The next topic we will discuss is learning. When we first start playing poker, we all have a blank slate in our minds. No one is born knowing how to identify SA/WB, read preflop, or spot a cooler. We learn these things over time by delving into the game. And although poker provides feedback to all of us, not all players become professionals. One of the most important factors determining how good a player a beginner will become is the quality of learning.
So how can we learn more effectively?
At first glance, this question may seem strange. Learning defines how we, as humans, interact with the world. It may be unusual to put everything aside and start listening to the world, but if you are a poker player, learning is the most important part of your profession. To become a good player, it is essential to utilize the learning process as efficiently as possible.
As a poker player, you have all kinds of resources available to learn as much as possible. These include various videos, forums, books, and so on. However, no amount of watched videos or read forums will make you better on its own. Why is that? Isn't poker ultimately a purely mental game? After all, it's not football or basketball; in poker, all you have to do is know what the correct action is and then do it. But why isn't this entirely true?
While we can learn by playing, watching videos, or reading forums, the learning methods in each of these choices differ fundamentally. Let's briefly review them.
First is poker theory or knowledge. This can be called learning statements. This is what you usually get from watching videos. It's your ability to talk about poker, all your ideas about exploiting, combinatorics, game theory, and so on.
Then there is your know-how or procedural learning – the ability to play subconsciously. It's your capacity to click buttons for two hours, immediately reacting to the current situation; this is where your true poker intuition lies.
And the third is emotional learning – often described as the mental game. It's your ability to accept losses, play consistently, play by your own rules, and observe your mental states. Although all three learning methods are important and interact with each other, it is important to emphasize that they are very different. If you want to develop your know-how, you certainly won't succeed by engaging in activities that develop poker theory or emotional skills (although it does strengthen the overall game style). All these methods are distributed into separate networks in our brains. Although each of these networks contributes to the overall result of playing poker well, these networks remain separate. Each grows and is strengthened in different ways, stimulated by different stimuli, and exercised by different exercises.
Let's consider an analogous example. If you are a boxer, to be a good player in this sport, you need to develop your endurance, punch, and footwork. Although all these skills together can be called boxing, they are separate attributes that are developed differently, but none of them alone can be called boxing.
The skill set we need to develop to become poker players includes poker theory, our poker intuition, and emotional skills. How can we develop them? What is the best way to learn them? To answer these questions, we will have to delve deeper into the entire learning process. We will discuss this in the following articles.
Haseeb Qureshi
