The Well: Whale

[BalugaWhale]

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Thanks for this thread Baluga its really awsome that a player like yourself would put time in to help other developing players. Ive only read to about page 6 so far of this thread so Im sorry if i repeat a question. Thanks

1. What do you feel is the tool/exersise that has helped you grow as a good player the fastest? Ex. Books, 2p2, tutor.

2. What books have you read, and which of those has prepared you for NL the most.

3. You said your 19. In High School/College what were your grades and what subject(s) did you seem to excel in. What games/sports did you seem to win at throughout your life.

4. What approach do you take towards NL. Is it more of a mathematical approach or relying more of reads and strategy.

Thanks for your time.

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First, edit your settings so that you can fit 99 replies per page. This is SO necessary. Also edit it so that your the forum main page has 99 threads. Much easier.

1) 2p2. no doubt. I went from a losing player at 25nl to a winning player at 400nl thanks to 2p2.

2) Eh, I mean I read SSHE (limit), TOP, Super System, and NLHET&P, and i didn't think they helped me all that much. the SSNL master sticky >>>>>>>>>> anything else. Seriously, just read all of it. All of it.

3) Highschool I got really good grades in all subject, college I get very average grades because I'm not really motivated. I'll get a degree in government or something. As for sports/games, I was a 3sport athlete beginning of HS, 2 sports my junior and senior year. I played college football last year but got tired of it and dropped it. So I am very competitive and I want to win, the challenge is appealing to me.

4) Its not like theres a mathematical approach and a feel approach. The math of this game, at least for what you guys need to be concerned with, is easy. Pot odds, implied odds, whatever. The key to doing math in poker, though, is you have to have an idea of what your opponent has. I only know that my NFD is only 30-something-ish % against a set, so if villain is likely to have a set, I need to play accordingly. However, my NFD may be a huge favorite over another draw, so my calc's change considerable.

The point is, hand reading is most important. The math is just figuring out how much he has, how much you have, how much is in the pot, and then how much to bet. All of those things depend on what cards he has and what cards you have.

[BalugaWhale]

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What would help a player improve the most in micro / small stakes?
Put them in order of your preferance:
- Reading books
- Posting hands / being involved in discussion at 2p2
- Lurking on 2p2, read all the old digest posts and archives
- Putting in some crazy amount of hands.

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I'll rephrase these as a I see fit.
from most important to least
#1: Finding either threads either A) started by strong posters/players or B) in which strong posters/players are actively involved, and diving in with question and ideas. It's not what you think, in poker, its how you think. Thats the most important thing. So responding and discussing is the best way to learn by far.

#2: Read the master sticky and everything in it. So vital.

#3: Play a lot, and bring a hand or two from each session to the forums. You will find that a lot of the little stuff you are doing, especially pf, is just wrong. Pf is easy to correct cause it doesnt depend on community cards.

#4: Books never did much for me, but they can't hurt. I only really understood what the books were getting at once I had figured it out via 2p2 and on my own.

[King Spew]

In the micros, it's a whole bunch of Level 1 thinking.

At what $$ table does Level 2 and 3 become the norm of the typical player you face?

[UncleKraut]

Thank you for some great insight.

Do you ever play live? Do you have trouble adjusting from online play to live play?