Fluent Poker (& wine)

Fluent Poker (& wine) Had a great wine last night; 2010 pinot noir from Wollersheim winery, a winery in Prarie Du Sac, WI. It runs about $14, and was great! http://www.wollersheim.com/ Working at my new job, I realized how much information a person works at mastering to have a job where you get paid to know technical processes, etc. You are basically learning to be fluent in a language. I think poker is like this too. There's no quick way or trick to learning poker; you just have to force tons of information into your brain for practice, and repeat. Many times I feel that I still haven't really become fluent in poker; I've simply 'hard linked' scenarios to outcomes, but this is like memorizing phrases in a language; you don't really know how to speak it unless that specific scenario presents itself again. To become fluent in poker, I feel that you have to know these things: 1) How many squares are on a poker chart for the top 10% range increments (i.e. top 10%, top 20%, top 30%). For example, the top 30% has 19 squares (where AK is a square, AQ is a square, etc), plus all the pocket-pairs (PP) 55+. 2) How many made squares of made hands are possible based on a board card in each range. Ex: In the top 30%, if an A comes, there are A5+ = 9 squares of made hands (pairs). This accounts for most of what you'll deal with in wider ranges, the rest being PP or HC (high-card) hands. Ex: top 30% has 19 squares, 19-9 = 10 HC still remain, plus 10 PP hands. 3) After this learn to subtract top 10% pre-flop range increments from each other. Ex: top 10% has 4 squares and 7 PPs (88+). Top 30% has 19 squares and 10 PPs (55+). So the range top 30% - top 10% has 19-4 = 15 squares plus 10-7 = 3 PPs. But also beyond this know which hands for each rank, as in #2 above. Ex: top 30% had A5+, and top 10% had AJ+, so top 30%-top 10% has A5 - AT = 6 squares of Ace made hands (pairs). 4) Then do all of this given 2, then also 3 board ranks. 5) Once these are mastered, then learn how many HC are in each range given the ranks on board, then in each subtracted range scenario. This will account for the majority of hands you'll see, especially in HU LHE where the ranges are wider (my particular game of choice). You'll start to get a sense of how 'heavily' flops hit ranges, etc. After this, though, there is still much more to consider: scenarios where I hold a pair, double ranked boards, ST 'straights' (which will take up squares on the chart similar to pairs, but between board ranks), FL 'flush' (which will be roughly a % of HC and PR 'pair' hands available), 2PR 'two pair', trips, etc. Then also OE & GS draws.