FA (FishAholics Anonymous)

[smileriraq]

I too read Harrington and have done well following his guidelines but they are just that guidelines. You need to develop your own style and personally I spend more time on analysing studying a players style at the table (bet sizes, body language (live obviously) , looking in the history to see what he called with etc

Does annoy me when someone plays who deviates from ABC Harrington and you get comments "you called with that?" Personally I like playing people who vary from the norm makes the game more interesting.

that said am also looking for other good books outside of harrington to see different perspectives

[kinboshi]

[jlane1980]

Thank you all for your advise!  A friend of mine already had a copy of Harrington"s Vol. 1, so i"ve borrowed that until my copies come through. 
I know that there"s a lot of different and varied styles, and i have to adapt my own, but i think my problem was that my own style wasn"t working!  So i"m working on that!
Any other suggestions on how i can improve?  I like the idea of posting hand history, but i"m going to take some earlier advise and not play again for a couple of weeks, whilst i read and study!  That couple of weeks should, not by coincidence, coincide with the announcement of next season (Sponsorship etc.), so i think the next time i play, will be with new software!  
I"m going to refrain from playing in my local live league until i have read Harrington 1 & 2 and the poker mindset.  Lets see if the rest will help reset my style!

Any further advise will be greatly received,

Many thanks

Jon Lane

[LongshanksED]

taking a break is never a bad idea

if you play almost every day your gonna get stale and end up in a rut/routine of style that will make you even more expoiltable

[coprey]

Convincing people you play good, but really play bad can often throw your opponent.

[jlane1980]

LOL    Perhaps that should be my Style?!  

[SirPercival]

Convincing people you play good, but really play bad can often throw your opponent.

Convincing people you are really bad, but really play good is also effective. (I"ve mastered the first part but not the second)  

[jlane1980]

Convincing people you play good, but really play bad can often throw your opponent.

Convincing people you are really bad, but really play good is also effective. (I"ve mastered the first part but not the second)  

[jlane1980]

Oooh, i"ve just realised that FishAholics Anonymous makes me sound like i"m addicted to fish!  I"m not, but i"m sure you get the point of the title!
I don"t even like the stuff, bad smelling, beady eyed and bony! Nope, not for me!

[duke3016]

bad smelling, beady eyed and bony!

must resist response - must resist

[Swinebag]

books are to be read and enjoyed. Read them all, absorb them then forget about them. They merely give you an insight into how people play the game. The best way to improve is to play and when it goes belly up, read and contribute to the many strategy forums available

[SirPercival]

I think it"s all been said above really, however....

I recommended Harrington as I think it would be a good starting point from your current position but it would be limiting to only follow one style of play. You do need to work out what suits you and it"s also important to be flexible enough to change your style as required. Understanding what "m" is doesn"t mean you have to follow a set of rules, but going through that learning curve will improve your thinking about the game. I"ve never found Q particularly useful but others have so will keep an open mind.

If your looking for a different style all together try something like Gus Hanson"s "Every Hand Revealed" but I wouldn"t recommend trying to copy this style without a lot more experience. Actually I wouldn"t try and copy any style. Create your own based on the knowledge in all the books and your own experience.

Be sure to find me at your first live APAT and let me know how it"s going.

Best of luck variance

Stuart

[WYoung83]

 Yes Rob "swinebag" is right. Ive read 18 different poker books in the last 3 years, really enjoyed all of them. Some of them iv re-read about 3 or 4 times. But the best way to improve is to get on the felt, or online and play as many hands as possible... Unfortunatly this may mean losing lots of money at the same time....lol
Another good way to get better is to watch poker on TV. Pokertube has almost every show going. The best to watch for improving game, also for entertainment is Poker After dark.

maybe calling the HOH series the "bible" to some players is a bit far fetched. What i should of said was that there are people out there who have read these books, and these books only, and then they think this is the ONLY way to play.

[SirPercival]

I disagree that TV is a good way to learn. Entertaining sometimes yes, but usually highly edited.

[duke3016]

I disagree that TV is a good way to learn. Entertaining sometimes yes, but usually highly edited.

bit like your creative play