Andre Coimbra Explains ‘How To Study Poker’ Part 2

• Tweet
• Pin It

You may have caught our first article describing the first part of the blog that PokerStars Team Pro Andre Coimbra wrote for PokerStarsBlog regarding teaching people how to study poker effectively. Well he has now released the second part of that blog, this time concentrating on mid-stakes players rather than that of the low-stakes grinders.

He still believes that mid-stakes players need to do everything else that he had previously written but now insists that there are now other avenues that these players need to explore. His blog for PokerStarsBlog focuses on these new avenues and what he feels is the best way to improve your game.

“You learned the basics. You have a good idea of which hands you can play from each position, the standard betting sizes on each situation, and how to value-bet versus bad players, etc.

Now you want to move up and try to beat the mid-stakes, but things are not working as they used to at the low-stakes. The average player is better, and they won’t pay you off with bad hands as often as they did at the low-stakes.”

Whilst he suggested that low-stakes players need to spend as much as 50% of their time studying the game, for mid-stakes players this should be considerably less. This is because players at these stakes will usually be playing professionally and will have bills to pay. He believes around 20% is better suited for this level, but insists that players concentrate on one aspect of their game at a time. Retention of information is much more important than trying to learn so many different things at once.

He also recommends two additional ways for this type of player to improve their game. Poker software and coaching are his suggestions, even giving a few pointers on which ones of each to use.

He is a strong believer in HUDs, trackers and calculators for online poker and believes these will always keep your weakest areas in mind. Additionally, a good poker coach can give you an outside perspective to where you might be going wrong as well as keeping you in good shape mentally.

“I think that getting coached is probably the fastest way to learn. The obvious drawback is that unless you have a friend that will coach you for free, you will have to pay for it. So, I think that it’s more adequate for mid-stakes players since at this point you will already have a bankroll, and you will be able to get a good return on the coaching investment.”

For the rest of his advice, we strongly suggest you take a look at part two of his ‘How To Study Poker’ blog, as there is simply only so much we can squeeze of it in here.

• Tweet
• Pin It