I’ll say this at least twice: I’m not criticizing the value of older videos on the site. I’m learning plenty and have already seen results because in my game I’m focusing on the right things and ignoring stuff that doesn’t matter.
I use TPE strictly to use TPEU for now, so the only videos I’ve seen are the videos chosen for TPEU.
A lot of the TPEU videos are several years old. If I had read HOH years after those books came out, I would have been at a disadvantage. In my mind there are two possible explanations:
1) The pace of change has slowed, meaning the game’s evolution is more subtle, and the general concepts covered (at least in the TPEU videos) are still applicable
2) HOH drove change artificially, which made evolution easier, because how tournament hold ’em changed from those books created a lot of exploitable opportunities to the new breed of “book players.” TPE videos are more reactive to actual conditions.
Again, I’m not criticizing the age of the TPEU videos, although I would like to ask whether there are concepts not covered there, which are covered in newer TPE videos. I’m going to run through all the steps before watching newer vids. The structure is really helpful for me, so I’m abiding by it for now at least. My question is whether tournament poker has stabilized in terms of strategy vs. say 10 years ago.
Poker strategy is always evolving, although it's safe to say we are not undergoing any sea changes like we did from 2004 – 2013. So to answer your question, i think it has stablized a bit.
But when that happens there is a lot of profit to be made in slight deviations to expected norms. So while strategy is not changing as much, understanding and reacting to that strategy becomes even more important.
TPE U will provide a solid basis for anyone wanting to get better at MTTs, but to your point it needs to remain fresh. We are actually in process of updating the content, cycling out less relevant and cycling in newer, more relevant content. We'll update in the TPE U thread the changes when they happen. Thanks for the insight!
TPE Pro
August 25, 2012
Personally I think it’s easy to feel like the pace of change has slowed, or that it’s sped up, depending on where you are in the world and how much poker you play. I play a lot of MTTs these days and it feels to me like the game is changing faster than ever. People are defending K3o on 11bb in the big blind at final tables and open limping the button on 17bb in all kinds of spots. Situations crop up that would never have occurred several years ago.
However, these are all things that midstakes and highstakes regs are doing. The way the game is played at low stakes hasn’t really evolved as much. Many regs are still playing very ABC, and it hasn’t really filtered down yet. Additionally, if you’re in the US you probably feel like things have slowed down, because they have. I bet a lot of the US players who stopped playing after Black Friday would be losing players for a while if they came back now, at least until they adjusted.
The older videos on the site are absolutely still useful. But just like anything, you have to put them in context – if two videos from two different pros say opposing things, you have to decide which is more relevant. It may be that the correct answer lies somewhere between the two. But there’s no universally ‘correct’ way to play poker, so it’s much more important to focus on teaching yourself the thought processes and strategies that can improve your game in the long term, rather than following the instructions given by a specific training video or series.
Good luck!
Indeed, understanding why a pro suggests a particular move or strategy and determining how well it jibes with your own style of play is the “right” way to use the information on this site. We can’t all be you, or Casey, or even Carlos (although being Carlos seems pretty awesome).
You bring up another excellent point. As someone who has mostly sat on the sideline since Black Friday, I might as well show up with a YOLO bracelet and bright colored jeans on my first day back. Technically the adjustments the rest of the world has made since then should create a HUGE advantage. Most US players will likely still be in a 2011 mindset when they pick it up again. Now I’m excited.
October 6, 2010
i definitely dont think the pace has slowed down. i have only really started grinding properly again in the last month or two after only playing sporadically for a fair chunk of the year, and even over that time i have noticed some changes. its possible that i was just rusty but i still felt like i had to go watch some vids and just drop stakes for a while to get back into the swing of things
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