how do you guys/girls study?

[Joe826]

just curious. i have lots of poker books. the only one i've finished it WLLH. over thanksgiving/christmas i'm not going to have a chance to play much poker since the best i'll be able to do is dialup, so i plan to read a few of the better ones. how do you go about making sure you get the most out of a read through? underline and write comments in the book? keep a notebook by your side for notes? think of hands were you could have applied concepts? just curious. thanks. cross-posted in pyschology btw.

[Cosimo]

I usually read for a half-hour or so before bed each night. Right now I'm reading Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, but that's cuz I recently finished up a reread of SSH. I also keep books in all the bathrooms.

I think most poker books are so dense that reading one cover-to-cover in a day isn't very effective. I read a part at a time, and think about it for the next day. Sometimes I'll stop reading for a whole week while I try to integrate an especially complex or epiphanimicating new concept into my existing understanding.

Writing and highlighting in a book is one way of reinforcing concepts in your mind. It's a psychological trick, in that the mechanical action of going back over the words forces you to remember what it said.

Trying to explain a concept to another person is also a great way to reinforce material, since the level of understanding needed to convince someone else is greater than recalling or recognizing a concept yourself. I try to educate my poker-noob friends all the time. It usually doesn't work--but just like this email itself--explaining helps it stick in my mind.

[Reef]

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think of hands were you could have applied concepts?

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pretty much ya. Just find a quiet comfortable corner to pop open a book. FWIW, I get the majority of my reading time in on the pooper.

[jimswarthow]

read study play...repeat in noo particular order

[Joe826]

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FWIW, I get the majority of my reading time in on the pooper.

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are you guys kidding me? why not just take care of business and be up out of there?

[helpmeout]

I have about 10 poker books now. I just read a bit of each here and there if i got bored of reading one i read another.

Once you have a good grasp of the game you are really only looking for a few pointers here and there not totally change your game.

If you feel your game is weak in certain areas such as playing overcards then go through the different sections of different books.

[thirddan]

i used to read on the throne, but i found myself in their for long periods of time cuz i was really into what i was reading...now i have hellmuths new book in the bathroom, its good cuz its mostly just stories of interesting hands, nice and short...

[sin808]

I highlight the important stuff. Make my own charts based on stuff in the book (this actually helps alot to commit things to memory). Look at hands I've played where I think certain concepts could have been applied. Look at hands where I have applied concepts and anazlyze whether or not the situation really required them and how well they were applied. Sometimes I'll load up TTH and run through a metric assload of hands trying different things I've learned. Only rarely do that though and it took a long ass time to get it set up to actually play like a 1/2 table. Maybe I should spend some more time with that so it wasn't a waste.

Lately though I've been having real difficulty concentrating and reading so I've taken a hiatus from studying until I can get that sorted. No point in reading something if I'm only going to forget (or not understand) it the next day.

[Sundevils21]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
FWIW, I get the majority of my reading time in on the pooper.

[/ QUOTE ]

are you guys kidding me? why not just take care of business and be up out of there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Tread softly there. The crapper is a sacred place where knowledge, learning, and bowel movements all come together in perfect harmony.

[Blarg]

I used to know a guy who would take a sandwich into the toilet.