You're a Bunch of Factors

After a few years of playing freeroll/micro stakes poker i think i have reached the point where its time to take my play to the next level eg larger stakes etc and given my limited ability to play much in venue poker was after opinions/advice on how to advance my play both online and in a venue where i would rate the usual standard of play at "non thinking" at best to completly frustrating and absurd most of the time. I would classify myself as fairly time poor so don't really have time to be reading every second pros book and sift through hours of rubbish to find rare gems of advice so thought i would give people on here a chance to help me. I would be open to someone who sees them self as able to coach/mentor if anyone is that way inclined i'm under no illusion that my poker is great but i can hold my own most of the time.

Cheers

Hagar

It really depends on how much time and money you are willing to put in.

i.e. if you arent willing to invest much money into getting better (and thats fine) then i think your best bet is to start posting hands on the forums, be it here or twoplustwo and start getting advice. if you have anyone that you regularly talk to about poker, and you respect their game, start talking to them about hands.

the next step up from that is to join a training site i would think. if you are playing cash games then something like deuces cracked would be awesome, if you are playing tourneys only, then Tournament Poker Edge is 100% the way to go (and i have signed up there so if you want a referral link let me know)

in reality though, it will be tough if you cant put in at least a few hours a week at a minimum, playing LOTS of hands is definitely the way to get better as well.

Hi Hagar,

Very first thing I would recommend is learn everything you can about bankroll management. This is essential if you are looking to go up to the next step as your bankroll is your biggest tool. It may mean grinding it out in the small stakes until you have more money but it will make you a more profitable player. Even the best players in the world have times when they are getting smashed but by having good bankroll management you will be able to ride out these times.

As for making a move up in the stakes until your bankroll is able to accommodate the bigger games, satellites or steps are a great way of getting into them for little out lay.Be careful as a lot of these will be re-buy and you can get trapped into spending more than what it would have cost you to get into the next step. I try not to spend more than 10% and never more than 20% of what direct buy in would be. In most of these if you play tight it can be quite easy to make it through to the next stage or to the tournament as it is quite common for 1 in 5 to make it through.

I agree with benny the cunt that posting hands is an excellent way to get free advice on your play. Always make sure you are willing to listen to the advice given as this will help you see where you could have played the hand better. Sometimes the advice may not be the best but there will always be people there to smash holes in any unsound advice which makes it easier to determine which is good and which is bad.
I would recommend also setting aside part of your bankroll for training tools/site such as the ones recommended by benny the cunt and a tracking program such as hold em manager so you can keep a track of the games you have played. They are great for finding flaws in your game. Although I know you are time poor try and go over your hand histories regularly and see if there is anything you could have done better in a tournament or hand.

My knowledge is basic but I am always happy to help out if you ever want any advice. I am sure there are others here who would also be happy to help. Feel free to either post here or pm me any questions you may have.

Good Luck Gayle

Great advice gayle, cant believe i forgot about holdem manager, that is the number 1 thing before anything else imo.

and she is also 100% correct about bankroll management, you NEED to be practicing bankroll management if you have any hope of moving up levels safely. Here is an excellent article about BRM http://www.tournamentpokeredge.com/mtt- ... tion-tips/

As a failed poker player that had a go of it, BRM is the most important lesson you can learn, definitely. Discipline will go a long way.

gl!

Ok finally got back this cheers for all the suggestions. My next question would be where do i get a holdem manager, i have seen all kinds of ads for this and that all claim to be the next best thing, i want easy to use and something will opereate across a few different poker clients mainly 888 and stars but i do use a few others and being able to handle Omaha would be an adavantage...next benny the cunt i do believe that you should send me that referal link as the majority of my play will be mtt's (read that link you posted very helpful), Gayle while i would like to play and often look at sats and steps the majority of the 2nd and 3rd steps are at unplayable times for me so makes it hard. On a side note any thoughts on computer set ups (not systems my laptop is fairly new and workd fine), i am often multi tabling across maybe 5 games is it worth going to a dual monitor set up does anyone else do this? Keep the advice coming happy to learn more.....

