2010 April — the poker how to
1. Read everything you can find on poker 2. Try to talk to everyone you can get a hold of 3. Save all the hands you have difficulties with 4. Discuss all of your hands on poker forums and anywhere you can 5. Get a poker coach or join an online program! 6. Always review your sessions and learn to improve by yourself 7. Calculate and look at your equities 8. Learn how to apply hand ranges 9. Keep an open-mind and test everything 10. Understand the concepts in poker so you can customize them to fit your own style 11. Be generous – Help others with what you know 12. Keep your life balanced – don’t let poker swings affect your life 11. Use poker tracking software to plug your leaks (and if you’re Finnish, check out netticasino for more tips) 12. Be a copy cat – Look at how big winners play, think about it and imitate them. 13. If you think poker will make you rich quick, you’re wrong. 14. Prolonged stretches of bad-luck will happen, tighten up during them, take more breaks and discuss more hands to make sure you are playing your best. 15. Love your mistakes – How else will you know what to improve?. 16. Be self-critical, but do not put yourself down. Every mistake is an investment if you learn from it. 17. Learn how to spot exploitable patterns in players and how to take advantage of them. 18. Focus on one game and invest in an online course – whether it be Sit & Go’s, Tournaments, Cash Games or even mobile casino games (weird, I know), pick one as your main focus

Essential Tips for Beginners

19. ALWAYS play tight! 20. Try different poker games – Even though Hold’em is the most popular game, it doesn’t mean it will be the game for you 21. Study the game as much as you can 22. Have patience – It was frustrating as a balloon for me in the beginning, but turn that frustration into determination and you are good to go. 23. Keep your calm – This is incredibly important throughout your whole poker career, but especially while starting out. 24. Become a master of game selection 25. Keep it simple 26. See the first 8 tips in this list and make them your 8 commandments

Forum Posting Tips

27. Post meaningful stuff 28. Post funny stuff 29. Don’t just spam the forums with standard hands – Search the forums and archives first and learn 30. Discuss others hands at least as much as you post your own 31. Don’t be afraid to get yelled at, this is how you learn 32. Participate! The more hands you analyze and think about the better you become.

Poker Coaching Tips

33. Find a coach with experience and a good track record 34. Ask around what others think 35. Don’t hire a high-stakes coach when you only need a low-stakes one 36. Hire a coach if you’re “running bad” 37. No matter how good a coach might be, he might not be the right one for you. Try many coaches to gain several perspectives, sometimes you need to hear the same information from several angles to fully comprehend it. 38. Join a subscription site like Cardrunners or Stoxpoker

Poker Strategy Tips

39. Master the fundamentals – Solid poker wins the money. 40. Don’t fall into the trap that poker is all about great moves 41. If you don’t know the correct places to bluff in – don’t bluff 42. Learn to adjust to different player types 43. Play tight as a motherfather out of position 44. Don’t get into ego contests

Bankroll Management

45. Make specific bankroll management rules 46. Have AT LEAST 20 buy-ins for the level you are playing and move down if you drop below that 47. Make your rules so specific that you cannot break them without knowing it, it is easy to fool yourself 48. Make sure you never go broke, if you go broke you can no longer play (shocking isn’t it?)

Game Selection

49. Learn in what games you win the most 50. Learn in what games you lose the most 51. Improve your weaknesses 52. Make a living off of your strengths 53. Make super specific rules for what games you play in and leave if they do not make the cut

Discipline

54. Learn how you tilt 55. Stop playing after you lose a big pot or take a break 56. If you feel any kind of emotional change in your body after taking a beat or several or just not getting any cards – get up or just quit the game. 57. Discipline is one of the key pillars in the fragile house of cards – If you do not use it, the house collapses. 58. Most downswings or prolonged stretches of bad luck are magnified by bad discipline. 59. Don’t be afraid to move down in stakes if you’re having trouble

Take Notes

60. How does he play big hands? 61. How does he play medium strength hands? 62. How does he play weak hands? 63. How does he play draws?

Awareness

64. What is your table image? 65. Learn to manipulate your table image. 66. Learn how to use what others think they know against them 67. Learn to quit a game when it turns sour or when your table image is beyond repair

Happiness

68. Don’t waste your energy on whining about how unlucky you are 69. Take breaks 70. Be specific about what you want (write down goals) 71. Use you winnings to take a vacation or just take your friends and/or family for a dinner! 72. Keep the game fun