I am a grown up, but I'd love to hear your recommendations for how to learn poker for a beginner?
Say I can dedicate about 3 hrs / week to this, what is the most efficient way to spend that time?
Say I can dedicate about 3 hrs / week to this, what is the most efficient way to spend that time?
You will be a top 20% poker player if you can do two things right. 1) Play the hands you should preflop. This is the poker equivalent of learning blackjack strategy. "Starting hand ranges poker" will start you down that rabbit hole. 2) Figure out pot odds. If you have a straight draw, how often will it hit and is that worth calling a bet? That takes a bit of math that seems hard at first, but gets a lot easier as you start to cache common scenarios. Google "Pot odds poker" to go down that rabbit hole. Review interesting hands and share them online. twoplustwo is the "main" poker forum. Good luck!
Following that I picked up some more formalism from the book by David Sklansky that features prominently in the other comment in response to your question.
However, the person I mentioned before had already given me a head start on most of the practical aspects mentioned in the book. I also benefited from having him to practice against and learn from.
Repeatedly consider the concepts you've learned and try to apply them.