How to Study Poker: Guide, Tips, and Tools

Poker is one of the most popular and widely played card games in the world. There is hardly any in-house or online casino that doesn’t offer poker to its customers. One of the appealing factors in poker is that while it remains a game of chance, it needs skills and a viable strategy if you want to be any good at it.

In this article, we are going to discuss how to study poker to develop your skills and become a professional player. We will take a look at different tips, tools and resources, as well as some common challenges people who study poker may face.

Why Studying Poker is Essential for Improvement

Of course, if you only play poker once or twice a month with your buddies, knowing the basic rules and a simple strategy might be enough for you. But if your aspiration is to become a professional poker player, you will need to keep working on your competency.

Like any other activity that involves skills, poker combines practice with theory. Naturally, the more you play the better you understand the game, but instead of playing blindly, it is much better to take some time to study the theory behind poker – which you can later apply in practice.

Understanding the Gap Between Casual and Professional Players

This is, in fact, what sets apart a casual player from a poker professional. You might think that professional players gained their skills and knowledge through hours and hours of playing. And of course, it takes many hours of playing poker to become a professional.

However, what gives professionals an edge is how much time they dedicate to consistent studying of poker: analyzing others’ and their own games, diving into strategies, and exploring new tools. So if you want to achieve any level of professionalism in poker, take a leaf out of their book and get down to studying.

The Benefits of Structured Poker Study

A considerable advantage structured study of poker can bring you is the boost of confidence you get when you actually know how to do something instead of just guessing or relying on your past (probably, still limited) experience.

And confidence is an essential part of being successful in poker. So now that we have established why you should pay as much attention to theory as to practice, without further ado let’s get into the best ways to study poker.

Setting Up for Success: Building a Poker Study Routine

Much like any other subject, studying poker requires consistency. If you read an article here and watch a video there every once in a while, you are very unlikely to see any significant result.

The best way for efficient studying is to do it consistently and be patient. You won’t become a professional player overnight, but with enough persistence and regular studies you will see how your game starts improving. Let’s take a look at how to build a poker study routine.

Identifying Your Goals

An important thing you should define for yourself before beginning the study is what kind of poker you want to play. While rules and basic strategies apply to both cash games and tournaments, each of them has their own peculiarities of playing.

This is not to say that you can’t study or become successful in both, but when you first start, it will be much more efficient to focus on one field until you master it, then turn to another one.

Allocating Study Time

If you want your studies to bring tangible results, you should be consistent. Instead of leaving it to chance when you have a free minute, it is much better to allocate a specific time during the day that you will always dedicate to studying poker. Be it in the morning before coffee, on your lunch break, or later in the evening when everything is quiet and nothing disturbs you, make sure you have a schedule for studying poker.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget about playing while you study. Many experts advise to divide your time between practice and theory according to the 3:1 rule. For example, if you play for 60 minutes every day, put in 20 minutes to study. Your 7 hours of playing each week should be supplemented with 2.5 hours of studying.

Another thing that professional players recommend is to have one study session for each playing session. They don’t have to come right after each other. On the contrary, you can have a study session in the morning, give the newly acquired knowledge some time to sink in, then play in the evening. Or you can have a playing session in the afternoon, do the household chores afterwards, and later take up your study material to review your game.

Creating a Productive Study Environment

Whether you study poker at home, listen to audio materials during the commute, or play on your lunch break, make sure your environment creates the right conditions for a productive session.

Poker requires lots of concentration, whether you are playing or studying, that’s why make sure there are no distractions around you. If you are one of those people who can study anywhere and everywhere, that’s great. Otherwise, set up a place where you can fully focus on your studies.

If you can, go to a room where others won’t disturb you. If you are using online tools, make sure you only use the internet for this purpose. Turn off your other devices to avoid unnecessary distraction. Prepare anything you might need in advance: pen and paper to take notes, headphones to watch videos, and other tools you might need.

Effective Poker Study Techniques for All Levels

The way you study as a beginner will differ from the way you study as someone with substantial knowledge. There are various tools and resources online that are targeted at a specific level. This makes your journey much easier and more efficient.

First, let’s take a look at some poker study tips for beginners.

Reviewing Hand Histories

One of the most common ways of how to improve poker skills through studying is to review hand histories. This means going back to the hands you have played before and analyzing them in the context of the topic you have just studied.

In the heat of the game, it is easy to miss something and not play the hand you got to its full potential. Analyzing it as a part of your study session helps you look at your hand from different angles and see what you can do differently – and better! – in a similar situation next time.

