So how do you handle this situation?

[Python49]

A friend of yours is talking to you online and asks you to teach him how to win at online poker. You honestly feel as though you could teach them how to win at low stakes poker games online if you taught them the correct strategy and how to play. They tell you though that they would only have $50 to start with and only 2 hours a day to play. I tried explaining to this friend that with a bankroll that small and not much time to play that they could easily go broke and that playing just 1 table for 2 hours a day they'd likely not see very good results. He says he wants to make like $3000 online within 6 months. I explained to him that with just $50, that would be very hard to do and he said he did have $1000 he could use that he was going to put into a roth investing account (or something like that). This friend does not know anything about poker, doesnt know what beats what, how blinds work, strategy or anything, so teaching them would be alot of work but very do-able.

How can you really advocate someone taking $1000 of their own money to play a game they've never played before... trusting you that they would win? Even after you've explained that its possible to run bad and lose how would you feel knowing that this was alot of money to that person?

First thing is that he has to learn how to play and understand how the strategy and concepts of the game work, which I told him I would be able to greatly accelerate this process for him, but even once you have the skill to beat the game, you still need to be putting in the time to get the hands completed.

Maybe I should just try to get him to the point where he can win maybe $200 on his own and then have him re-evaluate whether he still wants to try higher stakes after realy learning about what it means to win at poker? Such as the short term ups and downs, and the amount of hands you have to put in. I wanted to tell him that to actually become a winning player at poker this can take a long time, but I do believe its true that if you have someone there to tell you exactly what you are doing right and wrong and help you 1 on 1, it can take alot less time. Do you think it would be possible for you to take a friend and tell him exactly how to play and help him learn alot faster and get him to the point of building a $3000 bankroll? I could probably help him win $200 or so but $3000 based on his limitations seems like it's too much of a task without risking too large a portion of his bankroll. What would you do.

I could also just put my conscience aside and say "Ok, look... if your goal is to win $3000 online, what i'd do is get a 1000 bankroll so you can play 100 NL... there is a chance you can lose this $1000 but if you play well you can slowly build it up to $3000. That risk is up to you". Maybe this is a better way to handle it? I just would feel bad if he lost that $1000, so it's pretty tricky.

[timprov]

$50 to $3000 in six months isn't unrealistic. Start him on micros somewhere soft (read:Pacific) and once he's kicked it up over $200 or so bonus whore the crap out of it.

I did 0 to $3000 in less than six months with no whoring, no coaching, no multitabling, and virtually no poker experience, just Pacific's free $10. I doubt I was doing 15 hours a week either; I barely manage that now.

[Kaeser]

I would go about this very cautiously. Realistically he may be a great friend but not everybody has what it takes to win at poker. If he loses he'll blame you for costing him $1000, and even if he doesn't blame you for the loss he'll likely resent you for succeeding where he failed.

I'd have him take the 50 and start coaching him at the micro's then let him do the bonus whore thing.

Why is it so important that he makes 3K in 6 months?

[tripdad]

have him start by playing free games online, and reading books. i think starting anyone out in NL games is a mistake as well. limit games will be much more forgiving for bad players. another idea is to take him to a live low limit game. they are always as soft as it gets....$2/4 or $3/6.

[Python49]

What good books are there for beginners? Im thinking phil helmuth's book would be a good foundation.

[Python49]

also, anyone have any good links for beginners to read? its exhausting typing out stuff on how blinds work and what beats what. I already did that though.

[TexArcher]

Google search limit poker, when I started playing I read every website I could get my hands on. Some of the stuff online was later contradicted by Sklansky's books, SS, etc, but it was a good enough foundation that I was able to start beating low limit poker regularly within a couple of months...

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He says he wants to make like $3000 online within 6 months.

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This is an incredibly unrealistic goal.

Poker is not a way to make money fast.

He might get lucky and make $3000, he might get unlucky and lose it quickly. What he will not do is become a good enough player in that short time to assure that he will win rather than lose.

If he's going to play above his bankroll or too high too fast, he might as well go to Vegas and put the money on roulette.

HTH.

Edit: Start him off with Small Stakes Hold'em, available from this very site. If he gets too confused by the concepts, he should get Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones and use that until he's grasped stuff like pot odds and is ready to play more aggressively, then go back to SSHE.

[7ontheline]

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What good books are there for beginners? Im thinking phil helmuth's book would be a good foundation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't teach this guy anything until you learn something first.

[Python49]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't teach this guy anything until you learn something first.

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In case you're not understanding my incentive for starting someone who is 100% new to poker out with helmuth's... its because phil helmuth represents a tight style of play and this helps to correct some of the beginning mistakes alot of players make of playing too many hands. You can't just give him david sklansky's book talking about more advanced play and strategy when he doesn't even understand how blinds work. Obviously phil helmuth's play will not be a winning long term strategy but it would get him in the right mindset of playing good quality staring cards... I never said helmuth's book was good for anything else.