Improving Your Game

If you want to make more money at poker, you need to constantly work on improving your game.  By doing this you can make more money at your current stakes and move up to higher stakes successfully.

The most important factor in improving your game is your mindset.  It takes the learning mindset to improve your game.  The learning mindset is the desire and motivation for becoming a better poker player.  If you have a strong drive to improve your game, you will get better.

The learning mindset includes constantly racking your brain while at the poker table.  It’s all too easy to be lazy and go into autopilot mode and just grind away.  This must be avoided at all costs because not only will you not be learning but you will be making mistakes and getting burned out on poker.  Question every play you make and give yourself specific reasons for each play you make.  Pay attention to the hands you’re not involved in and practice reading your opponents’ hands as you watch.

Save your hand histories and review your Holdem Manager  stats.  Look for leaks in your play in each of these.  Analyze your biggest losses each session and see if you can find any mistakes in your play.

If you do find any mistakes or if you find a hand that is difficult to analyze then post it up on some poker forums.  By doing this you can get feedback and insight from experienced poker players.  The discussions you partake in in poker forums are incredibly valuable in making yourself a better poker player.  Even if you don’t have any hands to post, log into the poker forums and leave feedback on other peoples’ hands.  The critical thinking you do when participating in poker forum discussions will help you immensely.

Keep yourself informed by reading up on all the poker strategy you can find.  The internet has a wealth of information about poker strategy.  Sites like mine are full of articles by accomplished poker players.  Books are other great sources of poker strategy – just go to any bookstore and look in the casino games section.  You could literally spend hundreds of dollars on quality poker books and they would pay for themselves many times over.

If you have a large bankroll for your stakes, don’t be afraid to take shots at the games a level up from your usual stakes.  Playing against better players isn’t recommended for a money-making goal, but it will make you a better player if you go into a tough match for learning.  If you properly adjust to the bigger games, you may just be able to stay there.  If you lose a couple buyins you can always move back down.  Just make sure to stay within your bankroll at all times.

If you’re used to playing full ring or 6-max, try playing some heads up cash games.  Heads up poker is a tough game to master so I suggest you move down a level until you get used to it.  Nothing will sharpen your hand-reading skills and aggression more than playing heads up.  After you play heads-up for a while, 6-max and full ring games will seem like cake.

The common theme here is keeping your mind engaged.  It’s like exercise for your brain.  If you push yourself to learn, your brain will adapt and you will become a better poker player.  Remember, great poker players are not born, they are made.  The greatest poker players are constantly working on their game – even the high stakes pros do it.  The greatest people in all areas of life share the common trait of constant self improvement.  Even Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer in the world, has changed his swing in recent years.  He’s the greatest because he works at improving himself all the time.  There is no reason that poker players shouldn’t too.