To remember your hands, you can use tracking applications (we will discuss them in more detail below) or just have a pen and a notepad handy when you play.

Learning Through Poker Solvers

If you have never heard about poker solvers before, it is a collective name for software that can run a poker simulation and calculate optimal strategies for various scenarios.

Poker solvers always work with poker ranges in mind. This means that if you want to create a simulation, you will need to input both your and your opponents’ possible ranges. Technically, poker solvers are designed to calculate Game Theory Optimal strategies (GTO) but even if you aren’t planning to use this strategy in your game, poker solvers can be immensely helpful in improving your skills.

Just experimenting with a poker solver and noting what solution the software comes up with for every situation will help you understand the game much better.

Watching Training Videos

Many professional poker players record videos to share their knowledge with the audience. From teaching simple techniques to analyzing various hands and even their real games, this content can be of great help to those who wish to improve their poker skills.

It is always a good idea to find videos by a well known and well respected player in the professional poker world. This way you know that the content they create is based in reality and will give you some useful knowledge.

Studying Poker Books and Articles

Go old school and study through books. But before you start buying all poker related books you find online, make sure you do your research and see how respected professionals review them. Not every book will be equally beneficial, so find the ones that are worth your time.

Another similar method is reading articles online. Modern world wide web offers many coaching sites that publish various tips and advice on poker.

Participating in Discussion Forums

Engage with other poker players! From Reddit and TwoPlusTwo forums to chat rooms, don’t shy away from the community. You can start by searching for threads that discuss a topic you are interested in or have a question about.

Read and analyze them carefully and post a follow-up question if you are still unclear about something. You can also start your own thread if you don’t find anything that corresponds to your query.

People who are interested in poker as much as you are will be glad to share their experience and points of view, so you can learn something valuable or come up with a great solution in the process.

Advanced Poker Study Methods for Intermediate and Experienced Players

You might think that intermediate and especially experienced players don’t need to study because their experience is all they need. Well, this is very far from the truth. In fact, you will find that professional players study as much, and sometimes even more than beginners. Analyzing their games, reading and watching relevant materials is what helps them stay on top of their game.

Once you have mastered the basics and are ready to move on to a higher level, it’s time to try advanced poker study methods.

Understanding GTO (Game Theory Optimal) Play

Game Theory Optimal (GTO) poker is a mathematically perfect way to play poker that leaves no chance for your opponents to exploit you, no matter what hand they get or how they play it.

In poker, aspects of GTO include using mixed strategies, varying bet sizes, and balanced range in similar situations when you have different hands. If you are playing the GTO poker strategy, the best your opponents can do is break even against you.

The downside of this strategy is that it doesn’t aim at exploiting your opponents either. That’s why, you will often find yourself in a situation where diverging from GTO will prove to be a much more beneficial way to play a particular hand.

GTO is considered to be an advanced strategy, so before you start experimenting with it, make sure you can confidently play the basics.

Range Analysis and Bet Sizing

When you become fluent in basics, you can switch to more advanced concepts like range analysis and bet sizing.

Many inexperienced poker players make the mistake of not thinking in ranges, i.e. all possible card combinations your opponent can be holding. Possible range analysis is based on many aspects, like betting size, betting pattern, player type, and others.

Mastering these and other advanced concepts will significantly improve your decision making in the game.

Using Tracking Software

As we mentioned above, analyzing your hand histories is one of the fundamental ways of studying poker. The modern industry has created special software that helps players track their hands and analyze possible decisions and their outcomes in each situation.

Tools like PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager are considered among the best and are especially helpful for online poker players.

Common Challenges When Studying Poker (and How to Overcome Them)

Just as any other studying process, studying poker comes with its challenges. From regularly finding time to navigating your way in the vast ocean of available information, the process might seem overwhelming.

But don’t let this discourage you! If you know what challenges to look out for and how to deal with them, you can be prepared for any obstacle.

Dealing with Burnout

Burnout is real. With the amount of information you need to absorb when studying poker, it may come sooner than you expect. So how do you deal with burnout?

Don’t try to study a lot in a short amount of time. Some people think that if they study for many hours every day, they will become professionals much sooner. What is more likely to happen in this scenario is that your brain will overload and refuse to learn more. Be patient and instead of studying hard, study consistently.

Another thing that may lead to burnout is lack of results. That’s why when you learn a new technique, strategy, or analyze an interesting hand, make sure you practice it next time you play. When you see how your acquired knowledge improves your game, you will be motivated to learn more.

