Sloe Times

A little over a year ago I got interested enough in playing poker to actually make an effort to improve my game. I'll admit to at one time dreaming of playing at the big tournaments and having stacks of chips in front of me so big they'd have to stop play to reinforce the table at my seat. Time, perspective, and reality have brought me to the place I'm at today, which is oddly enough far from a poker table, and no itch to find one. Don't get me wrong I learned a lot in a years time about the game, have a library of material online and off that I don't regret accumulating and at one point played some of the best poker of my life. While I would say I dropped out of the poker blogging community some time ago, I'd like to officially bid it farewell and leave a sliver of advice to anyone who might still be listening.

To avoid sounding too much like a professional, or giving the impression that I'm anything more than just a guy who can shuffle some cards and almost do one decent chip trick I'll stick with the practical advice that anyone can benefit from. Without further delay, here are my three suggestions to playing better poker.

Commit to Improving - Playing poker is like doing anything else that requires skill. If you want to really improve spend as much time doing it as you can. Work, school, family, and other hobbies all compete for your precious time so you need to prioritize if you're serious about becoming good. If you try to squeeze it in for an hour or two once a week, you're not going to have enough table time to know what you need to improve. On the same token don't spend all your up front time reading poker material. Save that stuff for when you're traveling or just unable to get to a poker table. I'm not saying that reading isn't part of learning, but experience is the best teacher and provides the context that you should be reading for. By and large, poker books are generally boring reads and better consumed in relevant chunks. Want to tweak your game pre-flop, just read stuff related to that and get back to the tables so you can start figuring out what works and what doesn't. Again, if you want to get better you have to commit to playing regularly.

Invest Wisely - There are a ton of books and tools out there that are "guaranteed" to help you with your game. New or not to playing poker, and especially playing poker online my advice here is that you don't spend more than $80 on software or books before you've spent much time playing. If you've never played before, I wouldn't deposit any money into a poker room either. All of the major poker rooms allow you to sign up and play for free using play money. Granted the betting in play tables leaves a lot to be desired, but if you've never played a game before, doing this will at least give you the basics of play. At the point that you're ready to try using some real money, I think I would suggest Paradise Poker. The only reason I do this is because in my opinion they are a reputable site and they have micro-limit (1 cent/2 cent blinds) tables well suited for novice players that gives you more relevant betting experience against what will probably be similar caliber players. If you absolutely have to buy books and tools before you start playing, I recommend Poker Tracker and either "The Theory of Poker" or if you have some experience playing I've always been partial to "Super System" because of the way the material is presented. However, before you buy any books, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the wealth of information that's available in various forums (2+2), blogs (Party Poker Blogs and The Cards Speak for starters), and miscellaneous websites. You'd be a fool not to take advantage of all of that collective knowledge.

Consider a support group - Seriously. I have no regrets for putting this blog together and getting involved with the poker blogging community. A nicer bunch of folks there never was. Always there to cheer your wins, and empathise with your losses. Fortunately for you, you're not the first intrepid explorer in the realm of poker and there's no reason to take the trip alone. Having folks to share experiences with makes the learning process so much easier. Not to mention providing a healthy dose of encouragement, competition, and camaraderie that will make what will periodically be a very frustrating endeavor a little less so. Start a blog? Sure, why not. If nothing else, by recording your activities you can enhance that analysis and maybe get some feedback on your evaluation of your play and that paths your taking to learning.

If your curious as to what I'm up to now I'm filling the brief minutes between work, school, family, and sleep with learning about real estate investing. Poker was definitely not my ticket to the carefree and workless lifestyle that I aspire to so I'm pursuing a more traditional method of generating income without having to work for someone else. I'll probably retool the blog a little bit and definitely start posting more frequently since there's a lot of good information I'm finding that if nothing else I want to record for myself if not to share with anyone else. Heck, maybe there will be an idea or two for you rich poker pros that don't know what to do with all their money. While I will certainly keep reading many of you, this is definitely my last poker post and I hope that it's useful to someone.

posted by Andres Silva  # 6/18/2005 01:42:00 AM