The most important spots to study

 Many of my students don’t quite know how to study on their own, but an equally big issue for them and most poker players is knowing what to study. There is so much information out there that parsing out the most important lessons for your own game is a minefield. 

The biggest mistake you can make is to study the cooler type hands that lead to the biggest pots. Aces vs Kings, or set over set, feel important but in reality they play themselves. 

In terms of technical study, it’s much better to study things that come up a lot. So blind vs button, blind vs blind, single raised pots, continuation bets etc. Nailing your ranges from every seat, knowing your c-betting strategy, knowing how to pick bluffs – all the stuff that happens over and over again, that’s the most important thing from a technical perspective. You develop a muscle memory for this kind of thing.

After that, focus on your biggest leaks. You probably know what they are because they cause you stress, if not get a better player to sweat you to tell you what they are. Your biggest leaks cost you the most money and stress, and they feel good to overcome. Once you have fixed a leak, move onto your next biggest leak, and so on. 

Finally, I always say that students should spend a bit of time studying the things that come up less often but are important. Most notably this would be ICM and heads-up. The big spots happen less frequently, but any error in these areas is magnified. A punt at your biggest final table of the year might be the difference between a good and bad year for you. 

If you need help with this aspect of your game, stay tuned. Barry and I have been working on a comprehensive video course where we go through everything I do with my private students. We explore GTO, exploitative poker and ICM in more detail than we ever have and cover things we have not touched on in our books. 

If you struggle with knowing how to study, drop me a line and let me know your study leaks. We may be covering them specifically in our just released course. 

Until then, good luck at the tables.

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