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Part 2 of our CardsChat Learning Series: Studying Poker is focusing on studying on the felt: tips and tricks that you can employ to improve your game while you are playing it. Studying the game is not limited to books, training materials and other resources; sometimes you need to review what is in front of you while you are in hands to also improve your game – even if you are playing in it!
When you are playing, there are key things you should have in your back pocket as you play:
What are you looking to improve?
This is the whole point of studying right? You should be focusing on a skill or an area of your game off the felt that you can now look to better on the felt, so that should be the theme of your session. If you are playing live this may be harder to keep at the top of your mind, but playing online would provide a perfect venue for you to keep a notepad next to your computer and have etched at the top of the page what you are working on today. Every time a hand comes up that is in your area of study, be sure to mark the hand for review later - whether you are using a program like PT4 (we'll cover that in part 3) or a simple notepad, make note of the hand # so you can pull the history up later.
Who is on your table?
This one serves two purposes:
The first being to try and identify the sharks, the whales and the fish at your table. You'll want to know their playing styles before getting into a hand with them if you can.
The second is to learn from them: if you know there is a solid reg sitting in seat 5, and you are out of a hand they are in, watch how they play. Try and range their hand as best as possible, and look at the path they & their opponents are taking to get to the end. Are you close to what their actual hand turns out to be, or are you far off? Mark these hands as well for review later - and record what range you have them on, and then analyze the hand knowing what they actually had. See if you can understand any betting patterns they exhibit, and use this to better your hand reading abilities.
Ultimately on the table, you need to be able to understand what hands your opponents have, and there is no better info than watching the hands play out in front of you when you are NOT in the hand. We always hear that information is power at the poker table, but if you are not paying attention to EVERY hand in front of you, you are ignoring key pieces of intel that could help you in a future hand. This is why playing only one or two tables at a time online is recommended for taking good notes - more than that and you will surely miss info.
Get familiar with Hendon Mob and Sharkscope.
We call it these two sites out here because it's a good idea to do your research your opponents if you can, and these tools help you to do that. Playing in a live tournament, you'll know real names and can quickly scan Hendon Mob to see if you have any unknown pros at your table. Online, sharkscope can be your friend to tell you if a player is on a heater right now or on a cold streak, but every poker session is different. A player's usual label may not apply on a specific session but it is better to go in eyes wide open than closed.
How long is your cash session going to last?
You want to establish this up front for the simple reason that you are going to review this session later, and may only have a fixed amount of time to go through it. If your session includes studying, recall the 3 to 1 ratio we recommended in part 1 - for every hour, play for 45 minutes and study for 15 minutes. If you are studying separately, and you have 30 minutes set aside to do so, play for an hour and a half - but remember that would only be 1 table. If you are two-tabling, that 30-minute study session would encompass both tables, so play for 45 minutes. Put a timer on your smart home device or your smartphone to tell you when your session is up - don't rely on memory alone. The clock on your laptop should be the last thing you are paying attention to while playing poker!
What are you noting?
This is the hardest part of studying while playing - what are you going to review later? There are a couple of buckets of hands that you'll want to note:
Certainly, any hands that involve the skill you practiced and reviewed off the felt need to be at the forefront of your review session as you are going to want to see if you have improved upon that skill or not. Keep track of the number of hands that you were successful in improving that skill, and how many you weren't - and when those hands occurred. Did you start strong and then fade in your application of that, or vice versa? Or, were you consistent in applying it start to finish? You are going to have to self-gauge if you are satisfied with your development in that to move onto a new area to focus, or return to the books and re-review that skill again before your next session. There is no right or wrong way to do it - ultimately you need to be satisfied with your improvement to know if it's time to move on or not.
Studying poker on the felt is not discussed as much as it should be, but when it comes to your application of what you study, how you read hands and opponents, and marking what to review in your next study session, there are plenty of ways you can improve your poker game while playing poker. Just remember to pay attention when you are not in a hand - you never know what you are going to miss!!
Stay tuned for next week when we get into HUD's, solvers, hand range charts, PT4, and more!
Make sure to subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index, and turn your notifications on.
When you are playing, there are key things you should have in your back pocket as you play:
- What have you been studying and what do you need to focus on improving today?
