What's in Your Toolbox? Sound methods for improving your game

I decided to take on the poker world about a year ago. I am sure that many of you would love to take that jump, or simply want to improve your games. What did I do? I gotta tell you, there is no magic formula. You can't take all the aces and kings out of a deck, make a brew out of them in a pot, and then drink it. Trust me, that won't do a thing. Besides, it tastes terrible, and the guy who drank the J-10 suited brew will still find a way to suck out on you somehow.


Here are a few methods that have worked for me:


SIMULATIONS
When I first began playing – or I should say, simulated playing – I had some software for limit hold'em and I played thousands of hands a day. Literally thousands of hands of monetarily meaningless poker every day against a computerized foe sounds boring, doesn't it? Well, it was. I believe it gave me some very real advantages over playing in a brick-and-mortar casino, though, at least to start out.


Initially, when you begin playing poker and are really attempting to improve rapidly, you need to see as many different situations as possible in as short a period of time as possible. There is no better way to do this, with no risk, than using some of the software that's out there. You won't be worried about losing that extra bet when you want to see someone's holecards at the end of a hand.


Another real advantage of playing in a setting like this is very often unspoken: time. You will have time to analyze what you are doing, and what your "opponent" may have as a hand. What could he be calling you with? What would he be raising you with? These are the toughest things to learn in poker, and using some software enables you to sit … and sit … and sit while you attempt to figure things out. In a cash game, you won't have this time, and therefore you won't really have an opportunity to work on this. This proved invaluable to me.


I found that when I started playing in casinos, I was able to think much quicker, and perhaps clearer, than many of my opponents. I had manufactured some small amount of experience with all those thousands of hands I had already played, which gave me a pretty large advantage, at least over the other beginners. I didn't suffer a losing session until I had been playing for about a month, and then not until I had moved up several levels. I believe it was at the $8-$16 level. Of course, I got the hell knocked out of me, but that's a story for another day.


DISCUSSIONS
I was woefully lacking in my education in the area of peer-to-peer discussions of hands. None of my friends in San Franciscowere poker players, and 80 percent of the seats in my local casinos were filled with players over 40 years old. They were not exactly the types of folks with whom I would have a meal and talk poker. It wasn't until I started sitting behind Bear (Barry Greenstein), as well as Mimi Tran, and listening to what they had to say about how they played certain hands or why they came in with certain holecards that I really started seeing different things.


Real learning takes place when you have someone to actually discuss your hands with. I made this mistake initially, thinking my own intelligence was enough to analyze the problems that came up. It wasn't, and yours won't be, either. Find someone who plays as often as you do and discuss, as often as possible, questions that you have. Discuss strategies and different ways to work opponents. Only through listening to different viewpoints and considering your own mistakes will you be able to swiftly move ahead. I took some serious beatings, and made some boneheaded mistakes again and again, until I took it upon myself to seek some guidance.


I often made the mistake of thinking that everyone played just as I did. The truth of the matter is that there are many different types of players out there. There are those who will stick with a draw, even if you four-bet it on the flop. They just don't care. Then, you have players who just want to get in and gamble. They care more about the juice they get from it than the actual money. You've got your rocks, your pigeons, your chumps, and your slow-rollers. And don't forget your screamers and your pot-stealers. You get the point. There are any number of different opponents and any number of different ways to play them. I am pretty sure that you haven't figured them all out. Get some homies together and grab some dinner once a week. Discuss hands regularly. You'll thank me.


READ
Go out and buy some books, some introductory books, about whatever form of poker you are trying to learn. While there is only so much you can learn from reading, there is some good information for beginning players regarding starting hands, which draws not to chase, and so on. Most of the beginning strategies are pretty similar, so find an author or player you like and go with him.


Also, and I stress this, start with limit hold'em games. No-limit hold'em is a completely different animal than limit. Let me state that in clearer terms: Starting out playing no-limit hold'em will almost definitely ensure that you will lose lots and lots of money very quickly. To be able to play no-limit effectively, you need to acquire a completely dissimilar, and more complicated, set of skills. You have to be able to read opponents' hands, how strong they might be, and how weak they might be. Bear has told me, "Play limit according to the strength of your hand, and no-limit according to the strength of your opponent's hand." It's good advice, but tough to learn, and you should follow it.


There are several good books out there on both forms of play. Read a few and see which style is right for you. Many players dominate limit hold'em with their patience and persistence. Others terrorize no-limit hold'em tables with their unflinching ability to sense others' strength and put all of their chips in the middle on their own hunch. These are separate skills, and don't always carry over from one form to the other. See which group you fit into. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky players who can excel at both forms.

WORK
Very simply, you need to work at becoming a good player. That's it. I wish there was an easier way, but there just isn't. Like anything else in this life, there is no substitute for logging hours and putting in effort. As I stated earlier, I played thousands of hands a day, taking up the better part of my day. Now, I am sure that most of you won't be able to dedicate this kind of time to your cause, but put in as much as you can. The amount you improve will be directly related to the amount of time you put in playing, discussing, and just generally thinking about your game. I got to the point that I would dream about poker in my sleep. Pathetic? Maybe. Sad and a little twisted? Definitely. Necessary? Absolutely.


I have a ton of desire when it comes to poker, though. Just like any sport or skill that you are trying to master, it takes an incredible amount of dedication to reach the summit. Unfortunately, there isn't a shortcut to where we want to go. Keep your head down, and I promise to do the same.