Experts: What would you change about how you learned poker? - Page 2

Harv72b · #11 10-11-2005, 08:49 PM

I'm only into the middle limit games & I don't know that I would term myself an "expert", but I think I've progressed fairly well since I started playing. Looking back...

-Bonus whoring/rakeback. I knew that bonuses existed when I started out, but didn't realize how prevalent they were, or how easily one could use them to augment their bankroll just by switching sites. I had no idea what rakeback was, and so I didn't get a rakeback deal...these two mistakes have likely cost me thousands of dollars since.
-I would've moved up more slowly. I jumped up the limits way too quickly, both from a skill and from a bankroll standpoint, and only good fortune kept me from busting myself early on.
-I would've started playing sooner. I started playing about 13 months ago, and I can't even imagine how much money I missed out on right after the big online poker boom started.

As far as skill development, I'm very happy with how I'm progressing. I read my first book on poker (Hilger's ITH) before I played my first hand of real money poker, and picked up SSH entirely by accident shortly afterwards. I started posting & reading here on 2+2 after reading that book, and that has been invaluable in increasing my learning curve (incidentally, all you lurkers--you will get a lot more out of this site by participating. I've learned much more by being wrong in a few debates on here than I have by reading other posts). And I resisted multi-tabling until I had been playing for several months, and even then didn't move beyond 2 tables at a time until about a year after I started playing. I think that was a key factor in learning the game.

ChicagoTroy · #12 10-11-2005, 08:57 PM

Ugh. This is the worst thread ever [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Bonus whoring will not make you a better player. Bonus whoring solves a bankroll problem, not a skill problem. Most people should be able to make a lot more money doing something else than they do clearing intermittent bonuses.

Harv72b · #13 10-11-2005, 09:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Bonus whoring will not make you a better player. Bonus whoring solves a bankroll problem, not a skill problem. Most people should be able to make a lot more money doing something else than they do clearing intermittent bonuses.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is true for an experienced player. For an inexperienced player cutting their teeth in micro- or even nano-limit games, and starting with a very small initial deposit (often $100 or less), and often just barely beating the game as they learn the finer points of playing, bonus whoring can make a huge difference. Not only for their bankroll, but also for their confidence. It can also allow them to move up the limits more quickly, thereby further increasing their profits, and, perhaps most importantly, it can help to prevent them from busting out early on in their poker "career" and then giving the game up before they had a chance to really develop.

Besides which, the question asked "what would you change about how you learned poker"...not "what would you have done as you learned poker to make you a better player now". I would much rather have learned with a bigger bankroll, rather than spent my first two months playing nanolimit poker as I built up my initial $20 deposit.

#14 10-11-2005, 10:10 PM

I've played for 4 years now. I never read a book. I started out not being the best player alive, and of course i lost a little money. Eventually, over time, i became what I am today, and that's a winning player. Despite not reading a book, i've read many things online over the years to help me learn and improve. Maybe if I'd change something, it'd be to buy Super System a little earlier than I did, which was a few months ago. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Onaflag · #15 10-11-2005, 10:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I've played for 4 years now. I never read a book. I started out not being the best player alive, and of course i lost a little money. Eventually, over time, i became what I am today, and that's a winning player. Despite not reading a book, i've read many things online over the years to help me learn and improve. Maybe if I'd change something, it'd be to buy Super System a little earlier than I did, which was a few months ago. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm curious in a simply curious way. How did you find these forums? I saw it on one of the many 2p2 books I'd owned for a long time before realizing there was a forum, or even a decent one, at the website plastered on the back cover.

Onaflag..........

Jdanz · #16 10-12-2005, 12:55 AM

the most important thing isn't to play, but to think.

You can learn a lot about poker if you think why you'd make each player rather then just what play seems the best initially.

Really simple, but really REALLY important. Just think what the results of each ooption presented would be vs your opponents range of hands.

The other thing, is skill is more important then money, i'm pretty sure given 300 bucks i could tuen it to 10k in a month or two if i was fairly dedicated at this point. However, a lot of people are content to grind it out at 3/6 rather then working hard at improving their game (by experimenting and trying higher limits). Take shots and try to improve your play rather then your bankroll (while still not putting yourself in danger).

The really big thing i've learned is Skill >>>>>>> Money, as once you get the skill, the money comes a lot quicker.

Hoss1193 · #17 10-12-2005, 03:38 AM

After little more than a year, I'm nowhere NEAR expert, probably more like "beginner +". But looking back on the experience thus far, a couple of comments:

Things (I think) I did right:
* Started at low limits online (.25/.50 Pacific), and only played one table at a time for months.
* Realized at very beginning that NLHE and LHE are vastly different games, and that what I saw on TV bore almost no relation to correct LHE play at low limits.
* Focused on LHE as the game to master...didn't bounce between LHE, NLHE cash games, and NLHE tournaments, like I see so many do. (Not saying that LHE is the way to go...just saying, pick one and concentrate on it)
* Took a study-oriented approach and read a lot from the very beginning (HEFAP, TOP, WLLH - SSHE wasn't out yet)

Things I gooned up:
* Moved up in limits way too fast - didn't understand variance and bankroll requirements.
* Played chronically underbankrolled. (never completely busted out, but the swings were extremely frustrating)
* Didn't multitable early enough.
* Took shots at higher-limit games I had no business being in (I'm still vulnerable to this tendency).
* Didn't get PT until recently. Another thing I should have done months ago (although I'm not 100% sold on the idea that you should use PT from the VERY beginning...)

Tony Corbett · #18 10-12-2005, 05:22 PM

If I had my time again I would have delayed reading HEFAP until after I'd played a WLLHE style for a couple of months. I thought I understood HEFAP but in retrospect my lack of experience meant I ended up misapplying the concepts and picked up a bunch of bad habits.

The other mistake was playing NL tournaments before I'd got up to a reasonable standard at limit. Trying to learn two completely different games thinking they were similar generated a lot of "noise" and led to hard to lose bad habits in both forms.

Smokey98 · #19 10-12-2005, 05:37 PM

Powerful post!!!

#20 10-13-2005, 07:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious in a simply curious way. How did you find these forums? I saw it on one of the many 2p2 books I'd owned for a long time before realizing there was a forum, or even a decent one, at the website plastered on the back cover.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was told about these forums on another forum (FTP forum)