Study Poker Hands
Identifying Poker Hand Ranges. Unlike games like chess or backgammon, poker is a game of incomplete information. You know your own hand and the community cards, but you don’t know your opponents’ cards. The following quote is from David Sklansky’s The Fundamental Theorem of Poker.
- Study Poker Hands Worksheet
- Study Poker Hands Book
- Study Poker Hands Printable
- Study Poker Hands Free
- Study Poker Hands Online
- Poker Starting Hands - Comprehensive guide to which poker hands you should play, including a 2020 Texas Hold'em poker starting hands chart.
- Preflop Starting Hand Ranges. To make up for positional disadvantage, players must open up tighter.
Introduction
Some decades ago, people would just play poker, think about hands on their own, and maybe read one of the few poker books that were available at the time. They could only play a few hands per month, and it would take a lot of time to learn the fundamentals.
Nowadays it's a lot easier to learn how to play and improve at poker, so while things might be a lot worse for the lazy ones since the games got a bit tougher, they are definitely better for the people that are eager to work hard and improve.
Are you eager to work hard and improve your game, but you don't know exactly what to do? Than this article is for you.
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Reasons to Study
Poker is a game of mistakes where your goal is to make fewer mistakes than your opponent, or at least less costly mistakes. To make fewer mistakes you will need to spend some time studying, and this is a process that never ends because most of your opponents are working on their game as well and trying to make fewer mistakes. Whoever studies less or less efficiently will be the one losing the battle of mistakes.
If you just keep playing, you will most likely end up doing the same things over and over, creating a lot of repetitiveness, and most likely get stuck in stakes or have to move down eventually. While if you study, you will keep learning new things and keep the game fresh and new for yourself.
If you find yourself wondering during a downswing if you are playing bad or it's just negative variance, that probably means that you need to study. By getting solid data/reasoning to support your plays, you will be more sure about them and you will find yourself more focused on improving your game and less focused on the daily swings.
To be honest , starting to study sometimes can be like going out to run on a rainy day. I rarely feel like leaving the house, but once I do it's awesome.
Since you will need different studying methods as you move forward on your poker career, I will divide the article in two parts to keep things organized and try to share with you what I learned in my years as a professional Poker player:
Today, I'll address low-stakes. Tomorrow, I'll talk about studying for mid-stakes.
Studying for Low-Stakes Players
When you start there are a few options to learn and I think that it really depends on what fits best your personal style.
When I'm learning a new format, I personally like to read a book about a game, play a bit on my own to try out some concepts and then try to review some hands that I struggle with while playing. Then when I feel like I got all the concepts from the book, I like to move to videos that tend to be a bit more advanced.
I try to spend around 50% of my time studying and 50% playing, but if I don't feel like playing, I will spend a bigger share of my poker time Studying.
But that's me and you will need to find out what works better for you.
You probably need at least two of the following four methods to really optimize the learning process:
• Reading Books
• Watching Strategy Videos
• Participating in Forums
• Discussing hands with Friends
Reading Books
Reading a good Book can speed up the learning process a lot.
Back when I started playing Fixed-Limit cash games were very popular, and I still remember reading my first poker book ('Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-ring and Short-handed Games' by Mathew Hilger). I learned a lot from it, and I started showing a consistent profit right after.
Nowadays fixed-limit games are not as popular as they used to be, and I strongly recommend starting with a Texas Hold'em No Limit game, so I will give you my personal suggestions for books depending on which format you choose:
• Cash Games: 'Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em' by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta
• Tournaments: 'Secrets of Sit'n'Gos' by Phil Shaw
Both books are very well organized and really give you a good structure to start learning either game.
Watching Strategy Videos
Videos are my next option, since most people tend to retain information better when they watch a video than when they read a book.
One thing that I must warn you is that I'm not telling you to watch live tournaments videos or live cash games. While there is certain value in these videos, new players will probably get more confused from watching this kind of videos than not, and by trying to use a high-stakes play in the wrong context they will just fail miserably and become the type of player that says:
'I don't like to play low stakes. People never fold! If I had more money, I'm sure I would beat the higher stakes. To win at poker you need money!'
