what good does it do me to learn specific hands?

I have been looking at this forum for a while, and I understand that this forum has helped a lot of people out in their poker playing and strategy. I am just unsure of how learning what people do in specific hands in specific positions, etc... helps them. Even if they memorize exactly what the people who post tell them to do, how is this going to help them every time, in every situation? Also, I am curious as to how this forum is most beneficial to poker players. How does one get the most out of it? Thank you very much, I pray I do not sound horribly ignorant.

[cwsiggy]

You will begin to see situations repeated over and over, not necessarily with the exact same cards, but similar. By playing a lot then reading and posting hands, you will learn more about what to do with marginal situations like overcards to a ragged board but with no backdoor draws, etc. You have to play and experience the situations before simply reading hand posts sink in. Play, read, post, study,repeat.... Hope this helps.

[uuDevil]

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I have been looking at this forum for a while, and I understand that this forum has helped a lot of people out in their poker playing and strategy. I am just unsure of how learning what people do in specific hands in specific positions, etc... helps them. Even if they memorize exactly what the people who post tell them to do, how is this going to help them every time, in every situation?

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Well, we try to pick out the general concepts that apply in the specific situations that come up in a hand, and use them to determine the best action. It's the concepts and the process that matter most. But also, specific situations are rarely all that special; similar situations will come up again and again, so we can also generalize to some degree and thus apply what we learned by analyzing a specific hand in many similar situations.


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Also, I am curious as to how this forum is most beneficial to poker players. How does one get the most out of it?

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Read the sticky posts here and in the Micro and/or the Small Stakes forums. Read the linked threads in the favorite threads thread. Read other players' hand posts and try your hand at giving advice. Post hands you have trouble with. Basically, just participate and have fun. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

The great thing about reading the hand posts is that you can try and decide what you would have done in the situation and what you might have done differently. You can then compare your thoughts with those of the other players - and if yours is way out of line, then you know that there is something you need to learn.

[aargh57]

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The great thing about reading the hand posts is that you can try and decide what you would have done in the situation and what you might have done differently. You can then compare your thoughts with those of the other players - and if yours is way out of line, then you know that there is something you need to learn.

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Also, the more hands you respond to the quicker you will be able to make the correct decision at the table. When Sklansky talks about thinking away from the table this is one of the types of things he's talking about. By trying to work through different situations ahead of time you will be much better off when playing. It's kind of like doing your homework or studying before a test. If you never did similar problems you'd probably fail the test.

Also, you don't have to actually post a response to the hands. Many times I just read the hand and decide what I would do. Then I read the responses and if I have something to add I will post otherwise not.