in a lot of situations, and got me aggressive enough that I'm putting other people into tricky situations instead of the other way around. Also helped me understand the value of different hands much better.

2 : Have the SSH preflop chart (I have the PDF version open on my computer) in front of you all the time. I look at it every hand, even if I have AA in the button. I figure out what I think I should do and why ("hmm, T9s I should call in late position for the flush and straight possibilities - whoa, I should be calling this in early position in loose games too, cool!"). Also, this helps me a ton in staying out of tilt. I'll think about calling or raising something, look at the chart and realize that it's not even on there, and fold quick. I've started deviating a bit, some of the time, but I've found that Ed Miller is better preflop than I am.

3 : Have as many different type of odds sheets in front of you as you need. I have 2 different versions (one written for limit, the other for NL) in front of me. Every time I do anything I think about what I need to win if I'm beat, look at the pot size, think about what might happen next street, position, and the worst possible outcome. I try and count my outs or look at what I need and see if I have the odds right, then check the charts. This has helped me immensely in actually cementing odds knowledge, and is much better IMO than memorizing the odds and then using them without thinking about it. By seeing the odds, and odds of similar hands, I've started to understand why I'm doing what the preflop charts say and becoming a much better postflop player.

4 : Always think about the possibilities for a hand before they occur. If it's one bet to me in early position, before I even look at the odds or anything like that, what am I going to do if my card does come? Am I calling down on someone when my best possible situation is marginal? I always try to make sure I have a good idea on what to do next card, especially from early position. I used to find myself trying to hit with Q8s on an AKx rainbow, without knowing what I would do if the Q hit. When I get my card, am I just going to lose against higher pair or a straight? If I hit a flush draw, how many am I going to call? Often when I don't do this I become a calling station, hit my hand, and simply check/call because I don't feel comfortable betting it - how are you supposed to win calling with second best?

5 : Be aggressive! Doesn't mean that you should raise with everything, but I've found that if I go into every hand with an "All in or fold" attitude, my natural pussiness balances it and I end up making intelligent bets more often than before.

6 : Pay attention when you're not in the hand. I find I end up reading 2+2 posts while everyone at my table is posting banners displaying their fishiness, then when I come back I'm expecting them to play reasonably.



You may want to move down in limits, or set a chunk of money that's "lost" before you even put it in. When I'm running or playing badly, I find that I start hemmorhaging money. One of my previous attempts at learning to play I had a decent bankroll but was uncomfortable losing any reasonable amount, as a result I played much worse than I should have. You have to be able to put in a decent amount of money when the odds are in your favour. This may not be a problem with you, but I'd take a look through some sessions and compare your new limit with the old.

Oh, and last but not least : pot size, pot size, pot size! I was doing badly earlier today, and I realized that not a single play that I made had I even considered the pot size. Started folding a lot more marginal hands in tiny pots, and all of a sudden I was winning again.

[gorie]

good thread. i know exactly how you feel...

[GrunchCan]

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You really need to be able to compute equity at the table. I've recently explained how to do this, but I don't have a link on me right now.

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Did you mean this post?

link

I will read this tomorrow and report back.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, that's it.

[Delphin]

Are you using pokertracker? I'm guessing since you know how many hands and your BB/100, you are.

First of all, don't be too down on yourself for playing break even poker. Sure you have a lot to learn, but playing 6500 hands without busting and breaking almost even after the rake means you are doing much better than the average player. If nothing else, you probably have enough poker skills to clear some bonuses and freeroll the next step in your education.

Step 1 - Read small stakes holdem. If you haven't read it, go out to your local bookstore and pick it up or order it off the net. Read it cover to cover and do all the hand quizes without looking at the answers. If it has been a while since you have read it, redo all the hand quizes without cheating and then reread the sections of the book for any of the questions you miss.

Step 2 - Pokertracker is your friend. If you haven't already invested the $55, go get pokertracker. With a 5000 hand database and a free afternoon, I bet you can find leaks in your game that would add $1 to your win rate. I have done this recently and will be posting a thread about it soon.

Assumming you've done both steps above:

What is your VPIP and PFR? These statistics will converge after a fairly small number of hands, so no grumbling about samples sizes. If you aren't between 15 and 25 VPIP, and 7 to 12 PFR then you are probably making a lot of preflop mistakes.

On the position tab in pokertracker, how does your VPIP vary by your distance from the button? You might want to filter so that you are only looking at hands with 7 to 10 players at the table. If you are following the recommendations from SSHE, then in early position (5,6,7 off the button) your VPIP should be around 10%. In middle position (2,3,4 off the button) your VPIP should increase somewhat, hopefully in the teens. In late position (0,1 off the button) your VPIP should probably be in the 20s. Take a look at your raise % for various positions as well. In particular you had better be raising more than 10% of your hands in late postion (CO and button).

Are you cold calling many hands preflop? Take a look at the CCPF column in the hand chart on the general tab. Sort by it to see what hands you are cold calling with. SSHE says only to play in raised pots with AA-TT,AKs-AJs,KQs,AKo and lower pocket pairs if several people have called the raise. Don't cold call raises with ATo, JTs, A5s, etc.

Post flop play is where a lot of your win rate will come from, but first you have to playing the right hands. If you have good preflop play according to the guidelines above, then you are probably going to far with marginal hands or not playing aggressively enough post flop.

Do you have aggression > 2 on the flop, turn, and river in the general -> more info dialog in pokertracker? If not you are probably either check/calling when you should be betting or check/raising and/or not folding enough (marginal hands in small pots, for example).

Reread the postflop section in SSHE and read and respond to hand posts here to get a better feel for some of the uncomfortable situations you are facing postflop.

I haven't played many more hands than you have at $.50/1 and I'm not crushing it yet, but I'm improving. I was breaking even for 2-4k hands and then I found a bunch of leaks in my game with pokertracker. I've been running over 2 BB/100 for a while now (small sample, though) and I think I can continue to improve my game. Good luck!

[LALDAAS]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You really need to be able to compute equity at the table. I've recently explained how to do this, but I don't have a link on me right now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you mean this post?

link

I will read this tomorrow and report back.

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Yes, that's it.

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This was an excellent thread, I my understanding of equity fair but know it has been made crystal clear!

Thanks GrunchCan for taking the time.

[BatsShadow]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but how much equity edge do we need to bet or raise? I can calculate my equity pretty well, but knowing if I should love it or hate it is a different story in the less than obvious situations.