What do poker players do to study?

You often hear poker players talk about study being an important part of their routine.

What does this mean specifically? What are some things a poker player can study to improve their game?

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Playing, hand reviewing, analysing statistics and coaching with other players.

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Study specific hands, especially where you made a mistake. Generalize to specific situations. Study to understand odds in each case and to understand how the odds change when new information comes.

Study ranges and understand how they change with position, table size, stack depth, the play style of your opponents, and the action ahead of you. There’s a lot to remember. Study how different board textures interact with the different ranges players can play from different positions.

Study math so that you can quickly calculate the odds in the present situation and to size bets appropriately to give your opponent difficult decisions.

Study your hand history to find your leaks.

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Studying other players mistakes so you don’t make them will make you a winner :+1:t2:

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In a large Tourney I folded and read the statistics on starting hands just to get a feel for what is a good to great hand to join in with. Very helpful 25 minutes…

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I’ve found books and YouTube videos probably the most impactful personally, along with thinking about my own hands after the fact (trying to identify mistakes in my play, and if other lines would make more money against the full range of my opponent’s hands).

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I study how evryone plays,raise and all,some is easy to learn i will not say name,the biggest is you,dont feel to much just do it,take the hand!!!

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Thanks for the posts guys.

I think generally I’m looking for material to study before returning to live play. I haven’t played poker for real money since early 2020 and I’m definitely going to be rusty when the cardrooms in my area reopen (still closed due to covid restrictions but should be open shortly).

I read super/system 20 years ago when I started playing small cash games in college and then a few other poker books along the way. But I’ve never done anything that could be called a formal study routine. Most of my knowledge today has come from watching YouTube videos and posts on various forums.

YouTube videos probably the most impactful personally,

Same. Now that someone else has said this I feel less bad about it

One factor that is worth considering is Mathematics. Did you know that the total number of combinations of poker hands possible in a deck of 52 cards is: Are you ready?
311,875,200
How many hands do you suppose are possible with 4 of a kind? For instance 4 Aces.
Many people would say only one for each card 2222 3333 etc. but the number of hands possible with say 4 ACES is 48. That is because a poker hand consists of 5 cards. 4 Aces and then any one of the 48 remaining cards in the deck to complete your hand. AAAA + a K - one of 4 suits + a Q - one of 4 suits, etc down to a 2 - one of 4 suits.
It’s a simple mathematical equation which applies to potential combinations in picking lottery numbers for instance. Another skill that is required is rapid visual recognition of potential hands looking at the flop. Poker is an amazing game and the funny part about it is that everybody thinks they can play.
Reminder: No amount of skill or planning ever replaced pure, dumb luck!

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The proper study of poker players is poker players. Our game looks like a game of cards, but it isn’t; it’s a game of people.

There is no substitute for good luck.

And, both those are true at the same time.

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It’s the psychology of it all…

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mathematically there are 311,875,200 combinations of hands but in reality there are 2,598,960 different combinations of hands
whatever : it’s still a lot :scream_cat:

Madhof,
Possible combinations are calculated as follows.
Your 1st card is 1 of 52 cards in the deck.
Your 2nd card is 1 of 51 remaining cards.
Your 3rd card is 1 of 50 remaining cards.
Your 4th card is 1 of 49 remaining cards.
Your 5th card is 1 of 48 remaining cards.
If you multiply 52 x 51 x 50 x 49 x 48 = 311,875,200 possible hands in reality. The numbers don’t lie.

In math terms this is permutations versus combinations.

Madhof’s right if you’re thinking that the order you pull those 5 cards out of the deck doesn’t matter. In poker to evaluate the strength of a hand it doesn’t matter what order they’re arranged in, it’s still the same hand. Ac2s2h2d2c is the same as 2h2s2c2dAc when you’re playing poker. There are 52C5 = 2,598,960 combinations of 5-card poker hands.

On the other hand if the order is important - if Ac2222 should be counted separately from 2222Ac - then there are 52P5 = 311,875,200 permutations of 5-card poker hands.

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So true!!

I started playing online in 2003, after I saw Chris Moneymaker take the WSOP Main Event title and learned he won his seat by winning a Satellite event on Pokerstars. I started playing online for play chips at Absolute Poker but I have or have had accounts with at least half a dozen other sites. since then. I watched as much WPT and WSOP and Celebrity Poker and Poker After Dark on television as I could… I found a league that was playing 2 nights a week not far from me and got as much seat time as possible, and I wish it was still available since my live game is something I think needs the most improvement, for me personally. My answer is seat time, watch the pro’s, and Oh Ya, did I say seat time? lol I mean, if you want to play basketball you watch tapes of the Michael Jordan’s and Doctor J’s and Larry Bird’s, not the _ _ _ _ _ guys you never wanted to be " like" or as good as…Yes?

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This being the very first card game i have ever tried to learn i joined an American site free of charge Doug Polk and it is very very informative so I joined replay reccommended to me 18 months ago and because me and figures really despise each other you get what i’m saying i bought a book by Lou Krieger???
52 great6 poker tips at home tournament and on line
it starts off if you have never played texas holdem and gives a run down of the hands etc and it ends with looking for tells in cyber space and it covers every thing in between. Even though my head was frazzled by the if you never played before and i am really enjoy playing even if i lose as i more often than not do but hey its free its a game have fun why get all worked up when your losing nah blood pressure soars nah keep mine at a steady 60 beats a minute helps keep me chilled out and why go all in very next hand that to me is angry betting and that is what i am just getting the hang of angry betting lol any ways yeah new players even great players may well be worth having a look i got this one for 3.99 so not expensive

Strange that I’ve never heard of this Lou Krieger…

Anyway, your use of punctuation is very impressive. I would call it tight-passive.

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