1. Here is the link to tournament poker edge http://www.tournamentpokeredge.com/?affid=bennymacca

they have a few sample videos, so check them out and see if you like them before signing up. but you can sign up for a month and just mass download everything if you want to as well.

2. here is the link for holdem manager http://www.holdemmanager.com/buy/1/hold-em-manager

they have omaha tracking as well, but it costs a bit more. if you are playing small stakes to start with, you can buy the small stakes version at a discount. it is full featured but will only give you a HUD for games up to 0.25/0.5 and $30 tourneys, so if you are playing less than that, you can just buy the small stakes version and upgrade later if you wish, for no cost penalty.

3. in terms of setups, i would 100% recommend getting another monitor. i have 2x24" monitors, and put 6 on 1 monitor, and the leftover tables on the other, as well as internet, skype etc. it works really well.

so if you want to play 5 tables, i would buy another monitor (24" monitors are around $200 these days i would think) then you would be set.


anything else you wanna know, dont hesitate to ask

I think the key to good poker (IMO) is to learn about 'spots'.
Learning when it is right to complete an action based on the preceeding action, and your chip stack - rather than your cards, is a thing of beauty.

Once I learnt this, and furthermore developed the guts to complete the action (be it raise, call or even fold) my enjoyment level (and winning) went up a level.

I think a great way to get knowledge in a quick and entertaining way are poker cash game shows (such as high stakes poker or my favorite pokerstars big game). The commentary is detailed and based on the table action, rather than 'colour' you find in the coverage of the WSOP for example. The cash game play does translate to tourney play (for the most part) and it presents more to think about.

I personally would limit your tables in play to a few only, 4 perhaps - because too many more and you may become overwhelemed and 4 tables is plenty of action.

And finally, feel free to use punctuation and paragraphs in your forum posts

gmatical wrote:I think the key to good poker (IMO) is to learn about 'spots'.
Learning when it is right to complete an action based on the preceeding action, and your chip stack - rather than your cards, is a thing of beauty.

Once I learnt this, and furthermore developed the guts to complete the action (be it raise, call or even fold) my enjoyment level (and winning) went up a level.

This is excellent advice. Try and work out what range your opponent has then use this information to exploit flops that may miss them. Think what story your opponent is portraying. Sometimes the moves they make will make no sense if they had a strong hand or had hit well. I am stuck with the fear of using my reads and my position to pick up chips easily and I know this costs me (need to develop the guts to complete the action). Some of the best players continually run deep in tournaments even when they are card dead just by making moves when they know there opponent is weak or if they have great position. Mixing it up will also make it hard for your opponent to know when you actually have a hand and when you are bluffing.

Another huge issue that I face and I think it really can cost you is loosing focus (not sure if others have this problem and I would be interested to know how they deal with it). Try and get your computer away from distractions. I quite often find myself tilting or playing really badly when I have the kids racing around me fighting or my husband trying to talk to me while I am playing about parties we have been invited to, mail that we have received etc. The ONLY time I ever do well in tournaments, and this is where I have been happy with my play not the end result, is when I have had the house to myself and free of distractions. I try and clear my mind of the outside world and focus on the job at hand. The 2 screens also helps as you are not flicking between things while you are playing which can also be a big distraction.

Please keep us updated on your progress as I love to hear success stories. And again I am always happy to give advice although my knowledge may only be average I do like to help.

Ok so on this topic I would love some advice also.

I have lost my way with my poker and am slowly finding my way back. Trying some new things with my online game with some mixed results but I am happy as I know this will help me improve in the long run. My problem is that my live game is what I would consider terrible. I know all the basics and also have a fairly good knowledge of poker so I have a starting point but what steps would the forumers recommend for improving a live game? I am around 2 hours from the casino so playing games there is usually out of the question so my venue games is the only thing that I have to play in a live environment.

I would appreciate any advice as I really do respect the opinion of all of the people on the forum. I will say in advance that I am really open to any suggestions as I really do want to improve. I have recently regained my passion for poker and with anything that I do I always strive to improve and it is driving me mad that this part of my game is letting me down.

Thanking you in advance Gayle