question Playing too many hands early — what finally made it click for you?

I’ve been trying to tighten up my poker game a bit and the main leak seems pretty obvious... I get a bit too keen before the flop and end up defending rubbish or limping into spots that turn into a headache two streets later.

For those who got past that stage, what actually helped? Was it just learning proper starting hands by position, or was it more about understanding stack sizes, table texture, player types etc? I reckon position is the bit I still underestimate the most.

Also curious what people here focus on first when they’re helping a mate improve — preflop discipline, bet sizing, folding top pair more often, bluff frequency, whatever. I mostly play low stakes cash with the odd tourney thrown in on a lazy arvo, so keen to hear what made the biggest difference for you.

Reckon you're giving position a bit too much blame there. In soft low-stakes games the bigger leak is usually paying people off after they've basically announced they like their hand. I improved more from binning hero calls than from any starting-hand chart.