Following my recent personal theory on ‘Game management not just bankroll management’, I come to the next part of my theory on Game Improvement. As said before, through my enjoyment of Twitch poker, another common term across the poker channels is ‘How can I get good at poker?’ There are many ways to learn and improve your game to help you play optimally. Just because we can’t win every tournament, it doesn’t mean we can’t play to the best of our ability and feel good about it.

Studying

Studying for me is a massive part of poker, almost as important as playing. Personally I feel if you are a regular grinder of say 3 solid days a week, then you must put in the study time as well as some important rest time. So say grind, study, grind, rest, study, grind, rest. Having a schedule of grinding, studying and resting can help keep a refreshed look on the way you keep you game play optimal. There are many ways to study; software like Flopzilla, Simple Postflop, and Holdem Resources Calculator, just to name a few. These, and many other software’s, are all great tools for keeping your game fresh and picking up information about spots you may usually miss with multi-tabling or loss of concentration. Which brings me to my personal favourite way to study, video series’ on training sites. Most of these videos are made by pros/highly profitable players who have a better knowledge of bluffing and stealing spots and the whole game theory/strategy of playing poker. Those videos also show spots you may be missing and usually go into depth about why they played a certain hand in a certain way, helping you understand and showing you how to incorporate these plays into your own game.

Coaching

Many pros’ offer coaching; this is also a useful way of improving your game. Having someone else looking over your database/HH is a great way to find out leaks. There’s a few things to consider before getting coaching; Look into the packages coaches offer, if you can’t find the offers e-mail as a consultation should be free, consider what you will receive for the price you are paying and have a general knowledge of the game and why you play the way you do before getting coaching. I myself have had coaching from a pro and highly recommend it, I thoroughly enjoyed my coaching experience and found that it helped me not only improve my game then but continually help me improve my game in the future.

Reviewing

Just as important as studying your own deep runs in tournaments, preferably whilst the tournament is still fresh in your memory. Try not to do this alone though, do it with a friend/group of friends, and better still if one of those friends has a higher level of knowledge than you do about the strategies of poker. That way you can bounce ideas off of each other for a fresher outlook on how a hand could have played out differently. Mark tough spots you face in tournaments for review on your study days, again don’t look at it on your own, post it in a forum to get feedback from others. Also you could go, what I like to call, ‘forum hunting’, where I find hands others have posted and try give a detailed GTO explanation once you have reviewed their hand. And since you don’t know the outcome, it’s an excellent way to really think about the play. I feel this is a great way to build your game to the next level.

Database

Many streamers use JIVARO, personally I am not a fan of this software for a few reasons; it often crashes or is unavailable due to server faults, there aren’t enough HUD stats available that are useful, like the ones HEM2/PT4 have and you’re unable to review database to find leaks. Reviewing your HEM2/PT4 database is a good way to find leaks in your game. I try to do this once a month, for the month just passed, as the more hands you have, the better/easier it will be to find any leaks. Ask yourself if you’re losing too much 3-betting a certain hand or am I not 3 betting enough? How wide am I defending my BB? Which defends are the most profitable? There are a huge variety of leaks you could find and plug up. Also any leaks you find may have been noticed and noted by an opponent. These can be used to your advantage in future plays against players you’ve played against before.

Mental Game

How do you prep for a session? Do you eat regularly before, during or after? Do you keep hydrated? Do you keep fit? How often do you tilt and why? All these questions need an answer. Here is how I mentally prepare for a session: I always eat before, during and after a session, there’s nothing worse than playing on an empty stomach, or praying for the next 5-minute break to go and grab something, anything to nibble on. I try to eat as healthy as possible and keep away from too much junk food, a bonus of this is healthier food sustains for longer. I always drink plenty of fluids, the brain and body will be optimal when you feed and water them. Keeping fit is a vital part to my mental game. A good phys session releases the endorphins in your body, making you feel happy in yourself. If I were to say before you fire up your next session, go for a 5km run and take a shower, your mind and body will be revitalised and refreshed leaving you ready and raring to get on the grind, feeling good about yourself and your session ahead. DON’T let tilting take over your game. If you feel like you may be heading towards a tilt during your session stop regging, finish playing and take some time away to start again refreshed. One time I tilted so hard I punched and broke my laptop, which turned out to be a pretty expensive tilt. It was at the point in my poker playing that I thought that’s it time for a break, refresh myself and get back in the game after a breather.

There is also a great podcast out there by Elliot Roe, called ‘The Mindset Advantage Podcast’, which I highly recommend giving a listen to.

My final thoughts on Game Improvement: poker is an ever changing game, that you must evolve with, or even take it one step further to surpass the evolution and be ahead of the game. If you are a reg/pro, then you have plenty of time to study. But if you are a recreational player, who has a full time job, then you must sacrifice something to gain the knowledge. So for me, after a day at work, I make time for my 4 young children, once they’re in bed I would play/study/rest. If I need to study, I won’t watch TV/Sport, this is my sacrifice for keeping on top of my game. But keeping everything in balance is also important to me, if I miss too many of my favourite programmes, I sacrifice the grind rather than my study time. And to leave you with another short but sweet Army phrase: ‘no one likes excuses, everyone likes solutions.’