Am I on the right track?

[ScottTheFish]

Hi, my first post here, although I've been reading the SS/micro fourum religioulsy for a couple of weeks. I have to say all you regular posters who take the time to analyze peoples' hands and give them advice are awesome! I've learned a lot, and the tone of the posts is almost always positive. Great work.

Anyway, after just some basic reading online of very basic holdem strategy, I decided to deposit (aka "donate") $50 on PartyPoker. A few hours of extrmemly weak and fishy play at .50/1 separated me from my money.

So the next day I am on the verge of reloading, and I decide if I'm gonna play, I need to learn what the heck I'm doing first. I don't mind losing some money at poker, but no sense just giving it away. I found this forum, and ordered the Lee Jones book, which seems to be highly recommended. Should have it tomorrow hopefully. I think when I'm comfortable with the strategies and concepts in that book, I'll get much more out of books like TOP and HEFAP.

I also got pokertracker and loaded the hand histories from that first humiliating session. Although I felt I was playing tight, I was seeing 45% of the flops when I was outside the blinds!!! I'm a beginner and even I know that is horrible.

My plan is to read the Jones book and this forum some more, then reload and try to use my new knowledge to at least break even for a few weeks so I can get some practice, then go from there. Is that realistic, or should I plan on spending several hundred more bets before I can start breaking even or winning a little?


The only good thing I can say about the start of my journey to learn poker is that I recognized I suck and decided to do something about it probably earlier and cheaper than most /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Thanks for listening and any advice is appreciated.

[scotnt73]

addmitting that you suck is the first step to improvement-good for you. I wouldnt reload until you read at least most of 1 good poker book

[jasonHoldEm]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to the forums. Jones is a great place to start, in addition you might want to pick up Texas Hold'em by Sklansky (the non-advanced version...there's two books with similar titles). Once you read either of these books you should be able to destroy .50/1 with little trouble.

Keep posting, reading, studying, etc....soon you'll be able to change your name to ScottTheShark.

Peace,
jHE

[TheRake]

Welcome Scott,

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I have to say all you regular posters who take the time to analyze peoples' hands and give them advice are awesome!

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This is one of the absolute best places to learn. Post some of your hands and check your ego at the door. Also ask questions about other peoples hand postings.

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A few hours of extrmemly weak and fishy play at .50/1 separated me from my money.

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Don't be to discouraged..this is common. It will cost you a little money to learn.

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ordered the Lee Jones book


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Excellent choice..I can also recomend "Get the edge at low limit Hold'em" by Bill Burton. This book has an excellent color coded starting hands chart right on the inside front cover.

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I also got pokertracker and loaded the hand histories from that first humiliating session

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Very smart...Wish I would have done this when I first started.

[ QUOTE ]
My plan is to read the Jones book and this forum some more, then reload and try to use my new knowledge to at least break even for a few weeks so I can get some practice, then go from there. Is that realistic, or should I plan on spending several hundred more bets before I can start breaking even or winning a little?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good idea...Do a little reading before you reload and you will be way ahead of most the fish that play .5/1 at party.

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The only good thing I can say about the start of my journey to learn poker is that I recognized I suck and decided to do something about it probably earlier and cheaper than most

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like you checked your ego at the door. Good for you!

I really hope you will enjoy the journey. I can honestly say that my experience in learning this game has been nothing short of fantastic. I hope you can experience the same. I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your journey (unless of course I am playing against you /images/graemlins/grin.gif). Good luck and play well.

TheRake

[PokerNoob]

I just started learning poker myself and the advice I would go back and give myself is "learn what starting hands to play from each position and why". Learn preflop raising strategy. I started out way too loose and passive, and played hands out of position and some real dreck from late position. Learn how to play the blinds, you're in them 20% of the time. I knew I was making progress the first time I folded KQo to an EP raiser. I'm still a terrible player, but I generally vary up and down around the breakeven point.

[NoTalent]

There is some great advice here for you in this thread.

One thing I can tell you is to read WLLHE when you get it. Go all the way through and read it in one sitting. Then go through and take notes. digest each section.

Then go play some (maybe even for some play money--but remember that people don't play rationally when its free) and apply what you learned. Then after a few sessions (of hopefully winning poker) you can go back to the book again and see if you have been playing properly. Look at your pokertracker stats and see if you have been too loose/tight and always strive for improvement.

Good luck to you!
-NoTalent

[JTG51]

It definitely sounds like you are on the right track. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to not only break even, but beat the .50/1 game on Party with a little bit of studying.

I think when I'm comfortable with the strategies and concepts in that book, I'll get much more out of books like TOP and HEFAP.

I wish everyone had this strategy. I cringe every time I hear a brand new player say they are reading HPFAP and playing .50/1. It's a fabulous book, by far the best Hold'em book ever written, but I think it does more harm than good for a lot of beginners.

[GuyOnTilt]

You're definitely on the right track! Your plan is a solid one, one which I wish I had taken when I first started playing. You have a learner's attitude and if you keep it, you'll go far in this game. Keep working, keep studying, keep reading.

Great first post,

GoT

[ScottTheFish]

Thanks for all the encouraging thoughts. I'll definitely be posting some hands for you guys to pick apart in the coming days! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[cold_cash]

This sounds like a great game plan, and is pretty much what I did. I played forever on the play tables at different sites, read WLLHE, and eventually took the plunge and put 100 bucks in at Party. There have been moments of pretty big variance, but I'm proud to say I still have my original deposit, plus about 150 bucks. (After 6 weeks playing .50/1.00)

My advice is simply to play tight. You'll be tempted to try and sneak into pots with poor hands, but try to resist it. If you're only playing good starting hands against these opponents, you're already WAY ahead of the game. Also, don't be afraid to check/fold after you've raised PF and the flop misses you. I could have saved quite a few bets early on if I had been able to do this. (Only bluff, very, very, very, rarely, and only in the perfect situation. In fact, you could make and argument to NEVER bluff in these games and I would 99.9% agree with you.)

Another thing which I'm sure you know, but I think bears repeating: You will get sucked out on quite frequently playing micro-limits against poor/uncaring opponents. Do your very best to remember that this is just the way it goes sometimes, and try not to tilt or be discouraged. (Remember also that you will often get paid off very handsomely when you hit a monster hand against them.)

Also, keep some notes on the guys you're playing against.

I'm hardly an expert but this is just my two cents. Keep reading in here and posting hands, play disciplined, and concentrate and you'll do fine.