Strategy: Just keep playing. You're right when you say: "I can't just wake up and be some kind of superhuman Tetris player... " You need to practice.
Practice is all it takes! They are not kidding. Don't focus so much on the short term. For the most part skill progresses slow and it often feels like you're not getting better because you can't see it moving. You've got to give us more detail about your current skill level before we can give you more tangible advice. Are you using both rotation buttons? What's your speed? Are there particular situations where you don't know what to do?
I didnt even know there were 2 rotation buttons...My fastest current time is about 2:22 and I know what to do in most situations...
Rotating both ways, using DAS rather than tapping to the sides and with some practice you should be able to get your time down to 1 minute pretty rapidly.
Oh no, I use the hold function quite frequently. And I've tried with 2 rotation buttons and no one I know uses the 2nd rotation button...
I think there are a few tetrinet players who got fast with only one button, but they're the exception. And there's no disputing they wouldn't be faster using 2.
You need patience. You should play atleast a little bit everyday. You need to lay down the foundation before you can do the more advanced techniques.