Hi everyone, I am working through basic memorization with memory palaces, PAO, and the Major System. I also have a system for memorizing cards. I am in a fun tournament next month (mid-Feb) for Texas Hold’em and there will be a number of very good players, possibly even semi-professional level. Anyone have suggestions about what would be a good project for 1 month, maybe 30-60 minutes per day, to help? I was thinking possibly some form of probabilities but maybe you have a good suggestion. I don’t expect to outplay them, just make my odds as good as possible. It is a no limit Texas Hold’em game played over several days.
not sure how much of this is directly memory-adjacent, but here are my tips:
study ICM. the times when it makes mathematical sense to start going all-in with sub-premium hands come way before it feels like they should at the table.
don’t get too wrapped up in “live” reads compared to betting patterns and what the chips actually put in the pot represent
building off that point, every bet is made for a reason. from the villain’s perspective, what are the different reasons they might have made a particular bet, and how likely are each of those reasons to have been the cause in the current hand?
along the same lines, learn about ranges and how likely an opponent is to be doing X for Y reason and play those percentages
as an amateur, you’ll likely have the highest chance to get deep in the tournament if you increase variance against better players by forcing them into bigger pre-flop decisions (the book Kill Phil discusses this–a bit outdated, but the info is still true)
against other amateurs you can basically bluff them off anything below AA-QQ + AK on the bubble
put a little time into studying 3-handed and heads-up charts. there’s always a chance you’ll make it to the end, and you’ll be so thankful you prepared if this happens.
believe in yourself! if the better player won every time, there would be like, six pro players on earth. anything can happen in poker, and there’s no law saying you can’t ship the whole tournament.