- Who is on your table - do you know them; is there value in running Sharkscope or Hendon Mob?
- If you are playing a cash session, how long are you playing for?
- If you are playing online, how many tables are you going to have open?
What are you looking to improve?
This is the whole point of studying right? You should be focusing on a skill or an area of your game off the felt that you can now look to better on the felt, so that should be the theme of your session. If you are playing live this may be harder to keep at the top of your mind, but playing online would provide a perfect venue for you to keep a notepad next to your computer and have etched at the top of the page what you are working on today. Every time a hand comes up that is in your area of study, be sure to mark the hand for review later - whether you are using a program like PT4 (we'll cover that in part 3) or a simple notepad, make note of the hand # so you can pull the history up later.
Who is on your table?
This one serves two purposes:
The first being to try and identify the sharks, the whales and the fish at your table. You'll want to know their playing styles before getting into a hand with them if you can.
The second is to learn from them: if you know there is a solid reg sitting in seat 5, and you are out of a hand they are in, watch how they play. Try and range their hand as best as possible, and look at the path they & their opponents are taking to get to the end. Are you close to what their actual hand turns out to be, or are you far off? Mark these hands as well for review later - and record what range you have them on, and then analyze the hand knowing what they actually had. See if you can understand any betting patterns they exhibit, and use this to better your hand reading abilities.
Ultimately on the table, you need to be able to understand what hands your opponents have, and there is no better info than watching the hands play out in front of you when you are NOT in the hand. We always hear that information is power at the poker table, but if you are not paying attention to EVERY hand in front of you, you are ignoring key pieces of intel that could help you in a future hand. This is why playing only one or two tables at a time online is recommended for taking good notes - more than that and you will surely miss info.
Get familiar with Hendon Mob and Sharkscope.
We call it these two sites out here because it's a good idea to do your research your opponents if you can, and these tools help you to do that. Playing in a live tournament, you'll know real names and can quickly scan Hendon Mob to see if you have any unknown pros at your table. Online, sharkscope can be your friend to tell you if a player is on a heater right now or on a cold streak, but every poker session is different. A player's usual label may not apply on a specific session but it is better to go in eyes wide open than closed.
How long is your cash session going to last?
You want to establish this up front for the simple reason that you are going to review this session later, and may only have a fixed amount of time to go through it. If your session includes studying, recall the 3 to 1 ratio we recommended in part 1 - for every hour, play for 45 minutes and study for 15 minutes. If you are studying separately, and you have 30 minutes set aside to do so, play for an hour and a half - but remember that would only be 1 table. If you are two-tabling, that 30-minute study session would encompass both tables, so play for 45 minutes. Put a timer on your smart home device or your smartphone to tell you when your session is up - don't rely on memory alone. The clock on your laptop should be the last thing you are paying attention to while playing poker!
What are you noting?
This is the hardest part of studying while playing - what are you going to review later? There are a couple of buckets of hands that you'll want to note:
- Hands that you felt confused in
- Hands where you ranged your opponent and were totally wrong
- Hands that you ranged your opponent and were dead right
- Hands that you were not apart of that you want to study betting patterns
- Hands that involve the skill you last studied.
- Hands that you took a bad beat, or gave a bad beat
- Hands that you lost a lot of money on
- Hands that you won a lot of money on
Certainly, any hands that involve the skill you practiced and reviewed off the felt need to be at the forefront of your review session as you are going to want to see if you have improved upon that skill or not. Keep track of the number of hands that you were successful in improving that skill, and how many you weren't - and when those hands occurred. Did you start strong and then fade in your application of that, or vice versa? Or, were you consistent in applying it start to finish? You are going to have to self-gauge if you are satisfied with your development in that to move onto a new area to focus, or return to the books and re-review that skill again before your next session. There is no right or wrong way to do it - ultimately you need to be satisfied with your improvement to know if it's time to move on or not.
Studying poker on the felt is not discussed as much as it should be, but when it comes to your application of what you study, how you read hands and opponents, and marking what to review in your next study session, there are plenty of ways you can improve your poker game while playing poker. Just remember to pay attention when you are not in a hand - you never know what you are going to miss!!
Stay tuned for next week when we get into HUD's, solvers, hand range charts, PT4, and more!
Make sure to subscribe to our CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index, and turn your notifications on.