While there Is some truth in these sentences, these players fail to understand that to win at poker you always need to adjust to the games you are playing, and if at low stakes people are clueless and their biggest mistake is to stack-off too light, then you should just try to get into that kind of spot as often as possible with a stronger hand and build your bankroll like that.
So, what kind of videos should you watch after all?
1. Explanations of theoretical concepts
2. A good player playing low-stakes and explaining his/her thought process
You want to watch videos from players that can beat higher stakes, then the ones you are playing and are good at explaining their thought process. These videos will allow you to learn the fundamentals in a very structured way, and very often you can leave a comment on the video page asking for questions creating a very interactive form of learning.
While some sites with videos require you to pay, for beginners you will find a lot of great content on PokerSchoolOnline and my YouTube page for free.
Participating in Forums
Studying poker by reading books or watching videos can be kind of a lonely road.
Participating in forums on the other hand can add a social component to studying and make it more interesting, while everyone involved improves together.
Keep in mind though that forums work by giving and receiving.
Study Poker Hands Worksheet
You should feel free to post hands and ask questions about the stuff you are studying. You should read the feedback you get very carefully but not take anything people say for granted. Listen to everyone and think about what people say, but in the end you will need to use your own brain to decide what makes sense or not. I guess that this is also true for book and videos, but since you are learning from a professional, it's less of a concern. Also follow threads that interest you and if you can help someone, just do it.
There are a lot of poker forums available online, and once again while some are paid, you can use PokerSchoolOnline forum for free, as well as the 2+2 forum, which is the most popular.
Discussing hands with friends
If you have friends that are interested in the same games and stakes, you can discuss hands with them. Nowadays with Boomplayer it's super easy to boom a hand, share it on Twitter/Facebook or Skype and ask your friends their thoughts. I guess that it's similar to forums, but you get to choose who sees your hand, while the forums I mentioned are open communities.
You need to choose very carefully who you listen to, because there is more bad advice going around than good advice, and if you have a friend that is successful at higher stakes, ask him/her as much as possible since that will probably be a very good source of advice.
Balancing Playing with Studying
Most people playing low-stakes are not playing poker full-time and with a very limited amount of time to dedicate to poker, a common question is: 'How many hours per week should I study?'
I think that at this point you want to study at least as many hours as you play, because you don't have to worry about paying your bills from poker, so there is no pressure on you to grind.
On the other hand, you want to try out what you are learning and see it working, so there is a need to find a fine balance and not just over-study.
I would suggest studying between 50% and 75% of your poker time and playing between 25% and 50% of your poker time.
Tomorrow I'll discuss studying at mid-stakes. Now, get to work.
With so much to learn, beginners to poker often feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. It’s difficult to grasp the concepts of poker in one fell swoop and learning takes time. This is why we’ve developed this study guide – to plan a course of study for beginners and to provide the structure that’s so important when learning new skills.
We have a wide variety of poker lessons here at Pokerology.com and they don’t all feature in this study guide. Instead, we’ve carefully selected the most appropriate lessons to help build your poker skills step-by-step and to provide a solid foundation upon which to build.
This study guide is split into various skill levels and each major section is followed by a quiz. If you’re new to poker then we recommend you start by studying the lessons within our entry level.
We hope you enjoy learning how to play poker with Pokerlogy.com.
Entry Level
The following group of poker lessons provide an introduction to the game. You’ll learn the basic rules, how the betting works, the different variations of poker, along with a few basic poker terms.
Please note: All links within this study guide will open in a new window by default.
Finished? If so, take the entry level quiz.
Beginner Level
The beginner level of this study guide will provide a solid foundation on which to build your poker skills.
If you studied our entry level lessons then you’ll understand that there are many ways in which poker can be played. This means there isn’t a poker course that will suit everyone. So, before we continue with more lessons let’s discuss your options at this early stage of your development.
The first decision point is whether to play cash games or tournaments. As a beginner we believe cash games are your best bet. This is because the variance – what we call fluctuations in luck – is much higher in tournaments, so much so that it can take a very long time to determine if your tournament results are due to a lack of skill or simply a run of bad luck. Because the variance inherent in cash games is less, you should be able to assess whether it’s your ability or simply a run of bad luck in a shorter time frame.
