Working on your game ~ what exactly do you do?

[SteveDaRake]

This is a bit of a general post, but it seems alot of people around these parts are running bad/not having the best of times at the moment and there's been alot of talk about the need for breaks and to 'work on your game' .. but what exactly what do you/people do when they 'work on their game'?

Are you not playing at all, reading alot of forum posts and watching DC & CR videos etc?

Are you going through HEM or PT looking for leaks, what sort of leaks are you looking for?

Mentally, what are you doing to improve tilt-less factor?

Just looking for tips and what you should be doing exactly during these periods.

Personally I feel in a bit of a cross-roads. I still love poker, but I just feel depressed about it at the moment and dont really feel like playing (and losing) much.

I'm having a bash at learning the basics of Omaha for a while to switch gears, is this a good thing to do? Or should I be bashing out my short-comings in hold'em?

[palmer2k6]

I am going to speak for myself, but for others this may be different.

Working on your game is something I think you should be doing day in day out, not just when things arn't going well, working on your game should be a continuous part of playing poker if you are taking it seriously, it is important to continue to improve and adapt to the games and with out working at it you will never do so, infact you will most likely start to gain bad habits and infact play worse.

For me it has a few factors:

1. Session reviews, after each session I spend roughly 10-15minutes reviewing hands and analysing them, asking myself all the typical questions, Could I of got more value? Was this play the most EV play? Should I of bluffed in this spot? etc. I ask myself, did I play too many regs?.. stay at too many bad tables? Did I not 3bet enough/play too tight/play too predictably.

2. Videos.. I tend to watch around 3 videos a week, all 6max based (my main game) and nearly all on DC, when I watch them I sit in solitude with no distractions and take it as seriously as if I was playing..

3. Books.. Everytime I go to the loo I have a few books in there, they are all to do with mental attitude rather than skills (I get these from vids).. These books are vital, they help me focus my mental aspect on the game, lets me put things into perspective and helps me to work out if I had been tilting the previous session.

4. Forums.. I try and read through every single 2+2 and EMS SmallStakes post, and make posts wherre I feel necessary, I analyse every hand posted and after forming my own views read others and compare the different thought processes, this is super beneficial and gives you a much broader view on the game.

The difference is, when I'm running bad and fed up with playing poker I do all these things ALOT more, every session I review much more indepth, I watch more videos and make more notes when watching.

I read and re-read certain chapters on tilt, and on accepting the realities of poker, and I convince myself that I don't "deserve" anything from poker, that I have to appreciate I'm going to run bad and tilt from time to time, I don't treat is as "running bad" or "bad luck", its just a statistical variance which you get in the game... I also make sure that it is just running bad and not alot of it being me tilting.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone

[Jeffchef]

Personally I believe in the power of prayer and playing small stakes alot.

[MRPRO03]

Originally Posted by palmer2k6

I am going to speak for myself, but for others this may be different.

Working on your game is something I think you should be doing day in day out, not just when things arn't going well, working on your game should be a continuous part of playing poker if you are taking it seriously, it is important to continue to improve and adapt to the games and with out working at it you will never do so, infact you will most likely start to gain bad habits and infact play worse.

For me it has a few factors:

1. Session reviews, after each session I spend roughly 10-15minutes reviewing hands and analysing them, asking myself all the typical questions, Could I of got more value? Was this play the most EV play? Should I of bluffed in this spot? etc. I ask myself, did I play too many regs?.. stay at too many bad tables? Did I not 3bet enough/play too tight/play too predictably.

2. Videos.. I tend to watch around 3 videos a week, all 6max based (my main game) and nearly all on DC, when I watch them I sit in solitude with no distractions and take it as seriously as if I was playing..

3. Books.. Everytime I go to the loo I have a few books in there, they are all to do with mental attitude rather than skills (I get these from vids).. These books are vital, they help me focus my mental aspect on the game, lets me put things into perspective and helps me to work out if I had been tilting the previous session.

4. Forums.. I try and read through every single 2+2 and EMS SmallStakes post, and make posts wherre I feel necessary, I analyse every hand posted and after forming my own views read others and compare the different thought processes, this is super beneficial and gives you a much broader view on the game.

The difference is, when I'm running bad and fed up with playing poker I do all these things ALOT more, every session I review much more indepth, I watch more videos and make more notes when watching.

I read and re-read certain chapters on tilt, and on accepting the realities of poker, and I convince myself that I don't "deserve" anything from poker, that I have to appreciate I'm going to run bad and tilt from time to time, I don't treat is as "running bad" or "bad luck", its just a statistical variance which you get in the game... I also make sure that it is just running bad and not alot of it being me tilting.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone

Top Stuff !

[deanp27]

i just moan and do f*ck all to be honest

don't do that

[buffybegood]

Great advice from Palmer, all solid. Since I started playing cash I have started watching videos, and certainly review sessions afterwards, but I find this an especially good point

Originally Posted by palmer2k6

4. Forums.. I try and read through every single 2+2 and EMS SmallStakes post, and make posts wherre I feel necessary, I analyse every hand posted and after forming my own views read others and compare the different thought processes, this is super beneficial and gives you a much broader view on the game.

I don't tend to post very often on these threads myself, as I don't feel I have the knowledge or skills yet to be posting, but that doesn't stop me from reading the original post, deciding MY course of action if I were playing, and then waiting for the advice from the good cash players to come in and comparing what they say to how I would have played the hand.

[Reg]

Originally Posted by deanp27

i just moan and do f*ck all to be honest

don't do that

+1

I do watch some vidoes on DC, read posts etc.. but all they do is make me play a style I'm not comfortable with.

I'm happy enough with my A game, its good enough to beat $20nl for a decent rate without being anything remotely exciting or creative.

Watching videos does help me understand what different things could mean though and although I don't apply many of the teachings, having them in my subconcious has undoubtably helped my game.

[chip-star]

I think watching that mdm13 vid made enigma a winning player*



*(although he strictly denies it)

[Reg]

I have tried watching some of mdm13's videos but I find them hard to follow as they seem to jump around all over the place.

I'm a huge BalugaWhale fan and liked the WWJTD series as well.

[3N1GM4]

Originally Posted by chip-star

I think watching that mdm13 vid made enigma a winning player*



*(although he strictly denies it)

[ ] Winning Player