Both playing and studying are of equal importance. Playing allows you to pick up experience that will be invaluable in the months to come, just getting used to spots that arise will help you play those same spots in the future. Studying allows you to take your game to the next level and you should try and do some of this every day, or if not, every other day. Your poker game needs to be both maintained and improved, so by playing regularly you're maintaining your game, and by studying you're improving it. Studying without playing I think is a pretty large mistake for most people because we learn most effectively by actually putting some of what we've learnt into action. Chicken points out some good methods for improving your game Posted by percival09
Couldn't agree with this more. Playing without studying will repeat the same mistakes with very slow improvement. Studying without playing doesn't give you the feedback or enjoyment. Need a good balance.
I agree with a lot of the above. I have started watching Twitch more and more and find it a really good source of material. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbRxckGbV1o This is one of my favourite hands analysed by a pro - Jungleman in this case. What a boss! I have a few friends who have had coaching from experienced players - Sky Kirsty actually had some online training from Maria Ho (good birthday present or what?) and she said it improved her game massively and taught her different levels of thinking. It's pretty expensive though eh? I'm not quite ready to drop £500 on that sort of thing! Posted by Sky_Dan
Hi Dan, Great job at the UKPC by the way - really appreciated the posts.
Great thinking y Jungleman to be able to make that call with such confidence. Coaching would be nice but as a rec player may not be affordable. Worth looiking into though.
Twitch - I was watching a lot of Jason Sommerville on twitch - one thing he's obsessed about is pot odds & people folding in the BB when they've got massive odds to call (not tooooo relevant to sky as theres no antes) that made me think bit differently, and play more hands. Book - As mentioned before Chris Moormans book is also a enjoyable read and raises lots of interesting thoughts. Youtube - i'd recommend watching Phil Galford, he's got lots of training videos where hes playing hi stakes cash games, he really rams home the important of thinking about what you're repping to the opponent, and if it's credible. 3 top players, all with very different styles but a lot to take from all of them. Posted by alex1229
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I don't think that we should call it studying though. In my eyes, that's just an excuse for people who aren't properly studying.
"so, you do any studying yesterday?"
"yeah man loads, I watched 9 hours straight of jcarver playing spin & go's. **** loved it m8 xxx"
I think it's an informative tool, but don't kid yourself, you'll need to do plenty more