Moving To The Next Level

[Trevor1973]

I have been playing poker now around 18 months. I am fiercely ambitious and have devoted a lot of time to improving my game. I have read a lot of books including Harrington and Sklansky - bought some instructional DVD's and have been using Poker Office. I have only been playing the $5.50 SNG's on Pokerstars and some MTT's but have done quite well.

But I really want to move my poker on to the next level. I want to go from an ABC type poker player to one who can advance to and win small to medium stake cash games. And one day - in my dreams - qualify for or win a big MTT - or qualify for the WSOP (the ultimate)

Apart from practise, practise, practise - what would people advocate as a good way to improve my game. The one area I am lacking in is posting hand histories. I know I need to embrace that area and also read more hand history discussions in the forum. Do people find that a huge help? I am currently reading Harrington III and find the thought process element of it immensely enjoyable. I will read Gordon's Little Blue Book after HOH 3 because I want to improve my thinking about a hand. I thought about getting lessons from a professional (who offers them over Skype) - do you think that would prove beneficial.

Any advice gratefully received. My current playing style is tight and agressive.

Thanks

Trevor

[Mike]

The first thing I would do is learn how to play well in different styles of play. For every stlye of play there is an equally effective counter style.

Learing how to play in the different styles of play will help you in two seperate areas. First it will help broaden your play, and secondly it will help you understand different playing styles and why they have there advantages and disadvantages depending on game texture.

This will help you develop your game in a dynamic fashion and be able to make changes to your game on the fly tailoring your hand play to specific opponents in the hand for that round.

[Teshino]

Oh really? What styles are there and their counter strategies?

[Bantam222]

I would think he is talking about is adjusting to your table. If it is playing tight begin to raise more hands and be looking to steal pots. If you notice the table begins to loosen up, you need to tighten up and value bet your hands.

[RickA]

I would try to structure your learning.

Start with pre-flop play. Thouroughly study some concepts and then try to apply them into your play. Review after every session and post any hands you are unsure of.

Then you can progress onto flop play etc.

This way you will understand the rationale behind why you are making a decision.