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Poker playing to studying/Learning ratio and techniu?

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  1. Nuggett Nuggett is offline

    United Kingdom

    Posts: 241
    Joined: May 07

    Oct 24th, 2011 (10/24/2011 12:18am)

    There was a question fired at Tom44411 during his well someone asked how much time he spent playing compared to studying poker, his answer i quote:
    "I would say that the ratio is somewhere between 2:1 and 1.5:1 right now. When I wasn't in school this summer, it would be somewhere are 3:1 in favour of the revision, I'm pretty much ocd with analzying stuff until I understand it completely."

    I found this interesting and i think a lot of aspiring players would want opinions on - although he admits hes a bit ocd, is this common for top/pro players to have this level of study?
    is that what it takes to go to the next level?
    Do some top players get there without the 'set' aside study?
    Does this change from being semi-pro (also working a job) to being a pro?
    How is this time studying broked down - hand histories, coaching, videos, talking and posting with others?
    How would you advise people in jobs with limited time for studying and playing to go about it?

    the last word in the thread title is "technique" ... :)
    Looking for feedback from anyone with experience or opinion on the subject, thanks
    Edited By: Nuggett Oct 24th, 2011 at 12:14 AM
  2. 1kciSllaCi 1kciSllaCi is offline

    Toronto
    Canada

    Posts: 27
    Joined: Aug 11

    Oct 24th, 2011 (10/24/2011 12:25am) in reply to Nuggett

    I think overall any competant player should have their own set balance of study vs play time.

    It also can vary Im sure compared to how well one is running ect. Overall Im sure a player running below ev would be doing more studying to filter out leaks in there game to improove or get out of there downswing.

    When starting out I study probably 6 hrs for every 3 hrs of play, but now that I am fulltime player study is limited on my end, only when I feel something is missing or I have a question or am looking for a leak in my game.

    Def is player dependant IMO.

    Nice post :)
  3. Scarypooper Scarypooper is offline

    Posts: 645
    Joined: Apr 06

    Oct 24th, 2011 (10/24/2011 1:35am) in reply to 1kciSllaCi

    I pretty much never study, though I do ask friends about hands throughout the day. I'm not suggesting other people should bor study or that I'm not missing out by studying. I just believe that with enough volume I'll adapt to what other people do on a whim and things will eventually just start to click. I will say that if I was to put in a ton of work on my MTT play, the first place I would start would be to figure out how to more optimally play a short stack. I play a ton of turbos and in the MTT game today, you are just short stacked too often to not be making mathematically optimal moves.
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  4. herschelw herschelw is offline Moderator

    Jacksonville, FL
    United States

    Posts: 2,045
    Joined: Sep 05

    Oct 24th, 2011 (10/24/2011 6:47am) in reply to Scarypooper

    I think Tom44411's example is really extreme. I know a ton of online pros and I find that once they become consistent winners many of them don't study. Most of them have absurdly high IQ's though and that's part of why they can adapt in the fashion that Scarypooper describes. Until you're a really consistent winner at decent stakes, if you're not eat-sleep-breathing poker you're just not studying enough. Also, most of the guys I know that dont study that much spend a ridiculous amount of time discussing hands with other top players. I've probably coached easily 100+ players both formally and informally over the 5 years I've been playing professionally and I can definitly say without question that the ones who studied the most improved the fastest. It's important to note though that if you have limited time studying smarter not necessarily harder is critically important. When I wanted to learn to be profitable at cash games I hired a coach for two hours to help me figure out what I needed to work the most on and then with the coach's help found resources to improve that part of my game. My suggestion is to do the same. Find a coach who has a good reputation for helping students iimprove. Get a couple hours of lessons and have them help you figure out what to spend the most time on. Then focus your study time there since it's limited. As a ration I'd say about 15 to 20% of your poker time should be studying.
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