EnglishPER'S “Illvillja” CORNER
Whom should you take advices from?
Hi there, let me introduce myself. My name is Per Lindholm and I am totally unknown to you and the most of the international poker scene. In fact, I am probably unknown to the most parts of the world as I have not had my 15 minutes of fame yet. I am from Sweden, a small country (by population) in the northern Europe that has had its fair share of good poker players during the last few years. I have played poker professionally and semi-professionally since 2005 and I dare say I have a good knowledge of the game. I am here to give you advices on how to improve your game and help you become a better player over time.
Every week, in this section of PokerWorld, you will find a new strategy article here from me. The topics are going to vary a lot, from useful tips like the one you will find later on in this article that are not related to the actual game-flow of poker to direct strategies that you could apply to your game, like “ICM-calculations” for Sit n Go’s (more about that in next week’s article).
Today however, I want to talk about some things that are important in improving your game. Poker is a game where the actual outcome of any hand is not simply determined by the cards you are holding. There are many factors that swing the outcome in one or another direction, like “variance”, your opponent’s skill, your own shape and abilities, “table selection” and what type of game you are playing. If you are not familiar with those topics and if you do not fully understand why they are important you do not need to worry. I will cover them all and in fact a lot more than that, in the coming months here in my corner of PokerWorld. I cannot do it all at once for various reasons. Firstly, because my article would be thicker than my graduation paper and I don’t want to get you bored by digesting too much theory at once. And secondly, because after every article you will be able to go to the tables and try to apply what you have learnt. Hence the reason why you should take the theory one bit at a time. And playing is the best way to master what you have learnt.
Playing and building experience is one of the key factors to develop your skills. Of course you will make mistakes, but as long as you can learn from your mistakes and analyze and realize why you made those errors and what you should have done instead, you will gain in the future. And in poker, experience is key. I am straying from the subject here. I was going to tell you something totally different that I have learnt the hard way.
When you start to play poker, or mention it to anyone, you will find a similarity to when you get your first child (or it will start at the same time as the pregnancy). You will get thousands of advices. Everyone have their own “secret” and their own advices that have helped them become a better player (or parent). Many of those advices will be crap, though they are given with good intention. Others might be generally useful but will not work very well for you as you are in a totally different situation. Some tips will be amazing and will help you take giant leaps in your progression towards getting better. Those are rare however, but when you find one, do not hesitate to use it. One of those “giant steps” for me was when I found out about “ICM”, something that I will speak more about next week.
With this said, it is important for you to decide whom you want to take advices from. Does the high stakes professional’s advice apply to your situation? Can you apply his thoughts about building table image by raising 24o to your regular games at the $0.25/0,50 NL tables? Probably not, nor will the Omaha player’s advice about never chasing a straight or a flush at a paired board always apply to a Texas Holdem game. If you are already a high stakes player or a winning player at mid-stakes ring games, you perhaps will not always agree with my advices here and that is alright. In poker there can be several ways to the same successful result. My goal here is to give advices that will help the average player take the step into becoming a winning player, or give the beginner player some thoughtful words on his route to become an average player.
If you think that my advices will help you and will be applicable to your games, and your stakes, you are welcome back here in a week to read my next article. If you have any questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to drop me a mail.
So get ready to enter and reveal the secrets of PokerWorld with me over the next couple of months!
Until then, good luck and see you at the tables!
Per “Illvillja” Wolf
PokerWorld Pro