Learning new games

By Ladbrokes_Poker
for Thepokerdonk.com

Published: May 17, 2010

In times gone by, poker players would attempt to learn every single game available to them so they could potentially earn money when they were running badly at their usual game of choice. Today it is not uncommon for players to simply specialise in one chosen discipline but it is a bad idea to do this in the long run.

Learning other types of games can actually help the game you usually play as you will be able to map across skills and playing habits to your chosen game. Playing Seven-card Stud will help your short term memory due to having to remember all the discarded hands, pot-limit Omaha will help your hand reading and positional play whilst a split-pot game such as Omaha hi/lo should help you to be patient and wait for playable hands.

It is very difficult to master all the major poker games but some players will still sit into mixed games despite not knowing how to play a particular game to a high standard. It is not a coincidence that the biggest games online and live are all ones where multiple games are played.

Your learning does not even have to be a different game entirely. If you usually play sit ‘n’ go tournaments you could try to learn poker cash games, or if you are already a cash game player why not try playing a month of multi-table tournaments? Even if you only play Texas Hold’em cash games, changing tactics and playing in sit ‘n’ go tournaments will provide you with a different skill set, particularly playing with a short-stack or combating short-stacks, which you can then apply when you next sit at a cash table.

Along with improving yourself as an all-round poker player, learning new games can also be a great way to prevent yourself becoming board with poker and growing complacent with your game. When we first start winning at a poker game we generally throw all our resources into it, be that time, money or effort. By the time we have been playing for a few months or years, this excitement wanes somewhat and this is when mistakes creep into your game. By learning something new, you keep that eagerness and excitement about your game and stand a better chance of keeping focussed for longer, which in turn can provide greater profits in the long run.

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Learning new games

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