Improving my Poker Game

[hackers238]

Hey everyone, I've been stalking the forums for a couple days now, reading some old posts and seeing who's still around.

First of all I would like to say that I admire this forum and think that is a wealth of poker information and discussion, and everyone here contributes something (other than eejit apparently, who takes money occasionally).

Most of you probably don't remember me, I was last seen about 2-3 years ago when I used to play poker online. After some -ev play and being angry at the swings associated with poker, I quit online play, only played home games, and occasionally visited the casino. However now I'm interested in getting back into poker, so I have deposited $200 into stars and am looking for a plan.

So here is my current plan: I plan to play 100 $1.00 + .20 SNGs at 'stars over the next month (I play NL Hold 'em). What do you think of this plan? Basically I consider myself able to do the basic math behind poker well (calculating pot odds and implied odds), but am unable to make long term reads. I attempt to make reads in the course of a hand, as in from the beginning of the hand to the end of the hand, and make the right read about as often as the wrong one. But what I can't do it play with the same people for a couple of hours and then read them based on their previous play, and this is what I would like to be able to do.

Here are some basic questions I would like to ask people of this forum, if they take the time to read this post/answer.

1. Is $1 + .20 too small of a buy-in to play consistent poker at? For example some games I get into 2-3 people will push the first hand with junk, which doesn't say much for their playing style. Then again maybe worse people just means more money in the long run... thoughts? I don't have problem moving up to the $5 buy-ins, as I could deposit a couple hundred $$ without a problem, but going much higher than that would strain my life outside of poker.

2. I consider myself better at ring games, because I play tournaments the same way that I play ring games, which I know is incorrect. Would anyone recommend screwing my 100 SNGs idea and just playing ring games? Or is it really just my preference? If so what ring games should I play where I can play against decent players rather than Maniacs at $0.01/$0.02?

3. Is there any software I should buy? I don't feel like throwing down $50 on something right now, but I would definitely keep it in mind for the future if there is one program everyone uses now.

4. Book recommendations? I have never read Super System I or II, or any other significant book. I think I read a little a sklansky's book back in the day, but then again "read" back then meant more like skim and nod, whereas now I would be more interested in learning the book. Of course I'm not going to go out and buy $50 worth of books either, but thoughts are nice

I think that's it, but as a final note, look to see some hands showing up in the hand history because there are PLENTY of situations I run into now where I can't decide what I should do. (One of the ways I can tell I have a lot of room to improve).

[Talking Poker]

Bummer that no one replied to this yet (tl;dr, I guess).

First: Welcome back. Now on to your questions:

1. I'd prefer you play 100 $1 SNGs than 20 $5 SNGs, given your bankroll. You can afford to play in the $5 ones, but I think you are considering moving up for the wrong reasons. You WANT to play with as many bad players as possible.

2. I prefer cash games over tourneys, but the choice is yours. One thing I will say is that cash games are more straightforward poker, where to play STTs properly, you have to play "differently" than you might think. Like, did you know you're supposed to fold QQ in the early stages? Sounds crazy, but it's true. Later on, down to 4 players, you should be pushing in with any two cards in most situations. Search on ICM and posts by Kurn. There's been lots of good stuff here, especially posted from him. Or..... play cash games

3. is an absolute must, especially if you plan on playing cash games. It is an invaluable learning tool. there are other pieces of software that are great, but most of them are PT add-ons anyway. That' where you need to start.

4. The books you should read depend on the game(s) you decide to play. If you want to master SNGs, buy Moshman's new book. For MTTs, the Harrington on Hold'Em series is great. For cash games... save your money and read hundreds of threads in our Hand Analysis section.

Final 2 suggestions:

-Post a lot of hands, and try analyzing hands other people have posted.

-Open a Full Tilt account and start getting . It's a great site, and for lower limit players, the rakeback alone can turn you from a break even player into a sizable winner.

GL.

[hackers238]

Thank you for the detailed response!

I think ring games do sound more like my style of poker, so I'll be switching over to them tomorrow after playing 12 SNGs the past two days. In which I'm down $0.30...

Ironic that you mentioned the QQ situation, only because 10 minutes ago I busted with QQ against AJ and was the first out!

Once again, thanks for responding to my post.

[hc422709]

lol I got busted today JJ vs AA first hand, but this was on Full Tilt

Speaking of which... with that juicy 27% rakeback, you would be up like $1 instead of down 30c.

1. Personally I find $1.25 pretty boring on Tilt, but im just grinding... you should defs go to $5, it'd probably be more fun and you'd learn faster.

2. Go ring game then if your better at it. The rake is a lot less too. We microstakers are getting screwed up the bum with those 20% rakes.

3. Ditto, PokerTracker is good. But damn, why is it so expensive. Sometimes I wish Capitalism would take over and more people would create similar products and drive the prices down. I bet the guy has a monopoly over this tracking shit. But, nvm me...

4. Books? blah. Just play lots and u'll learn from your mistakes (hopefully)

[hackers238]

Haha I can understand why pokertracker is expensive... I just downloaded it and the options are making my head spin. It can check my email FOR ME and find all hand histories and load them??? I can minimize it to my system tray and have it auto check a folder for new hand histories every SECOND? I can have it calculate odds on the fly and print them on top of the table I'm playing at???

...

HOLY TITS!

[hackers238]

Sorry to double post...

Quick Question if you're reading this thread: How can I "datamine" other games that are going on without sitting at them? In other words I want to be able to have 10 tables open at the limits I'm playing and have Poker Tracker be grabbing all those hand histories. This seems essential for building up a database, and I seem to remember someone mentioning it on another thread.

[Talking Poker]

You can do it manually.

Or you can get a program to do it for you:


Or you can pay someone else to do it for you: