Want to Improve My Poker Game - Focus?

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lucafalp

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  • #1
Lately I’ve been really motivated to improve my poker game, but I’m not entirely sure where I should put my main focus.

There’s so much information out there: preflop ranges, postflop play, GTO concepts, exploitative strategies, mental game, bankroll management… and it’s easy to feel a bit lost.

For those of you who have improved significantly over time, what would you say are the most important areas to focus on first?

Also, if you have any recommendations for good learning resources (YouTube channels, forums, books, courses, or websites), I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
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veryluckyfish7k

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  • #2
lucafalp said:
Lately I’ve been really motivated to improve my poker game, but I’m not entirely sure where I should put my main focus.

There’s so much information out there: preflop ranges, postflop play, GTO concepts, exploitative strategies, mental game, bankroll management… and it’s easy to feel a bit lost.

For those of you who have improved significantly over time, what would you say are the most important areas to focus on first?

Also, if you have any recommendations for good learning resources (YouTube channels, forums, books, courses, or websites), I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
1)Tight, solid preflop ranges (especially from early positions).
2)Play in position as much as possible.
3)Value bet strong hands, don’t overbluff at low stakes.
4)Review your biggest losing hands after each session.
5)Good bankroll management + tilt control.
(that's advice from my friend i saved it in notepad )
That's it! I’m not studying GTO or using solvers yet :) but in future maybe i will, i just watched some finat tables reviews or stream and just watch the game of player that i watch on stream. Good luck in your game!
 
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anasslaaleg

anasslaaleg

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  • #3
Stop chasing more hours.
Start chasing more focus.
Poker isn’t just about knowing ranges or reading opponents it’s about showing up mentally present, hand after hand.
One distracted session can erase a week of good decisions.
One focused session can teach you more than 10 autopilot grinds.
Improve your game by doing the simple things:
Play fewer tables.
Take breaks.
Review mistakes.
Protect your mindset.
Because the real edge isn’t just skill…
It’s attention.
Focus turns poker from gambling into growth.
 
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dreamer13

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  • #4
Don't play too many hands. One of the most common mistakes in poker is playing too many hands. This often results in you losing a large number of chips on weak hands. It's best to focus on playing only strong hands and advantageous positions at the table.The role of concentrated attention can be varied. On the one hand, it is necessary for a more complete and in-depth examination of a given object. On the other hand, excessive concentration leads to a sharp narrowing of the field of attention, which creates difficulties in perceiving other important objects.
 
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Marshmalo1994

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  • #5
lucafalp said:
Lately I’ve been really motivated to improve my poker game, but I’m not entirely sure where I should put my main focus.

There’s so much information out there: preflop ranges, postflop play, GTO concepts, exploitative strategies, mental game, bankroll management… and it’s easy to feel a bit lost.

For those of you who have improved significantly over time, what would you say are the most important areas to focus on first?

Also, if you have any recommendations for good learning resources (YouTube channels, forums, books, courses, or websites), I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
I think that preflop ranges (opening, call vs OR, 3b, bluff, squeeze, 4b, all in) is a great base to start.
 
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eetenor

eetenor

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  • #6
lucafalp said:
Lately I’ve been really motivated to improve my poker game, but I’m not entirely sure where I should put my main focus.

There’s so much information out there: preflop ranges, postflop play, GTO concepts, exploitative strategies, mental game, bankroll management… and it’s easy to feel a bit lost.

For those of you who have improved significantly over time, what would you say are the most important areas to focus on first?

Also, if you have any recommendations for good learning resources (YouTube channels, forums, books, courses, or websites), I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
The number 1 thing to learn is to be focused. As you wrote above you are thinking about too many things. All human beings get info overload we have to make sure, we do not do that, and we do that by learning to be focused.

First thing for you to do is to access your game level.
1 How much money do I have to play poker? That is your bankroll
2 What is my current poker skill level? 1 Are my preflop ranges solid? GTO WIZARD is free for preflop-- use that to check ranges-

access where you are now and the next steps will become obvious.

:unsure::geek:
 
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Poker_Mike

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  • #7
lucafalp said:
Lately I’ve been really motivated to improve my poker game, but I’m not entirely sure where I should put my main focus.

There’s so much information out there: preflop ranges, postflop play, GTO concepts, exploitative strategies, mental game, bankroll management… and it’s easy to feel a bit lost.

For those of you who have improved significantly over time, what would you say are the most important areas to focus on first?

Also, if you have any recommendations for good learning resources (YouTube channels, forums, books, courses, or websites), I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
I highly recommend the free CardsChat Learning Hub

Consider going through the course and adding the completion badge to your avatar.

Or go through the library one topic at a time - just in alphabetical order. Even if you are familiar with the concepts - ask yourself how a new player would play and how you currently play and if that is successful for you.

Good luck !

 
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fundiver199

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  • #8
Its difficult to say, which is most important, because frankly they are all important. But if I had to make a priority, then I think, its important to begin with the most fundamental things, that are also easy to fix, so my suggestion would be:

1) Bankroll management / game selection
Without this things will always go wrong, no matter how good you get, and its not a topic, that require hours of study or practice, so its a really easy fix. You dont need to have the "perfect" plan for bankroll management, but having a plan and following it is crucial.

2) Preflop ranges
Every hand starts with preflop, so getting this at least somewhat right prevents problems on the later streets. You dont need to perfectly memorize ranges for all situations but at least stop open limping or playing way to many hands and adapt a TAG strategy, where you always consider raising before limping behind and 3-betting before cold calling. There are spots to limp behind or cold call, but the natural tendency of a beginner will be to do this way to often.

3) Postflop play
This is, where the real game is played and something, you will never stop improving. The first priority should be to learn a simple TAG strategy, where you bet or raise more, than you call. The CC 30-day course has many sections about different aspects of postflop play.

4) Mental game
I kind of wanted to put this as number 2), but its not something, that can be quickly "learned", and for that reason it went down to number 4. Most people including myself still experience tilt from time to time even after many years of playing. So its something, you just need to learn how to handle and gradually get better at. Its related to bankroll management as well, since many people move up "to win it back quickly", when they go on tilt. Having (and following) a bankroll management plan at least protects you from this often bankroll busting mistake.

5) Exploitative strategies
Once you have your baseline strategies in place, the next step is to identify ways to exploit, what other players are doing wrong. Like value betting thinner or bigger against fish, not paying off nits etc. Also identifying situations, where the population deviate from GTO. One example could be overfolding to 3-bets from BB, because most players will tend to mainly call with their marginal hands closing the action.

6) GTO concepts
This is actually related to 5), since you need to know, what you are adjusting from. And going back to the example with 3-bets from BB a solver can tell you, what the opponent is "supposed" to 3-bet. And then you can use that to determine, if you think, this is actually, what your player pool is doing on average. Its also kind of related to point 2 and 3 about getting your "baseline" set, because a baseline is the old school way of approaching a GTO strategy, where you try to avoid making any big mistakes.

I put this last, because its very advanced, and I dont think, a new player will benefit from burrying themselfes in solver analysis. Does not mean, it should be completely ignored, but you can get far in poker without owning a solver, and solvers use a lot of partials, which is not very practical to implement for a human. Like maybe you are supposed to check a certain hand 28% of the time and then also use 3 different bet sizes. And this can easily be simplified to just betting 100% of the time with one size without leaving to much value on the table.
 
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