Ways to improve your game without real money?

[Rek]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Johnny, how did you go broke? playing outside your BR?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep! Had a nice run, kept moving up, then BANG. Not sure if it was variance or bad play. BR got knocked down to the point where I was not even properly rolled for $2NL. But swore to myslef that I would grind my BR back up to a proper level. Was working until I wanted to try some HORSE, which of course the min game was way above my BR.
A few bad beats and bad plays later and busto!

I think overall I am a breakeven player (including live play which I have better results at) but have no stats to back that up. Only recently got PT and have only about 700 hands in so far so my 7PTBB/100 realy does not mean anything.

I do post hand histories and will re-deposit in the New Year to get back to money play but in the meantime is there any way to work on my game?

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

People will give good advice here. There is so much you can do:
1. Watch tv and videos sure but as has been said they are highly edited and if you are a small stakes player it is not the ideal learning material IMHO.
2. Get good reading material and soak up the info.
3. I don't put much faith in play money. It is good for real noobs who are trying to learn the game. You are past that level. Can't see any real benefit there.
4. Search the internet. There is untold info out there. You probably know many of them anyway but I find Pocket Fives (no flaming please) Card Player, Full Tilt's forum and Pro Tips all very good.
5. 2+2 is my fav forum. There is just so much info here. Go over various threads that relate to you.

My biggest tip for you is to learn proper BR skills. Hundreds of posts and info on 2+2 (pzhon has this down to an art form - search his advice on bankrolling). You must know it but you obviously didn't practice it. Next time you deposit understand your levels and when to move up or down. Plan what you should do and do what you have planned. Otherwise you will go busto again.

PT is good. But also make yourself an excel spreadsheet to incorporate all your live play as well. Log everything (and I mean everything) to find out if you are a winning player.

There you go - more than 2 months worth of homework.

[GinaSD]

Before I played at all- online or in a casino, I practiced for several months using Poker Academy software. It helped.

[johnnydrama]

[ QUOTE ]
Before I played at all- online or in a casino, I practiced for several months using Poker Academy software. It helped.

[/ QUOTE ]

How so? I don't know anything about this software.

[Pitbullo]

Read all through these threads and if you know how to use it, it should improve your play alot.

http://www.pr0crast.com/2+2.NL.Anthology.v1.htm

[Poker Clif]

One thing about your post that jumped out at me is that you lost money when you tried HORSE.

I lost my first two small bankrolls, and part of the problem was that I was figuring out what I wanted to do.

The original plans wan MTTs, but it just drove me crazy to play one or two tournaments a day, for several days, and never cash. I decided that the variance was two much for me.

I tried various combinations of cash games and various sized SNGs, with an occasional MTT mixed in. Finally, I decided to concentrate on SNG, taking occasionaly shots at the bigger ones (up to 5 tables) as long as my bankroll was moving up.

It was a very long process, several months, hundreds of hours of reading, playing, and studying, and this week I've finally moved up to $5 SNG. I love MTTs, and will still occasionally do them for fun and to try and hit the big score.

I'm serious about turning poker into a part-time job, and to do that I need the lower variance of SNG.

One more very important thing. I thought I was good when I started playing for real money. But six months later, I am SO much better than that other guy (must have been my evil twin) who thought he was going to be the next big thing in poker.

Please consider that some of this might be that you're not very good yet. It took me a long time to break through, but I kept studying and working, and it finally paid off.

I finally moved up when I hit two poker milestones.

1. I wasn't cashing in $1 SNGs, I was crushing them. I won three 1TT in a row last week, and it just seemed so easy, like the other players didn't even belong at the table with me.

2. Two weeks earlier, in the third live MTT, I cashed, 8/83. Again, it felt so much different than the first time! I was sitting next to the person that won my second live tournament, and she suddenly wasn't scary any more. When I got to that final table, I wasn't relieved that I made it. I knew I belonged there.

To summarize, make a plan and stick to it, and remember that you're not nearly as good as you think you are. Not yet.

[Zorlac]

[ QUOTE ]
Before I played at all- online or in a casino, I practiced for several months using Poker Academy software. It helped.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same for me. I learnt the ropes using this software and recommend it. You can also play against the 'Polaris' bots the Laak took on recently.


.Z

[El_Hombre_Grande]

Play money against humans is worse than worthless, don't do it; especially in NL. It gives you a false impression of the game.

I would deposit again, and play the lowest limits possible. Read NLTAP, Phil Gordon's Little Green Book, and everything stickied in microlimits. Use PT and PAHUD. Review hand histories all the time. Play one table. At those limits, ABC poker will work. I bet your sin is tilt ot being in love with TP. When the money goes in, have 2 pr or better most of the time.