Being able to consistently win at poker involves 2 steps. 

Firstly, acquiring fundamental knowledge. This information allows you to hold an edge over the common player but also allows you to incorporate new plays and adapt in the poker world.

Secondly, to maximize your win rate you need to stay ahead of the field and embrace any new advances in the game and stay up to date. Poker is an evolving game and complacency can lead to failure long-term. Continued poker learning is essential.

How do I get the skills to win?

With the number of training sites and coaches available acquiring the skills to beat the game isn’t difficult. The challenge is;

Finding the relevant information shouldn’t be too hard with a little research, however as a good guide, here’s the fastest way to becoming not just a strong fundamental player, but an adept one.

Cash Games – Sign-up to Run It Once poker training, and hire a cash game coach.

Tournaments – Take the PokerNerve Road to Success course, then hire a MTT game coach.

For other coaching make sure you check out HowToPlayPokerInfo’s list of poker training options: https://howtoplaypokerinfo.com/poker-training-sites/

The initial steps to improving your game will be mostly passive learning. Which means observing how others play and adopting their strengths. However there still will be a portion of active learning, as you’ll be forced to review your own game, and carry out some mathematical analysis to become a solid player. Thankfully the sites listed above, particularly PokerNerve, provides step by step phases to guide you. RIO also offers a variety of videos to work through, although finding the right videos for your level of play will require a little more searching. When it comes to poker learning, at first having a broader scope isn’t such a bad thing but generally it is a good idea to narrow down your learning to a specific game format, so you can maximize your skill in that game. This is another reason why strong fundamentals are important, as it will allow you to pick-up new game variations quickly, and ultimately diversify your game play if you should so chose.

3 FAILURE AREAS

1. ‘Winner winner chicken dinner’ syndrome

Recreational players often go on a heater (winning streak) or win a tournament and then have an inflated feeling of a right to entitlement. They feel now they can mix it up with the pros and should be regularly winning, when in reality they are often still lacking a lot of fundamental skills and are likely a long-term losing player. Poker is a not a game that rewards skill with results over the short-term and players misconceive their own ability frequently . It’s part of the reason why games are so soft, because players refuse to believe they aren’t as good as the player sitting across from them (as an agent says in The Matrix “ignorance is bliss”!).   Keep an open mind and don’t be afraid to self-analyze your ability with an unbiased eye.

2. Obstacle identification

It’s important to keep pushing yourself and not get complacent. A rise from beginner to pro will offer you the opportunity to grow as a player not just with skill, but with mental fortitude. Embrace the challenges and remember that going outside your comfort-zone is where a lot of learning is done. When you feel a part of your game is costing you money at the table, whether it be 3 betting ranges, blind play, playing out of position or whatever, come up with an action plan to correct the situation. Identity and then solve the issue. It might require re-watching certain videos addressing the area in question, or hiring a coach to help you drill down and work on that part of your poker game that is letting you down.

3. I learnt to become a surgeon using information on the back of cereal boxes.

Poker professionals didn’t get there over night. They got their with a ton of hard work and dedication, why should you be any different? It’s amazing how often people mention “I might quit my job and become a poker pro”. Have you even heard someone say I “I might quite my day job and become a surgeon?”.  Surgical work requires a ton of theory and then practice, just like poker. The only difference is medical school requires a previously proven high aptitude and possibly an entrance exam. If poker was offered in university, it would be probably be such a popular course it would have an even tougher entrance requirement. However poker is a mainstream game anyone can pick-up and play so there aren’t any criteria to learning and playing the game. But you have to be realistic, it requires hard work and both passive and active learning. Spend the money necessary to get training from online courses, videos, coaches and books. People’s inability to justify spending part of their bankroll for training is the greatest failure a player can make if they want to win in poker. Is there a surgeon who never studied? Without the proper skills and training, having a bankroll is just going to be a temporary thing.

Balance time spent at the tables with some passive and active learning, and keep winning.

If you would like to learn more about MTT poker training, make sure you check out PokerNerves MTT poker course – The Road To Success.