Avoiding Information Overload

Poker is a complex game with lots of various elements. It may be very tempting to learn everything at once, but this will prove counterproductive.

Instead of trying to learn several different topics in one session, dedicate one week to mastering one topic. It will allow you to read, watch, and analyze various approaches to the topic, get an in-depth knowledge of all details, and understand how to use them in practice.

Throughout the week keep playing with focus on the newly studied topic. Once you can freely apply it to your game and get the best possible results, move on to the next topic.

Managing Your Time Effectively

Remember that playing and studying poker is only part of your life. Build your poker study schedule around your other personal or work commitments. Whenever you set up a study session, make sure it doesn’t affect other aspects of your life.

If you need more help to manage your study time more effectively, at the end of each session create a study plan for the next one. This will prepare you psychologically and help you focus on what you have to do instead of jumping from one thing to another.

Tailoring Your Poker Study for Specific Formats

While the main concept and rules of the game remain the same in all formats, your playing style and strategies will change based on whether you are playing live or online, a cash game or a tournament.

Correspondingly, your studies will also vary based on what format you are aspiring to master.

Studying for Cash Games

The main metric of your success in a cash game is the win rate. In live cash games the win rate is calculated as the number of big blinds per hour, in online games it equals to big blinds per 100 hands. If you are studying to play cash games, keep track of your win rate to know where you fall among different levels of players.

This is where the cash game strategy comes in. If you know your win rate and your level, you can always choose the table that has players with a lower level than yours to have more chances to finish the game with a profit.

Another very important thing to study when preparing for cash games is the hand ranges you can play in different positions. Combined with a reasonable amount of bluff, this will help you outplay your opponents.

Studying for Tournaments

If your goal is to play tournaments, one of the aspects you should learn is to adjust your strategy according to your stack size. A stack is all the chips you have in play at a given moment in the game. Stack sizes can vary from short (few chips) to deep (many chips). Their amount significantly influences your strategy.

To understand how to act with your stack size in mind, watch renowned professionals play tournaments, as well as their analysis of various strategies in relation to stack sizes.

Online vs. Live Poker Study

Same as with other formats, the basics remain unchanged in both online and live poker. However, the game experience can significantly differ and many players often hesitate to switch from one format to the other.

If you are studying to play live poker, you will need to master the art of reading body language. Tells and reads do exist in online poker as well, but there they are more focused on your opponents’ style and pattern of playing. But in live poker body language and behaviour will be your best friends, especially if you are playing against less experienced players.

Online poker is usually much faster, with more hands dealt within the same amount of time. Playing multiple tables is only possible online. This requires more concentration and the ability to think on many levels, so if you want to study playing multiple tables, make sure you know the ins and outs of the game.

Tools and Resources to Boost Your Poker Study

There was a time when poker players could only study through practice or advice from more experienced players. Nowadays plenty of tools to study poker are available for those who want to improve their skills.

Free vs Paid Resources

With the vast ocean of resources available on the internet, how do you determine which ones to use? As a beginner, we would recommend you start with free resources. They will get you well-versed in the basics and prepare you for the next level. Going for paid resources might not be reasonable because they usually offer a more in-depth look at the game.

Once you are comfortable with playing a basic game, you can take a look at subscription platforms, books, and other paid resources. Make sure you research them before making a purchase to guarantee their reputation in the poker world.

Software to Consider

We discussed poker solvers and trackers above and how they can be useful to enhance your game and study poker in-depth. Another great piece of software you can use are equity calculators.

While many professionals will tell you that you need to know how to calculate equity yourself (and they’re not wrong!), using an equity calculator will help you both understand your chances during the game and analyze your decisions and learn from your mistakes afterwards.

Recommended Poker Books

As we mentioned above, not every book on poker will provide valuable advice. Before you buy any of them, take a look at the reviews.

Of course, a book like The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky is already considered a classic in the world of poker. An example of a book that might not be directly related to poker strategies but will prove immensely helpful to you as a player is The Body Language of Poker by Mike Caro.

Mastering Poker Through Effective Study

If there is one thing you will take away from this article on how to study poker, it should be the importance of consistency and combining theory studies with playing practice. As any other skill, studying poker should be a regular activity with a well defined goal.

We all have different types of learning, so we highly recommend you experiment with different study techniques and methods to find the ones that prove the most efficient for you. Pace your studies not to be too overwhelmed.

If you want to keep growing as a poker player, studying the game and applying your knowledge in practice will give you the best tangible results.