As a student of poker, I've put in a lot of time studying on my own with paper and pen, reading books/forums/articles, playing and chatting with others. Hell, I've even written a poker blog for almost two years to document the lessons I've learned and note my progress. I feel as though I know enough about the game and enough strategy to play a solid game that is hard to beat by anyone. I'm happy with my game as it stands.

With that said, I have a lot to learn. Poker is a lot like golf. Learning how to play and how to hit the ball is the obvious path forward. Once you get good, you learn some more advanced techniques like drawing and fading the ball when necessary. You learn consistency. You learn about how slight changes in clubs, grass or weather conditions will affect your game. All the while, you're fixing what you already know. You know to keep your hips behind the ball, but for some unknown reason, you find yourself sliding through the ball instead of turning through the ball. It may take you half a round to figure out that you're sliding again and then you can concentrate on fixing that again. While fixing that your body somehow forgets to stay down and over the ball and you start pulling up a bit. There are so many small things that affect your swing and you have to get the majority of them correct in order to hit a decent shot.

In poker, I'm constantly fixing what I already know. I fix one thing and another one breaks. I start reraising the fake-maniac (I'll explain that term at the bottom of the article) on the river with any two cards because I know they can't call and I start winning big pots. All of a sudden, I'm reraising the tight/passive player on the river with bluffs to see all my chips shipped across the table on what is suddenly realized as a play I wouldn't have made two years ago because it is so -EV. I've learned a lot by reading, but applying what I've read and fixing things that I thought I already had mastered is a constant battle. Fixing my poker game is a lot like fixing my golf swing. I usually have a couple swing thoughts at the table and when I notice a new leak that I've sprung whether it was repaired before or not, I change my swing thoughts.

The constant readdressing of my game is what makes this game so interesting. Fortunately, playing well will win money and playing perfect is not necessary to be successful.

(Fake-maniac: A player that is loose/aggressive early in a hand and tight/aggressive late in a hand. The reasoning behind their strategy is to obtain a LAG table image and get paid off when they do hit a monster, but not to lose any big pots with less than a monster. They play loose and fast preflop and on the flop but slow down on the turn and river to avoid traps. They're hoping their opponents give them a blanket table-image and pay them off on the river when they hit their monster. They'll win a lot of small pots and hope to hit a few monsters with a loose image to win a few big pots as well. The counter-strategy against these opponents is to call their bets with any two cards until the turn/river and then reraise them. You'll pick up enough medium sized pots to make up for an occassional monster that you run into.)

Check out doubleas's book, Pressure Poker: Poker Strategy and Tools to Improve Your Game (also available in the PokerSavvy Shop)