3 Ways to Strengthen Your Poker Game

Become a stronger poker player by studying videos, reviewing your hand histories and tracking stats.

No poker player ever finishes mastering the game. There is always something new to be learned from others, and reviewing your own game play can identify existing leaks, as well as new ones that may spring up against different types of opponents.

The three easiest ways to strengthen your poker game are to watch tutorial videos from active professionals, review your online poker hand history, and to keep track of your stats. These will take time out of your busy day, but if you want to continue improving, they are all crucial steps.

Study Professional Poker Videos

Getting advice from proven pros is never a bad idea. There are some great educational videos out there. Some people swear by them, while others say they aren’t very helpful. The difference between the two is usually how much effort one puts into their study time.

You have to look at it like taking a college course—one that you simply must pass in order to graduate. You could just sit there and watch the video like a television show, but you’re not likely to retain much of the knowledge. If you were to take notes, or join a discussion group on the topic, you’d learn a lot more from it. Putting knowledge to the test in a practice situation is another great option.

Two very popular sayings come to mind here. “Knowledge is power,” and “use it or lose it!”

Review Your Poker Hand History

When playing online poker, most of us can recognize when we’ve played a hand incorrectly—usually right after losing a big pot. By reviewing our hand history, we can determine whether we really did play the hand wrong, and if so, how we could have played it better.

Sometimes, we can chalk it up to bad things happening to good people. But most of the time, there was something—some overlooked piece of evidence—that would have steered us in a better direction had we noticed it in time. By studying hand histories, we can identify this evidence, making us more likely to recognize it in future situations.

Track Your Poker Stats

Keeping track of your statistics is vital to strengthening your poker game. You will be able to identify a lot of patterns that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Maybe you hit your favorite online poker room daily, and it turns out you win more on weekdays, but lose more on weekends. It could be the professional level of competition is higher on the weekend. You’ll need to up your game, and stick to weekday rendezvous until you do.

Compare your ROI at different stakes levels and table sizes. See how the length of your sessions effects your bankroll. How often are you seeing a flop? How often do you 3-bet, c-bet, check-raise, etc., compared to how often these maneuvers work for you?

Reviewing your stats is the fastest way to find leaks in your game. If something is taking a toll on your bankroll, you’ll either have to fix it or eliminate it. If you don’t make a change, your opponents will identify and exploit your weaknesses.