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Improving your poker skills

There are many different styles of winning poker. We cannot give specific advice on how to win, but we can recommend the following approach to assist you to improve your play:

Read the books of respected poker authors
  • Power Hold'em Strategy (Negreanu)
  • Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time (Lynch/Van Fleet/Turner)
  • Harrington on Cash Games (Harrington/Robertie)
  • No Limit Hold'em (Sklansky/Miller)
  • Raiser's Edge: Tournament-Poker Strategies for Today's Aggressive Game (Grospellier, Nelson, Streib, Dunst)
Watch live poker and see the concepts in the books actually put into practice

Check out PokerStars TV, you will find many webcasts, videos and television shows from PokerStars events across the globe. You will be able to view the greatest players in action at PokerStars.tv.

Also, watch our replay tournaments. We replay many of the final tables of our larger events, with the hole cards of all players displayed. These events are a great way to see how winning poker is played on the final table.

Join online poker forums to discuss poker with other players like yourself

Two Plus Two is a good starting point.

Keep a poker-only bankroll that is not needed for bills etc.

Follow the 300/30/30 rule, where you have 300 big bets for any limit game you want to play in (e.g. $600 for $1/$2 Limit Hold'em), 30 buy-ins for any tournament, and 30 buy-ins for any No Limit or Pot Limit game. By following this rule, you will be able to survive a few bad sessions or tournament beats without losing your whole bankroll.

Play to a schedule, and do not focus on short-term goals

Just play the best poker possible. Don't be afraid to quit while still down on a session. You can play perfect poker and still lose some sessions; such is the nature of random gaming. If you feel yourself losing control (i.e. tilting), stop playing and take a break.

Keep statistics with programs like Holdem Manager or PokerTracker to analyze your play

This way you can easily record win/loss amounts and look for ways to improve.

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