Help me help my friend

[King_J]

I have a friend of mine who´s interested in poker. He seems like he´s wanna learn the game and take it seriously.

Its just one problem. He doesn´t know ANYTHING about it and I think he´s the kinda person who has a problem learning it too. He is good at math, but not a very smart person anyway.

All I have learned him so far is the ranking:
high card
one pair
two pair
...

So where should I start?
thx all!

[Oski]

Do you know how to play marbles?

[rayrns]

If you are going to play many different games, then have him buy a book on how to play. Poker for Dummies, Winning Poker For The Serious Player (Edwin Silberstang) or any books that are listed on this site that pertain to more than just one game. In any games that you might be playing, make sure the "cards speak for themselves" rule is in effect. Then if your friend calls straight when he really has the flush, he will get credit for the correct hand. If it is a real friendly game, then after a hand is done, you may be able to point out some good and bad play that took place. If he really wants to learn, he will spend the time reading, playing, re-reading etc.

[ArchAngel71857]

one thing to do is to buy those aforementioned books, also

Fundamentals of Poker by Mason Malmuth, available form 2+2=4 publishing.

then buy a deck of cards, and deal out 7-ten hands (depending on the game) all face up. look at each one, what they have, what you would do, talk through a bunch of different stuff. the key to learning is to see a bunch of cards. i found this was a good way for me to learn fundamentals of texas hold em and to teach other people.

-AA

[Tosh]

Poker is really not a game for the stupid.

[baggins]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker is really not a game for the stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

Brilliant post! there should be a sticky "2+2 quote thread" somewhere... N,V,G perhaps?

[Ilovephysics]

If they are having that much trouble, most books will be tough for them to go through and learn the game... practice may be the best thing for them, not a book.... however, I just picked up Poker Nation at Barnes and Noble for $5 the other day and am through about chapter 3 or so. It isn't a superior book regarding poker stratedgy, etc., but it actually does go through and teach the basics of hold-em in a very 'story-telling' mode which may be easier for your friend to follow... the writing style should be simple enough for your friend to follow and get hooked on poker quickly. It has a sorta "rounders" feel to it, and it was designed with a casual non-poker player in mind who may also read the book... I dunno.. maybe its worth the $5 before you plot $20+ on a TOP or HFAP book that are even tougher to follow.

[crockpot]

if you want to transform him into a winning player, i think the two best beginner books out there are Fundamentals of Poker by Mason Malmuth and Starting Out in Poker by Stewart Reuben. the Reuben book is a little more in-depth but also costs twice as much, but both serve as great introductions to different forms of the game and offer some basic advice.

if you want to take his money week after week, i believe phil hellmuth recently wrote a book whose original title, "How to Make Your Opponents Rich" was rejected by the publisher...