Five Tips to Improve Your Poker Skills in 2016

If one of your New Year's resolutions was to improve your poker skills, listen up.  We have five ways you can improve your poker game with the assistance of third-party software tools.
 
Watch the pros - Learning by watching some of the best players is a great way to improve.  You can often get free advice from watching players live stream on Twitch and absorb how they play and why.  However, a training site provides much more than this and can help you in many more targeted ways.  Additionally, training sites provide in-depth analysis of why pros might have made a certain play.

For tournament players, we recommend checking out Tournament Poker Edge, as this is what the site specializes in.  Another site to consider subscribing to due to the number of top-notch poker pros is Ivey League, which offers a variety of games types and formats.

Practice with a training site – Another great way to learn is practice, practice, practice.  You can definitely improve while just playing real money games at your online poker room.  However, you can play and learn at the same time with the poker training site Advanced Poker Training, which pits players against the site's advanced artificial intelligence (AI) opponents while giving you advice along the way.  Even though you aren't playing for real money, the site provides a very realistic set of opponents and allows you to learn without risking your bankroll.

Practice real money games – You can improve your game just by playing more.  However, we recommend if you are first starting out, use an in-game poker odds calculator.  This is good for any poker player who needs some assistance understanding their odds and outs and the strengths and weaknesses of their hands.  PokerTableStats can not only help with this, but the software also comes with a cloud-based HUD, which is great for players who have never used one.

Find and plug your leaks – Experience isn't the only way to improve.  It is important to look constantly at where your biggest weakness are and make them strengths.  One great way of doing this is with Leak Buster 4, as the software can identify your biggest problem areas and give advice on how to improve.  The software is invaluable for ring game players regardless of skill set.

Master poker tracking software – Players who don't use a HUD, sub-optimally use one, or even misuse a HUD constantly make incorrect decisions on the felt.  A goal of any online poker player looking to improve should be to learn how to use their HUD to profile their opponents.  The two biggest poker tracking software suites on the market are Hold'em Manager 2 and PokerTracker 4.  They both are very powerful and easy to use.  In addition to mastering your HUD, you should consider making a habit of reviewing the information the poker tracking database provides for study and review purposes.

More articles