Blog: Smart Poker Study

Action First, Learn Later: Take action from a trusted source, then come back later to learn more about the strategies and logic behind the action. This will help refine the knowledge you gained and the lessons you learned while taking action. Listen to this podcast episode as you follow along below:...

I've always been a "numbers guy". I love math; majored in math in university, taught SAT math and I use it everyday in my poker and coaching. The HUD statistic math I'm about to share with you will help you analyze your stats and win rates as well as exploit your opponents based on their stats. Listen to this podcast episode:...

This week's podcast was inspired by Dr. Berg's podcast episode from 6.26.21 called "What Happens if You Stop Eating Sugar for 14 days?" Listen to this podcast episode:...

Yowza! 2021 is already half way done!!! Time flies when you're having fun, right? I received an email the other day from Jim Kwik, a memory expert, author and podcaster. As he says on his website, “My life’s passion and mission are to create a smarter and more caring world by helping you reclaim your power.” His newest podcast is about the...

I had a fantastic opportunity to interview Bernard Lee about his new book, Poker Satellite Success. Get it on Amazon...

In this post (and podcast episode), I’ll teach you the exploiting and chip earning strategies I love to use versus the loose-aggressive (LAG) players at my table. Loose-aggressive players play exactly as their name implies: they throw chips in with a ton of hands, so they're loose, and normally put in chips as bets and raises rather than checks and calls, so they’re...

So, you're thinking about hiring a poker coach? Great idea. Your coach will figure out your areas of opportunity, give you strategies to improve your skills and he’ll help you grow into the player you want to be. However, your coach will naturally begin by tackling all your easy-to-spot areas of opportunity:...

Are you the master of your actions? Do you have control over what you choose to do and NOT do?...

"You might be a losing player if… your hatred of boring poker causes you to play too many hands." -Sky, channeling his inner Jeff Foxworthy In last week's podcast episode #343: Slow Is Smart and Smart Is Winning, I took an old sniper motto and applied it to poker. This week, I'm giving it another slant and...

“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” I'm sure you've heard this sniper motto before. It's one of my favorites because it's applicable to more than just being a sniper. I love taking ideas from real life and figuring out how to apply them to poker. Let's relate this classic sniper motto to poker: "Slow is smart and smart is winning!” I am...

The Bare Bones HUD is exactly what tournament and anonymous site players need to exploit your ever-changing opponents. As online players, we love using a HUD to give us more info to exploit players. But anonymous sites like Ignition and the ever-changing table dynamics of tournaments mean that some HUD stats just don't accumulate fast enough. These 7 essential "bare bones" elements are...

Get excited by greatness! Here's a new warm-up technique I learned from Patton Oswalt in a recent Carolla Classics podcast episode. The conversation begins at about the 2:01:00 mark. It's originally from episode #233 in January 2011. Listen to this episode to hear Patton discuss this...

In celebration of Mother's Day, here's a 4-part Q&A series. In this series, I answer 4 listener questions and also give my recommendation for a related Poker Forge video that will help you beyond my answer here. Happy Mother's Day! Mother’s Day Q&A #1: "What skills should I drill into my game?" Listen to Mother's Day Q&A #1:...

You're about to learn 2 plays that I love making to earn pots and 1 more that gives me MAX Value when the time is right. Action is the greatest teacher! If you just read or listen below, sure, you’ll learn something. But to truly get value out of this post, and to earn more pots and more value, take action with these...

We're in the throes of 2021 and isn't it about time you developed a strong poker study habit? Too many of us go willy-nilly from one video to the next, or binge listen to dozens of podcasts without even putting one piece of poker strategy to use. Well, no more! This is your Ultimate Poker Study Guide for turning yourself into the player...

In my efforts to understand my opponents better, I've developed a system to help train myself to think about my opponents. I use Focus Sessions of just one table at a time for this practice. By playing just one table, I have enough brain space to observe all the action to make as many reads as possible. And I also have the time...

3 great questions today about a recommended poker development plan, practicing outs and odds math and going overboard with HUD use. I love answering questions, and I know the answers below will help you. Speaking of helping you, this page with all the links below can be your study guide for the next 2+ months! Imagine avoiding poker overwhelm for 2 full months...

I had the opportunity to interview mindset consultant Pat Bailouni (website PatBailouni.com) who is a trained Demartini Method Facilitator. He's also a financial market trader and he uses his understanding of human behavior and psychology to help traders, poker players, entrepreneurs and athletes sharpen their edge in their respective fields. Check out his recent article:...

I loved Why Alex Beats Bobbie at Poker. Duncan Palamourdas has a gift for conveying poker strategy through stories and examples. You might think a math guy like Duncan (he teaches math and poker at UCLA) would write an overly complicated and hard-to-digest math-heavy book, but nothing could be further from the truth. He blends strategy and math into easy-to-understand examples and...

"Occasionally, you need to just turn off all the technology and GTO and HUDs and software and all the other damn crap, and just play some real poker." -Dave "Memphis Mojo" Smith TL;DR Executive Summary: Using a Head-up Display (HUD) can have harmful effects on your poker game in the long-run. Players who multi-table online with HUDs typically can...