How did YOU get good?

[Nottom]

I'm still waiting to get good.

[spex x]

The only way to improve is to play poker. You can become a top player by playing and never reading, but you'll never get there by reading and not playing, as others have mentioned. I play mostly NL games. I think that it is great to read poker books, and I read a lot of them. But, to improve, you've also got to take risks. I don't know if you've played a lot of NL games, but NL is very much an implied odds game - it lends itself to profitable non-by-the -book play. Experience allows you to be more creative in how you play. What I do is set an hourly rate goal for each blind level I play. So for you, if you're playing .25/.50 NL, the goal might be to make $10 per hour (the goal is kind of arbitrary, and can be revised). I then play until I can make my goal with 300 hour minimum of play time.

What I found playing this way is that playing tight doesn't cut it. To make my goals I've got to play looser and more aggressive. I've got to make a lot of moves and put opponents to the test. And I get busted all the time. But after some time you get a 'feel' for the game that the authors can't relate to you through texts. Or sometimes they say things that you don't understand until you've got more experience. I remember the first time I read Super/System I thought it was garbage. But now I think it is the best book on NL hold'em. (although I haven't read Sklansky's new NLHE book yet)

Don't be afraid to go broke. Get busted, let your opponents think you're an idiot, and find out what works.

[ImprovinNewbie]

play lots of hands and see lots of situations and remember them and amalyze after

[Louie Landale]

You probably need help figuring out the opponents exact holding.

Try this hand: There is a tight player who has a good grasp of the trouble with trouble hands and fears you since you usually have a good hand but are willing to go out on a limb. You raise early and he calls as does the blind. Flop is A63 rainbow. Blind checks, you bet, tight player calls.

What's he got? Well, he'd reraise with AK, won't call a raise with a small pocket pair, won't call an early raise with AT, will probably raise the flop with AQ. This player has AJ.

Have you ever put a player on a hand so precisely so early in the hand?

First off you need to see the continuity of the hand; in your case this simply means remembering what's happended so far. (Early poker programs had no sense of continuity; the'd call the 3-bet on the turn with a K-high flush, then raise again on the river having forgotten the opponent has the A flush). Start jotting down just enough information about interesting hands such that you can reconstruct them accuratly after the session; perhaps intending to post them here. After you can force yourself to remember what's happened you'll need to keep practicing it such that the continuity of the hand is recalled without any effort.

2nd off, you need to start making deductions of their holdings. The first place to start is to pretend the guost of poker-future is watching you play and is trying to deduce what you've got by your actions. So you raised early, tight player called and did the blind. Flop is A63. You bet, tight player called, blind folded. Turn is 3. You bet... [1] Can you tell me all the possible hands you may have that will cause you to have acted as you did in this spot? AK, AQ, AJ, what about QQ? 99? [2] What does it look like you've got from the tight player's perspective? What does he actually THINK you've got?

Don't make the mistake of presuming the opponents will correctly deduce your likely holdings. YOU may know you'd never bet 99 in that spot but the opponent's don't know that.

- Louie

[Scavengerfolk]

I've read most of the responses here and I think it is all very good advise. Let me see if I can add to it:

First, you are a good player. You enjoy what you are doing and you win most of the time. That defines success.

Second, try new ideas. Decide to play 6 4 from late position when a player in early position has raised. The books tell you how to play tight and aggressive. They don't really tell you how to play when you KNOW what the other guy has.

In fact, one of the most important skills in poker is to be able to determine what the other guy has and would he be willing to let go of it in the right circumstances.

Oh, and know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when...

[kaah]

with experiance you get a feel a .. sort of flow.. you have been here before you have played this situation a hundred times before you know what he has, you play the player and not the hand

[theDetroitKid]

go broke 3 or 4 times

[Borgland]

[ QUOTE ]
The only way to improve is to play poker.

[/ QUOTE ]
And understand why you're winning or losing. Then learn from it and apply those lessons in game.

[ebull]

Pay attention at all times. Poker can be very boring as you muck hand after hand. Watch the other players while you are out of the hand - what do they raise with? what do they call with? will they fold to a check-raise? etc, etc.

Online, take notes. There is nothing more satisfying than finding a donk that you read like a cheap paperback and taking his chips with value bets on river, semi-bluffs, etc.

[AlanBostick]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't forget that approximately 90% of all that are playing are losing in the long run. Hopefully your not one of them. Good luck!

[/ QUOTE ]

It's more like 60%.