How to study for tournament play?

[OnyxD]

situation is: almost all online tournaments I find on ggpoker are turbo or superturbo. if I play that "precious loose aggressive style" from nowadays I am finished before the game even started. maybe because nearly everyone watches videos like that and thinks it is smart always to raise with no point just to look strong to an opponent who probably did hit the highest pair. but no, those torturials explain me if I only hit in 1/3 cases the same goes for my opponent so I should estimate my opponent didn't hit as well and continue betting. I should only believe the opponent if he reraises me on the river. yeah, thanks for the advice Mr. YouTube Guy (not you, the one who created the video I watched), on that damn low stack table I have barely anything to play with. I changed back to my old style now realizing my convidence was only gone. but after trying that "good loose aggressive style" from nowadays I regained to believe in my own style and the first game I played since then I finished as 46th out of 655. I definitly don't trust in that loose aggressive again and I will not respect guys who do so. in case these guys will be exactly the ones I will eat up from now on, because now I know how this style works and how those guys are thinking when they make a bet. so thanks anyway to those smart youtube guys - in the end they helped me a lot with their videos that's for sure!

Turbos increase variance, as you've got to play them looser obviously because you have no time to wait for a big hand. I'm not sure which limits you're playing but I will assume it's mostly within 0-7$ BI. A lot of the advice is given not for micros/your limits at all and they assume your opponent is a somewhat skillful player. Also, room, type of a game, structure - all affect your strategy. If it's not pure math advice or something for the game you play exactly take it critically and adjust. On micros it can be hard to read bluffs if you don't have stats/notes on the player. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest believing most players even if they don't reraise - many unskilled players play strong hands very passively. Like an all-in on river out of nowhere from a skilled player may be a bluff. So it may be from a bad player, but most times it won't be. In early stages some players will call your 2nd and 3d barrels with a 3d pair, draw, Ace-high etc., especially in turbos, as well as with sets, 2-pair, etc. If you see weak pair no-fold calls on your table, it doesn't matter as much what a good player on YT said about continuing betting being +EV. It might be or it might be not in this particular set-up. LAG style often doesn't work against those guys. But the general principles of good play still apply, we need to adjust those to a given situation. I think you got it right already judging by your last sentence - you improved your poker thinking.

 

[OnyxD]

1) Bankroll management (obvoiusly, it's just knowing one number, but it's still very very important)

2) Preflop ranges (you can't play postflop well without having good grasp on what you do preflop):
* RFI ranges, never limp (not really, but while you are a beginner just don't)
* 3betting ranges AND correct 3bet sizings (especially for the SB and ESPECIALLY if you are playing cash games)
* Big blind defense ranges, as BB defends quite wide compared to the rest of the positions

3) Basic poker math like pot odds, MDF, implied odds and the 2/4 rule (the chances of flopping stuff will also help for general understanding)

4) Learn to think in ranges

GTO-wise:
5) Cbetting. Cbetting is king and the basis for the most of postflop action.
6) Study the differences in playing against an IP cold-caller and a BB defender.
7) It's a very wide topic, but you have to learn how to bluff and when to bluff. You don't want to be overbluffing or underbluffing as your baseline strategy.

Non-GTO:
Obviously if you are playing micros, nobody will play GTO there, you will have all sorts of limpers, nits and maniacs. Learn the basic adjustments against all sorts of unbalanced players, and also look for material to help you understand weak postflop multiway spots and how to adjust to weak tables preflop (when to limp, how your preflop ranges change against limpers)


Also there is a whole bunch of other topics to learn if you are an MTT player, but here I just put the general ones to get started.

This is the best post in this thread, and I'd like to highlight the non-GTO part. @NENMEMBA that is what often gets missed in overall good advice, including YT vids.

 

[scobido]

It is best to play low buy-in tournaments or even free tournaments to familiarize yourself with online poker techniques.

 

[nelomec]

What is the most important thing I should learn in the game besides the main thing

I think the basics are one of the most important things you need to learn in poker. Many people ignore the basics, but they're what will make us evolve in any area of the game. And there's also the mental aspect, which we must learn to control, our emotions during the phases of the game.