Beginner needs advice

[charmy]

Hello. I'm a beginner to Hold Em. I've read "The Theory of Poker" by David Sklansky, "Hold Em Poker" by David Sklansky, and "Hold Em Poker for Advanced Players" by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. Last Thursday, I played Hold Em for the very first time in my life at the Bicycle Casino. I played at the $1-$2 table for 3 hours and made a net profit of $9. The following Friday, I played at the $2-$4 table for 9 hours and made a net profit of $2. Today, I played at the $4-$8 table for 5 hours and lost $279. I was playing tight-aggressive but ended up losing to those who were playing loose-passive. For example, when I had 3-of-a-kind, my opponent would flop a straight on the river. It seems that people at these stakes don't really care about their money. At what stakes is the tight-aggressive style of play the way to go??? $10-$20?? $20-$40?? $40-$80?? In David's books, he says that his concepts are designed for $10-$20 to $40-$80. I was ridiculed and at times complimented for my play. I guess that they can tell that I was a beginner from the way I put my chips down neatly while they were flipping their chips into the pot. I also was folding most of the time while they were happy to get into a pot. I felt like they could read right through me. Besides rereading those books again, what do you suggest that I do in order to get better? I've been playing Wilson Turbo Texas Hold Em V.5 for the past 3 weeks and have managed to beat Mike the Automatic Advisor using an Average Lineup fairly consistently. So I hope that some of you poker pros out there will see that I am sincere in my desire to get better at playing poker and will offer me some good advice. I even brought some poker chips home with me from the Bicycle Casino to practice flipping chips into the pot.

[bisonbison]

Two things right off the bat:
1. Losing is a natural part of the game. Even for winning players.
2. You're not going to be a winning player right away. Poker is way more complex than it looks, and real players are way more complex than Turbo Texas Hold'em can simulate.



The easiest way for you to learn how to play profitably is to deposit $50 at a site with true microlimit tables (.01/.02 or thereabouts) and follow the basic guidelines in Hold 'Em Poker. Once you learn the basic strategy, you will make money (pennies that is) hand over fist.

Save all the hand histories, and post any hands you have any questions about in our microlimits forum. Read the microlimits forum, and if someone is giving advice on some hand and it doesn't make sense to you, ask them to explain why.

It will take a while for you to get your feet under you, but it can be done. I lost $300 online before I figured anything out, and I've won about $2000 since then, playing nothing higher than 1/2 online. That was 5 months ago. No time at all.

Play, study, post. Or post, study, play. Or play, post, study. Or study, play, post. Figure out what works for you, but do all three.

[davidross]

SOunds like you are frustrated by a losing session. If you want to play poker, you need to realise that you can play perfectly and still lose. Not over the long term, but certainly for a session, or a week, or even a month.

It sure sounds like you're going about it the right way. Read the posts in the small stakes forum closely, see if you can guess what hands people have and compare your play to th ehands being described. AFter you've played a little more, go back and re-read your books. Play as much as you can, and if you question the way you played a hand post it here. THere are some very good players who will help you out.

[uuDevil]

Hi Charmy,

You've gotten some solid advice already. David and Bisonbison are highly respected here.

I didn't see Winning Low Limit Holdem by Lee Jones on your booklist. I would advise you to get it-- TOP and HPFAP are great but focus on ideas that are more effective at middle limits and above. You probably need to simplify. WLLH is clear, simple, and its advice is good enough to make you at least a break even player at low limits. Also, reading and making posts here will definitely help. In a couple of months, Ed Miller's book will be coming out. Definitely look for that.

One specific point: You do need to play tight. Even though you may think you are playing tight, you may still be playing too many hands. I didn't fully appreciate just how tight I needed to play until I came to this site. That alone may not make you a winner, but it will keep you out of trouble most of the time and give you a fighting chance while you are gaining experience. If you play online, get PokerTracker, which will give you priceless feedback and statistics on your play. (There is a free demo, so try it out!)

Don't worry about one bad session, but be sure you are playing limits you can afford. You seem pretty determined and I'm sure you'll be get the money eventually if you follow the advice on these forums.

[cnfuzzd]

welcome to the funhouse!!!

As another fairly new player, i understand your pleas for help. Here is what i did to become the mediocre, on-the-road-to-great, player i am now.

Reread every book that has poker in the title. Continue doing so until you win the wsop. then write your own. then

play some micro limit/free-roll tournaments. Free play or for real pennies, this step has helped me more than just about anything else. Its all about the experience. A post the other day mentioned you have to play at least 10k hands to know if you are a "winning" player. Thats alot. However

Learn from what went wrong. Think about why your JQo really is a terrible hand. Think about position. Refer to your base of poker knowledge. Post hands here for criticism, in some way affect positive change from your mistakes. most importantly DONT STEAM

Tilt is bad. Playing angry, frustrated, sad, or while fornicating is bad. Your play, at least at this point, should be mechanical. You are a folding machine, who knows when to fire away. No emotion/intuition about it. After you gain experience, you will learn when to be "cute" and employ trickery. Also, keep in mind that Losing is not always a mistake. Everyone has downswings.

Oh yeah, and read every post, ever <g>

Keep the dream alive, and good luck!

John nickle

i think im up to 2 posts now. Im almost a regular

[LetsRock]

A couple of things I noticed in your post:

- You seemed real anxious to move up in stakes. If you're truly a beginner, you need to log a lot more winning hours at the 1/2 table before you move up to the next table. You had a small winning session on your first try, then a break even session on the 2/4 so you figured it was already time to move up again? I think that most serious players move up in stakes when their bankroll allows them to. As a general rule, you should have 300xBB in your bankroll to take on a game with any long term expectation. Play 1/2 until you have won $1200. Now you're ready to move up to 2/4. I'm not saying you can never take an occassional shot at the next level with less than the 300BB, but you need lots of table time to go along with lots of study to get the game figured out.

[ QUOTE ]
I felt like they could read right through me.

[/ QUOTE ]

It could be that you're playing too predictably, or that you have tells that are giving away your hand strength. Read Caro's Book of Tells to get an insight on tells. The probablem with being a tight player (assuming that you really are playing tight) is that it becomes obvious that you have good cards when you bet, especially if you've been getting cold cards and end up in a pot about twice an hour. You need to learn how to mix your game up a little and find a couple sub-standard hands that you can see the flop with once in a while, just to look active. I'm a borderline Rock myself and sometimes find myself getting no action on my bets, so I know that this can be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

As has been said, you can play perfectly and still lose - despite the fact that over the long-run skilled players will win (the more the skill, the more the win), but in the short term, it IS stil gambling and luck can dictate who wins. It can be frustrating to watch a fool drag pot after pot after making more mistakes in one hand than a good player makes for the whole session. But let the dog have his day and hope he comes back with this winnings, because he won't have the money for long.

Welcome to the forum. Post some hands that give you trouble, and you'll get plenty of advice (some of it even good! /images/graemlins/wink.gif on how you might have played the hand differently.

[JTrue]

Well you have read the right books, just gotta get experience