Poker Videos
How to get the most out of Poker Videos:
Most online poker players are looking to improve their game and move up in stakes. Whether you are a micro-stakes player trying to get off the $10 tables or a mid-stakes player looking to join the sharks at the high-stakes tables, there are a number of avenues for improving your game. Of course you should constantly be reviewing your own game through hand history reviews, posting hands, using poker odds calculators and range calculators. Also you can consider getting poker coaching from a more experienced player/coach. However, one of the most cost-effective ways to improve your game can be to simply watch poker videos.
There are a large number of sites offering poker “training” videos. Some of them are very good, some of them aren’t. It can be difficult to weed out the bad site or videos while spending time and money on the good ones. On the other hand, there aren’t as many sites offering free poker videos. One site that offers not only free poker videos, but also a huge number of other poker tools is the poker strategy forum, FlopTurnRiver.com.
If you’re going to be spending time watching poker videos, it would seem important that you are getting something out of each one. Of course you can watch videos just for entertainment, but you aren’t really learning anything in that case and your time could be better spent reviewing hands or just playing.
So how can you get the most out of watching poker videos? Well, there are a few things you can do right away that will make your time spent well worth it. One mistake a lot of people make in viewing poker videos is watching players play at much higher stakes than they are currently playing. Not to say you shouldn’t be watching games that are higher than yours, but if you are playing $10 or $25 NL, you really aren’t going to get much (other than entertainment) out of watching the $1k NL games. Instead you should really try to focus on videos that are from the levels you are playing and up just a few levels. So if I’m playing $10 NL, I would look for videos at $10, $25 and $50 NL. Videos at $100 NL wouldn’t be bad either, especially if you are playing a lot and have the potential to move up quickly.
Most of the poker videos you will see will be from PokerStars. They are the top us room for US players, and have over 250,000 people connected during peak hours. You can also receive a $600 bonus with the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600, as long as you’re a new account!
Another thing you can do to benefit from poker videos is focus. It’s the same as if you are playing poker while surfing the net, watching tv, or anything else. If you aren’t focusing you will not get the most out of what you are doing. Even if you are doing something else (or especially if you are) it is a good idea to have something to take notes with. You can just open up a program on your computer to take notes on or even just a pencil and paper. Just write down important spots with the time in the video. Pause and write down questions, interesting situations and tough spots. The great thing about sites like Flop Turn River is that you can then talk about these spots on the forum (don’t forget to post the time of the spot in the video).
That’s just a couple of things that you can do right away that should immediately help you get the most out of your time spent watching poker videos. As for which poker videos you should be watching, well, there are a lot of bad videos out there and bad players making videos. So be sure to take everything you see in the videos you watch with a grain of salt. However, on Flop Turn River, there are not really any “bad” videos. There are better videos though, so to get you started here’s a few of the best:
– $200 NL 6-Max: Happy Hour with Ville18
- I know I said don’t watch the videos just for the entertainment value, but this one is very entertaining. It is played with a very aggressive style and although it’s not completely current it is still a good one to watch.
– Bigspenda’s Micro Stakes Video 3: $10 NL 6-Max/Full Ring
- Here, Spenda plays 1 table of full-ring and 1 table of 6-max, explaining the differences between the two.
– $200 NL 6-Max 2-Table with Sauce123
- In this one, Sauce123, now a high-stakes player, plays $200 NL and explains his thought process while he’s going through his hands. A rare free video by one of the best online players today.
There’s a few very good poker videos to get you started. Remember – focus, take notes, discuss. Then be sure to check out some more of the poker tools on FlopTurnRiver, such as the Hand Converter, Poker Hand Odds Calculator, and Poker Dictionary – all available for free!
