In the modern poker era, where it is extremely easy to find tons of poker strategy material, coaching programs and abundance of similar content – it can become quite confusing, who and what to believe.
Many poker “gurus” promise unbelievable poker win rates to their clients, but usually, the only winnings made, are from selling the courses to naive players.
Last few years the latest poker trend in poker strategy is to study the game, from purely mathematical stand point, using poker solvers. There are a countless examples, one of the more famous one being Upswing Lab.
Today we will briefly explain to you, why trying to become better poker player, by purely studying with solvers is one of the WORST mistakes you can possibly make and complete waste of time. More importantly, completely free of charge, we will show you the Number 1 trick to skyrocket your poker win rate to the moon.
Sounds interesting? Ok let’s begin :
Poker Solvers are USELESS 99% of the Time
Unless you are high stakes pro, who plays on 10/20$ blinds and above, going to high-roller tournaments or just grinding the toughest games in the worlds online – poker solvers are the worst way possible you can spend your studying time.
For average and especially beginner players, using GTO techniques to improve is like trying to drive an air plane, before learning to walk. Solvers are a way for poker pros, who are equally skilled and find it hard to exploit one another. In this scenario, they turn to poker math, in a bid to gain very slight advantage.
There are a lot of poker solver advocates, so let’s start talking with examples. Imagine you play poker against completely novice players, who barely understand the rules. In order to win, will you “protect your range”or adjust your “check-raising ratio” ?
Wouldn’t it be better to completely outclass a rookie by spotting his body language tells or lack of understanding the fundamental concept of the game ?
Now the counter argument to this statement, would be that we never play complete novices in real money games. While this is true, gaining an advantage by using exploitative tactics, will make even regular players look like rookies.
At the same time, if you try using the GTO against solid players, at best you will have slight edge. You may be profitable, but the poker win rate will be multiple time worse, than exploiting all the holes in your opponents game.
So, exploiting player’s tendencies and finding mistakes in their strategy, is always the shortest way towards skyrocketing poker win rate. But which is the very best method to tranform your results and improve dramatically, while not spending a single dollar for courses ? It is something , which almost everyone has heard of, but neglects and underestimate it’s importance …
Skyrocket Your Poker Win Rate By…Taking Notes !
Yes, its not a groundbreaking mechanic, a cheat code or anything revolutionary… YET !
Let’s analyze in detail, why taking notes while playing online poker WILL make your poker win rate explode, if done correctly. Not only that, it is also possible to employ this tactic while live.
As you know, 99,99% of online poker sites and apps allow players to take notes for their opponents. The smaller the online poker room, the better this underestimated poker strategy become, as you will often meet the same opponents.
You probably already have taken few notes, while playing poker online – marking light blue the fishes, and with red the sharks. Maybe the colors are vice-versa or you mark considering some other metric. Maybe you write under their names, things like “good reg” or ” bad whale”. This is helpful, but it is like using the 10% of the potential of taking notes.
Imagine you are doing a test in school and you are allowed to use a sheet with the answers to most of the questions. Taking notes in poker is similar, the difference is, you do not have the answers ready on a cheat sheet – you will have to work to receive them.
How to Take Notes like a Pro ?
To start crushing the opposition and multiply your poker win rate right away, start writing down EVERYTHING noteworthy your opponents convey as information on the felt.
- Which hands they called with ?
- Did they show their hand, when they folded ? What was the hand ?
- Do they 3-bet lightly ? Which was the exact hand they raised with ?
- With what hand they went 100bb All in Pre with ?
- Do they tilt easily ?
- At what time they begin their sessions usually ? ( so that you know when you can play them again, or avoid them if they are solid players)
- Do they multi-table ? ( To extract knowledge if they pay full attention on 1 table or maybe grind steadily on many tables and focus on the fundamentals)
There are countless more things, you may consider noteworthy to be written down. So why you do not do it ? Because there are coaches promising you rock-solid tactic to crush everyone, which in poker does not exist. This is a game of exploiting the opponent, who is a human being like you, not some math problem.
Having key highlights for all the players you play with, will not only make your increase your poker win rate, but it will also do it while you play less tables. Having 2 or even 1 table with opponents, who has been subject of your reconnaissance – will prove to be more profitable ( by large margin) – than playing 4 or 6 tables . Not to mention that the variance will be reduced drastically.
This works like a CHARM and almost 100% guarantees you solid winnings, if you have solid fundamentals and play on private clubs on apps like Pokerbros, PPPoker, ClubGG or X-Poker. There the player pools are smaller and you will have notes for everyone, in almost no time.
Can i use this strategy Live ?
Playing live poker is fun. It is especially well-suited for outgoing people who enjoy joking, sharing stories or be involved in a friendly banter. Live poker games are also drastically more slower. Whether you are outgoing butterly or the introverted grinder – in both those scenarios you have plenty of time to write notes on your phone in similar fashion to sticking tags on online poker avatars.
Usually the player base in your casino, is almost always smaller than even that of the private clubs online. Just by visiting the local poker room few times, you will have detailed description of everyone right at the tip of your fingers. Maybe its time for this expensive IPhone to start earning you some rakeback in the form of invaluable notes .
Taking notes is a proven way to boost your poker win rate, whether you play live or online. The only thing is, it has to be done corretly and in detail. Not only it will help you immediately, but it also develop your observational skills. This forgotten practice, boost the poker win rate of every player who employs it. So grab your pencil and prepare your cheat sheet for the next poker game !
