How to learn Hold'em

[bonaparte]

I am extreemly frustrated right now. I have been playing Hold'em seriously since February. I just moved up to .5/1 this month. After 6500 hands my win rate is -0.06BB. This is a good indication to me that I am better than average, but not anywere near good.

Here is my main problem: How do I learn to play better hold'em??? I have done what others have said. I have posted my hands, did some "blind" responces to many hands, read thread after thread, searched posts for specific areas where I am having trouble, and played tight aggressive (eagle on PT). Maybe I am on a bad swing, but I think that is a compout. Too often I am sitting at the table thinking to myself "What the hell do I do now?" That is a total lack of confidence, and while it will happen to all every once in a while, I find myself in the situation of guessing what my play should be. Don't get me wrong here, I know how outs, expectation and such work, but all too often I am folding middle pair so somebody with A high can win, and then later raising middle pair just to loose to top pair. I also don't know when to fold the better hands (see my next post on JJ), or if I even should fold them for that matter. Another major problem I have is knowing when to deviate from the math and play strategy. Example, with AKs rainbow rag flop, no backdoor straight potential. Do I raise with 3 bets in the pot? The odds don't really say so, but the posts here say raise, raise, raise.

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?

Well thanks for at least letting me vent a bit. Still frustrated though. Any help is appreciated, Thanks.

[milesdyson]

You don't understand something really important. You wrote something in there that says you should 3-bet a rag flop with AK because there's 3 bets in the pot. That makes no sense. Read a poker book, go read the beginner forums, read about pot odds and pot equity. Also know that you may be a better or worse player than your "win rate" indicates. I'm at like .46 BB/100 over 20k hands at Party right now, but that's because I have seriously gotten the shit kicked out of me a disproportionate amount of times + party is rigged.

[bonaparte]

You are right to say I do not understand pot odds if I 3-bet a AKs on a rag flop. What I ment to say was "should I BET AKs on a rag flop when there are 3 bets in the POT"

[milesdyson]

There should rarely be 3 bets in the pot if you have AK, but that's beside the point. It isn't a function of how many bets are in the pot at a given time. Like say it gets capped 5 ways preflop and you have AKo. 20 SB or so in the pot and it's checked to you on the button. Flop is T98 all [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]s, do you bet because there's 20 bets in the pot? It doesn't matter how many bets are in the pot. It's how many players, who raised or called preflop, what kind of players they are, and the flop texture.

[GrunchCan]

Do you understand the concept of equity? Can you tell me what it is, how to compute it, and what its used for?

[Saint_D]

[ QUOTE ]
So, for those of you who have learned how to "crush" the 0.5/1 level: How did you learn to do it?

[/ QUOTE ]

1. Read Small Stakes Hold 'Em. It's got everything you need to crush the micro limits.

2. Play more hands. Set a goal to hit 10K hands before you start making any more adjustments to your play.

3. Find and fix your problems one at a time. This is a key aspect of learning theory you should take advantage of.

GL

-D

[the_rookie]

Overcards are difficult to play. My standard move is to bet out with position (after I PFR) and against a few players on a fairly raggedy flop. I also bet the turn and check behind the river unimproved. Many of these players will call a flop bet, but will fold when the bets double on the turn. This has worked wonders for me and I think it'll help you with your overcards.

Most of my money comes from pocket pairs. ANy pair is playable at this level. Even for two bets if enough opponents is in the hand because if you spike a set you will collect a huge pot most of the time.

I didn't hear you talking about pumping up flush draws or even straight draws. Against 3 opponents (2 is alright I guess) raise this if you can trap opponents for multiple bets. Your equity is huge here. But I wouldn't raise if the bet came from your right. I'd rather have a bunch of overcalls to go with my flush draw.

Not letting go of premium pairs when you know you're beat is a major leak. I'm not sure about a default play for these type of hands, but just watch out for coordinated boards and players reaction to it. If they are going nuts slowdown a bit.

But check-raising that JJ hand on the turn is not a winning move IMO.


In late position there are more profitible hands. Like suited connectors 78 and up. These play well multiway. But I don't want you try playing these hands if you can't get away from say top pair. So maybe save these hands for later.

Sometimes you can just be running bad for 6000 hands. I ran breakeven for about 4000 hands so it happens.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
I ran breakeven for about 4000 hands so it happens.

[/ QUOTE ]

I ran flat at 1/2 for about 15k hands. Then I realized that I sucked at poker. Things began to improve after that.

[bonaparte]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you understand the concept of equity? Can you tell me what it is, how to compute it, and what its used for?

[/ QUOTE ]

Pot odds: This is used to determine if you have the odds to call a bet.

Equity: This is used to determine if I bet/raise or not. This is the amount of the pot that I own (in theory). Example, with a Ace high flush draw after the flop my equity is about 35%. In a 10 bet pot my equity is 3.5 bets. If I have 3 callers for a straight or flush draw on the flop, then I keep the bets/raises a common as long as I can keep then calling (on the flop). As far as calculating it.... nope, I can't do it in a timely way. For something simple like a flush draw it is pretty easy to memorize, but put me out there with AQ and any flop and I am doing nothing more than making my best guess. That is part of my problem,though. I can tell you what equity is, but I can't tell you how to use it in most cases. Looking at SSH and HEFAP I don't see where they say how to calculate this. Is there a better explanation on calculating this in ToP?

[GrunchCan]

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. Either search my posts from the last week or 2, or pm me a reminder tomorrow & I'll post again. I'm going to bed, or I'd just type it now.