Learning Poker Together Part 3: How do you train?

[Luvepoker]

So here's a question for you all today. I wanna talk about studying today and how people go about it. Everybody has a different way of looking at things and doing their training and I think it'd be good to know what we all do in our studies of the game.

1) So what is your approach on how you study poker?
2) Do you use any tools in your training?
3) How often and how long do you train say each week?
4) Do you use or have you ever used training sites, books for YouTube videos?
5) If you use any of these have they been worth it at least to you?

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Click here to find a list of all the threads in my Learning Poker Together Series: Learning Poker Together Series: Helping each other improve in playing poker

 

[Luvepoker]

I've taken the approach to studying poker very seriously and as I've said it's because I wanna achieve more. I have literally taken my training and do my studying as if it was a college course. There is so much depth to this game and knowledge that you can learn to help that I believe if you go out and have a more formulated approach to it you can become a very strong poker player. I do take a very structure approach to my training and have littarly spent 5 of 6 months working on just one area of the game. I also tend to train in areas outside of poker for poker. I believe mindset is a very helpful thing to study in playing this game. If you think I over do it your probably correct.

I do use poker tools. I have flops Zilla, poker equity labs and I do use a solver. I do have poker tracker but unfortunately where I play right now I can't use it so it just sits on my computer.

I tend to put in 10 hours a week into my training some weeks have been closer to 20 others closer to 5 it just depends on life in general over the last couple of years 10 hours a week plus has been the norm.

I have used pretty much used everything at one time or another. Again I want to advance myself so yes I do put the money in to my training for both mindset and poker. Yes poker coaching is not necessarily cheap but I would not be where I am today without some of the training I have had.

I have found most tools to be very useful some more than others and yes the training sites I've used have accelerated my training. Have I made tons of money using these not really where I don't lose money either and that's a win right there but as I've also said before it's not about the money for me I play for the glory and fun of it. No don't get it wrong I don't get carried away with what I'm spending but I have found it to be very worthwhile even at the lowest stakes. While many would look at where I play online and say it's not worth it it's not just about where I play online it's about all the poker live and online I can play. Since taking my game seriously I'm being more into the training I watched several of my goals and found it's been worth everything I've ever done or spent on this training. The one thing I will always say it's not worth it for everyone to spend the money or put in the effort that I did. Is about what you would want to achieve in your personal life. If you're just happy playing for fun you don't need to do this. I don't intend on ever being a professional or making an income from that what my goals are much different than many others.

 

[martDdart]

I read books and learned about pot odds and the basics.Now I play poker and learn from my mistakes.Its a long journey that will never end and that is ok because I enjoy it.

 

[Luvepoker]

I read books and learned about pot odds and the basics.Now I play poker and learn from my mistakes.Its a long journey that will never end and that is ok because I enjoy it.

One thing you can do to help your growth is post a hand when you have a question on it. I have gotten some really great advice from many good players over the years this way. I have come a long way on my journey but still learn alot that way.

 

[christovam]

Answering the questions, which, by the way, are not examples to follow, but I want to share my experience as an amateur poker player:

1 - I'm a terrible student;
2 - I don't use tools because I don't have enough money to pay for them;
3 - I practice a maximum of fifteen hours a week;
4 - I have never used training sites, other than what is available here on CC;
5 - They didn't help me much with my limitations, mainly because of the language difficulty.

 

[fundiver199]

1) So what is your approach on how you study poker?

See point 2 and 3.

2) Do you use any tools in your training?

Yes I currently use ICMizer, because I play a lot of SnGs. When I played cash games, I had PokerSnowie for a while. I also use free tools like Equilab or free calculations by GTO Wizard. And I use PT4 for collecting my hands and tracking my results.

3) How often and how long do you train say each week?

Much less than I should. 6 month ago I made a commitment to let ICMizer mass analyse all SnG push-fold spots. But I am currently running games from may 2024, and its now august 2024. So I have fallen behind, and thats basically because, I enjoy playing more than studying.

4) Do you use or have you ever used training sites, books for YouTube videos?

The only poker book, I have read, is "Crushing the micro stakes", when I was a cash player. I always look for free material on Youtube and have watched the CC 30 days course multible times. I am also a big fan on Bart Hansson and Crushlivepoker, even though I dont play live cash games.

5) If you use any of these have they been worth it at least to you?

Yes.

 

[Luvepoker]

See point 2 and 3.

Yes I currently use ICMizer, because I play a lot of SnGs. When I played cash games, I had PokerSnowie for a while. I also use free tools like Equilab or free calculations by GTO Wizard. And I use PT4 for collecting my hands and tracking my results.

Much less than I should. 6 month ago I made a commitment to let ICMizer mass analyse all SnG push-fold spots. But I am currently running games from may 2024, and its now august 2024. So I have fallen behind, and thats basically because, I enjoy playing more than studying.

The only poker book, I have read, is "Crushing the micro stakes", when I was a cash player. I always look for free material on Youtube and have watched the CC 30 days course multible times. I am also a big fan on Bart Hansson and Crushlivepoker, even though I dont play live cash games.

Yes.

I have also used some of those tools. Never tried Pokersnowie. What are your thoughts on the program and is it worth it?

PT4 is great if usable where your playing. Most of my play at the moments is on a site that wont allow it. What have you seen and learned on the Mass analyses so far? Would love to do that but cant at the moment.

While i love playing poker, i also really enjoy studying the game. Yeah I am a bit weird there. LOL

OMG i used to read a lot of the books out there. Not as much in recent years. I do look at some of the free content but mostly stay away from it. Not sure why but i do. Even though you dont play much cash learning deep stack play is good and if you like watching Bart play there is nothing wrong with it.

I do have a paid GTO ward subscription. Overpriced but worth using at this time.

 

[Luvepoker]

Answering the questions, which, by the way, are not examples to follow, but I want to share my experience as an amateur poker player:

1 - I'm a terrible student;
2 - I don't use tools because I don't have enough money to pay for them;
3 - I practice a maximum of fifteen hours a week;
4 - I have never used training sites, other than what is available here on CC;
5 - They didn't help me much with my limitations, mainly because of the language difficulty.

The language barriers is not easy for you, I am sure. With I could help there. As for the books I can still find them at the library. Any chance you can find them there? There are some programs and site that give free tools. Equilab is a nice tool you can use and free. Glad your using what's on CC. The 30 day course is really helpful.

 

[fundiver199]

Never tried Pokersnowie. What are your thoughts on the program and is it worth it?

For cash game players maybe. But there is an argument, that it is already a little bit outdated, and that solvers are the place to go now. But if I remember correctly, they offer monthly or quarterly subscription, so its not to expensive to try it out.

PT4 is great if usable where your playing. What have you seen and learned on the Mass analyses so far? Would love to do that but cant at the moment.

I dont really use that for tournaments. For cash players its very usefull though. Since I moved to tournaments, I mainly use PT4 for the HUD, to keep track of results and to store my hand histories. So that for instance I have an easy way to export them to ICMizer. Sometimes I also look at individual hands in the replayer to check my line, or what was actually going on.

 

[Mr.$t0k]

I believe that we should constantly study, this will bring a very good result, and how you will study is not important, the main thing is that you get new knowledge