Systemantics 101

Posted February 25, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCode in Poker Strategy.

"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system."

John Gall state this quote from his book Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail.

This statement is quiet a bit complex but it hits the point on what poker really is. Your development as a poker should come from baby steps before becoming a fully mature one. Everything comes from small things so try to learn more and more about poker and then practice a lot.

Lots of individual thought reading a book is enough to learn poker. But they are mistaken. Instant learning is not applicable in poker. You need to have more experience and you also must apply the things you have learned in the field. You cannot be an instant Daniel Negreanu or Doyle Brunson by knowing alone. Time and experience is the key to become a really good poker player.

In poker, creating a solid base is the key. You must build upon this foundation, practice and gather experience. Having a very complex strategy will not help you. A complicated one will just bore holes that you cannot fix. Knowing a lot doesn’t mean anything. You must try to put to practice what you have learned.

This skills are important in creating a solid basic strategy:

identifying basic hand attributes
how to correctly use aggression
knowing the advantages and disadvantages of positioning
the significance of odds

The mentioned skills are you basis and you must learn to understand these skills before you try playing in the professional arena.
Those are the basic skills to beat your opponent at lower limit games. Actually on lower limits games you will have to play as it is and knowledge of advance plays is not an advantage. Trying to apply advance strategies will just make you confuse. Learn to play in simple terms.

If you already have an established basic plan or strategy you can now try to learn those advance skills and add it up into your inventory.
Assuming that you are a very advanced player, who just plays to get back what you lose, throw what you learned to the bin and start all over again. Learning right means learning from the start.