Reading Poker Strategy Books: You’re Probably Doing it Wrong

On the 2+2 poker forums there is an often used response for people who complain about the number of pages certain threads reach… “you’re doing it wrong.”

It’s a phrase I’ve started using in all sorts of situations, and today I’m going to use it in regards to how you read a poker strategy book, because when it comes to reading poker strategy books you’re almost certainly doing it wrong.

You’re doing it wrong on 2+2 means you have the forum settings set on 20 posts per page instead of a much higher number (thus creating more pages); when it comes to reading poker strategy books “you’re doing it wrong” means you’re reading through the whole thing cover to cover in a few sittings.

What you should be doing instead is reading small sections of the text multiple times over the course of a week or two, and here is why.

*First Caveat: If you are an experienced player and the book is reading more like a refresher course or you find yourself saying “I know that already” than by all means plow through the book as fast as you can.*

The right way to do it

There is simply too much information packed into the pages of a poker strategy book and you’re not going to fully absorb all of the new concepts you’re reading about at the same time.

Reading about starting hands, position, semi-bluffing blanks on the turn, and when to thin-value-bet is simply too much information to take in at any one time.

What you want to do is read the sections on position and starting hands, take this new information into your next session and try to apply it. After the session you should re-read those sections and see if anything “clicks” or try to identify areas where you made mistakes.

From there you play another session and do the same thing, and you keep repeating this cycle until you have it down cold.

THEN, you go on to the next section and do the same, slowly adding more and more nuance to your game in the process.

*Second Caveat: I’m not against reading through the whole book and then going through this process, but be forewarned that most people will not go back and reread the book, and will be under the illusion that they remember it all and have absorbed it properly.*

What the experts say

A lot of research has been done when it comes to how people best remember material, and it’s not through all-night cram sessions.

To truly have the poker concepts become part of your learned memory you need to make sure it gets stored in your long-term memory banks.

The best way to learn and remember something is to read it several times over a certain period of time and in certain intervals. Doing this allows the synapses (there is my big word of the day) in your brain to form solid pathways and will help keep what you’ve just read from disappearing from your memory banks or being misconstrued.

This is actually the concept behind the dreaded homework assignment. Yes, the kids have learned the material in class, but for the information to really sink in and for the neural path to grow stronger it must be reviewed later on. The kids who actually do their homework a few hours later will have a much better of chance of having the information sink in. Especially if they  then review the material the following day, followed by a test later in the week.

By repeatedly going over the material at regular time intervals you’ll have a much better chance of having the material land in your long-term memory banks, which is where they can be retrieved quickly and are more accurately.

Here is a very good, yet simple description of how this works: Memory consolidation

You also would do well to connect the information you are reading with other senses. Trying to associate the concepts you are reading with actual hands you have played will help the information sink in and “stick,” as will writing down your thoughts on the text as you’re reading.

Final thoughts

How many times have you walked out of a movie with your friends or your significant other and stated, “That was a great movie!” Yet when you go to talk about it on a deeper level you have trouble recalling specific scenes?

Yes, you got the plotline and the characters, and perhaps a couple scenes stuck out, but despite just seeing the film your memory is quite shaky on what you just saw.

But then you go to the movies and see it again, and everything starts to click. Then you watch it on DVD a couple of times and suddenly you can nearly quote the film verbatim.

This is what you should be striving for with a poker book. Not reading the entire text and getting the gist of it and a few key concepts, but being able to recall entire sections at any time. And you’ll only get that by continual readings.

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