Once you’ve played cash games and seem to be making an improvement in them because you’re studying, learning, and growing as a poker player, you should be able to move to tournaments with the assurance that your basic game is good. Once you know you play well, you can begin the make the adjustments that are required to play tournaments well.
It comes down to personal preference and it’s entirely your choice. You may wish to supplement your learning as and when you’re ready, but the poker lessons that are referenced in this study guide remain applicable to either format. Although we argue in favour of cash games for beginners, a combination of both would also work at this stage – giving you time to decide which challenge you’d prefer.
The next decision point is the variety of hold’em that you learn to play; either limit or no-limit. Many of our poker lessons focus on general concepts that will help you in either variation, but these games play very differently. Limit hold’em is well suited to beginners because it’s a more mechanical and structured game. However, because no-limit hold’em is currently the most popular variation of poker, it will be the focus of this study guide.
With all this out of the way, let’s move on and get back to the lessons. We’ll start this section of the study guide with a look at the basics, including some simple betting concepts:
Knowing that you’re eager to play, let’s focus your efforts on the importance of choosing the right hands and introduce you to the concept of positional play with these two very important lessons:
The following resources should also help guide your understanding of these topics:
- No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hands Chart (PDF – print out or bookmark for easy reference)
You should now have an understanding of what starting hands to play in no-limit hold’em based on hand strength and your position. This next selection of poker lessons will provide further guidance on how and why you should play your starting hands.
Math is a key concept in poker. You don’t have to be a math genius to succeed at poker, but knowing the math is essential. In the next group of lessons we’ll cover basic poker concepts that will help you tell the difference between good bets and bad bets and put you on the road to playing profitable winning poker:
There’s more to poker than math, so now it’s time to introduce you to the psychology of poker:
As we approach the end of this section of the study guide, it’s time we suggest you start playing poker for real money. Maybe you are already, if so, then great. It’s important to reiterate that poker is a game of money played with cards and there needs to be something at stake, even if it’s only pennies. If you’ve yet to make the transition to real money poker, we suggest you start now – but only at stakes you can afford. This is also an appropriate time to introduce you to the fundamental poker concept of bankroll management:
Study Poker Hands Book
And here’s our final lesson of this section:
Finished? If so, take the beginner level poker quiz.
Intermediate Level
This section of our study guide will introduce you to various poker concepts and strategies that will take your game to the next level.
The following lessons are those we consider to be the most important at this stage of your development. Remember, there are many more poker lessons on Pokerology.com, which you can also study – but these are the ones that we believe will help get you to the next level in the fastest possible time.
The first group of poker lessons are important concepts in no-limit hold’em:
Here is a selection of poker lessons that focus on post-flop betting strategies:
The following two lessons cover two very important concepts that will get you thinking about maximizing your profits, which is the key to successful poker:
This next group of poker lessons are all about ‘playing the player’ and provide effective strategies for playing against different types of poker players:
If you have followed this study guide from the beginning you should now have amassed a wealth of knowledge on the subject of poker. There’s still much more to learn, but the next step is to make sure you plug any leaks that reside in your game. Therefore our final group of lessons all focus on the winning poker skills:
Finished? If so, take the intermediate level poker quiz
Study Poker Hands Printable
Minnesota Fats, the legendary American pool hustler, was once asked about the technical aspects of billiards in order to improve one’s play. His response was, “Ya’ just gotta hit balls and balls and balls – and you’ll learn”. In that regard poker is much the same. The concepts we’ve presented throughout this poker course should help you think about how to play poker, but you need to play and play and play to truly understand and excel at the game.
Further Learning
The learning never stops at Pokerology.com!
The intention of this study guide has been to teach the fundamentals of winning poker. We deliberately streamlined this guide and excluded many of the poker lessons on Pokerology.com. This means there is still lots to learn, but at this stage of your development it’s less important for us to provide you with structure and guidance. The best advice we can give is to continue playing poker and browse our poker lessons at your leisure, picking out the topics that you think will benefit your game the most.
Study Poker Hands Free
Don’t forget that there is more than one game in town and no-limit hold’em is just one of them. Many players stick to the game they initially learned, but a true poker player feels right at home with other poker variations. We therefore recommend you learn how to play limit hold’em, along with variations such as stud, Omaha, and razz. You’ll find lessons on all these variations of poker right here at Pokerology.com!