Struggling Poker Player

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Starte...ler/dp/1880685345/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

if you dont understand the basics, just give up.

If you understand what cogent means that is a good start. Start focusing on taking cogent actions BASED ON WHAT YOUR OPPONENT IS DOING AND WILL DO.

Phil Ivey says it pretty well:

http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/pro-tips/dont-read-this-tip

If you really want to buy a book and read (which is more or less being lazy) pick up Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein. Starting out it is best to get in hands, focused hands, but Barry's book is pretty good general poker stuff if you must go down that route.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough, which is my fault for the vague writing. I understand the simplistic aspects of the game (I.E. the rules, relative hand strengths, opening ranges, 3 betting (to some degree), position, etc.) But when facing opponents that are half way decent I encounter hardship. I find it extremely difficult to evaluate spots and decipher the nuances between them. I.E if an villian TAG but 3 bets too often, balancing my range (how and which spots to do so), the frequency in which to Fcbet, Tcbet, double/triple barrel, when I should merge my range, when I should polarize, and underlining them all, the true reasons of why they are advantageous. Also, determining when I am getting lucky, getting unlucky, playing well and playing poor. And those are just a few examples. Possibly my mindset could be analogous, to understand concepts in math, but not proofs, no true understanding of where/why/how they were derived.

A lot of times I find myself in level 1 thinking where I should be at level 3 but I'm not. Not exactly sure what this is due to (and possibly you guys might not as well). Maybe the inattention is a result of laziness, and its something in which to improve upon or when multi-tabling it's sometimes part of it.

TAg 3 bets too often you have to merge your calling range with their 3 betting range with hands that are good enough to defend with and start balacing 4bets with hands like AK.

Balancing your range read above.
Fcbet range depends on their Cbet freq
Tcbet. Whats a Tcbet?
double barrel triple barrel depends on how likely your opponent is willing to fold based on their range/Calling tendencies
When your should merge your range/polarizes depends on both players ranges and what is the best possible course to take based on the ranges for the highest success rate of win.
When you are getting lucky and unlucky can easily be calculated by finding your equity in the hand in relation to the amount of money that was involved.
Playing well and playing poor can be analyzed after putting in a session and going through every single big hand that you played that day.


Everyone is at level 1 thinking basically if they are of sound mind. the biggest difference between the people of level 1 through Z is how bad the person wants it. In poker that simple relates to how close you can play to optimal in every decision you are given based on the information given to you at hand. playing lazy today will not make you succeed in this game nowadays that everyone is halfway decent.
Multitabling i would say playing 6-8 tables is optimal for me now and thats coming from someone who use to be a mass multi table grinder.

Cheers

Cbet turn.

Thanks Jonny. It seems you can sufficiently explain concepts that even a child could understand it.

I'd say the game has evolved a lot since the times of leveling wars of " I'm thinking that he s thinking that I'm thinking " kind of bullshit. That kind of stuff only appears in high stakes where it's a matter of a few combos if a move is optimal or not and is well beyond my level of thought process about poker to even discuss.
All of the strugglings you have is due to not understanding ranges well enough and not keeping things simple. Start reviewing 20-50 hands a day with full ranges throughout every street and see your mindset/skillset change drastically. Of course, I suggest you get someone to help you with that at first so he can call out your mistakes or bullshit leveling. It's not that you can't do it alone, it just saves tons of time and is worth the money spent

- Watch a lot of RIO videos. Mostly those made by Phil Galfond, Ben Sulsky and such.
- Analyze a lot of hands with ProPokerTools, PokerJuice etc. Maybe also PIOsolver if you playing Holdem.

watch my twitch feed from time to time , check out some past videos

http://twitch.tv/bsnidezpoker

For beginners PokerSnowie annual subscription is a great value. Upswing Poker Lab at ~$25 a month is also great value. RunitOnce Elite membership at $99 is good as well. I've never been a fan of CrushLivePoker despite playing all live poker. Some people say its pretty good but just never thought it was the best approach to take.

I would suggest a strategy focused around making Poker sites reduce the rake. Thats probably your best shot.

I feel like poker is a complex math puzzle. The outer rings can be understood pretty easily but as you dig deeper, each level gets exponentially more complex. Poker programs have it figured out but we as humans will get into a gray area where things are cloudy. The difference between mid, high, and nosebleed players are their ability to gain clarity over these ambiguous scenarios. A fail proof way is to have a mathematical model explaining the value of each decision rather than theory. With all that said, my brain is getting cloudy as I write and I admit I have no idea wtf I'm talking about.

On December 11 2016 19:47 wormy wrote: Maybe I wasn't clear enough, which is my fault for the vague writing. I understand the simplistic aspects of the game (I.E. the rules, relative hand strengths, opening ranges, 3 betting (to some degree), position, etc.) But when facing opponents that are half way decent I encounter hardship. I find it extremely difficult to evaluate spots and decipher the nuances between them. I.E if an villian TAG but 3 bets too often, balancing my range (how and which spots to do so), the frequency in which to Fcbet, Tcbet, double/triple barrel, when I should merge my range, when I should polarize, and underlining them all, the true reasons of why they are advantageous. Also, determining when I am getting lucky, getting unlucky, playing well and playing poor. And those are just a few examples. Possibly my mindset could be analogous, to understand concepts in math, but not proofs, no true understanding of where/why/how they were derived. A lot of times I find myself in level 1 thinking where I should be at level 3 but I'm not. Not exactly sure what this is due to (and possibly you guys might not as well). Maybe the inattention is a result of laziness, and its something in which to improve upon or when multi-tabling it's sometimes part of it.

talented tom gave me this godd advice a looong time ago and it hasnt failed me. it goes, "when in doubt, shove."