Beginning Hold'em Player Training

[Redleg7]

Hi Mike,
I assume you've scheduled time for actual play although you don't mention it in your training schedule.

If your intent is to play online then a word of caution is in order. The games you read about in most text's may not be the same games you find online at certain levels. They may be way looser than what you've read about. IMO a party 2/4 game comes closer to what you will read about in WLLH.

This is not to say you won't find similar games at the lower levels, nor am I suggesting you start at 2/4, what I'm saying is expect the unexpected at the low micro levels and adjust from there. WLLH is probably the best strategy to follow at these low limits.

I would not use play money games as a training ground simply because there's a strong possibility that you will pick up some bad habits because the frustration level is so high. One thing you could learn is to play with discipline, after about an hour of total mayhem in these games you will get the urge to stray from your starting hand strategy. There will be a strong temptation to start playing any two cards. If you can sit through a play money game and maintain your discipline then, that is good training. This is more an exercise in controlling your emotions and fighting off temptation, it's not meant to be anything else.

You should also start building your bankroll now, especially if you don't intend to start right away. That way when you decide to take the plunge you can pick your level based on your roll. The general consesus is that your bankroll be about 300 x bb but if you plan on playing micro limits then 300bb may be overkill, it's up to you to decide what you want to put in play. One thing I would suggest is that when you do buy in, you buy in for at least 100bb's. You don't want you go into a session under funded, that would put you under additional pressure something you don't need.

One of the things you should have included in Part 1 of your training schedule is developing your poker journal. If you intend to play on a Poker Tracker supported site then I would definitely invest in PT. A recently added feature is the ability to playback a hand from a hand history file. That is an invaluable feature especially for post analysis play as well as scouting opponents. Add the benefit of stats tracking and you have a very powerful analytical tool. If you don't use PT then pen and paper (MS Excel) will have to do, the point is keeping a journal will help you improve.

Also remember to checkout other net resources like Card Player, there's a ton of good articles archived there.

Good Luck

[AliasMrJones]

[ QUOTE ]
A few Amazon.com WLLH readers commented that it may be bad advice for someone playing Internet games at low-limit tables.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know who wrote it, but that comment is absolute rubbish. WLLH is perfectly suited to low limit online games. Buy it, read it, live it and you will be a winning low limit player no matter where you play.

As others have suggested, you'll later adjust your play, but it is the best place I know of to start.

Oh, and that Hellmuth book someone suggested reading. DON'T! The advice for beginning hold 'em is terrible. Stick with WLLH and the regularly recommended 2+2 books in that order.

[nyholdem]

Redleg is absolutely correct. Playing fake money or even micro limits may lead to bad habits. If you study the books mentioned and play TTH you will probably be ready for 2/4 online. Just make sure your bankroll can support that level.

A journal of some kind is also needed. Use pokertracker or pokercharts to help you.

Good luck let us know how you're doing.

[MikeRand2000]

Ok, so, to pull it all together (because with the awesome replies, I could ask all day):

1) I've purchased - and will study thoroughly - Winning Low Limit Hold'em and Slansky. I will augment this with the loose games chapter of Slansky advanced.

2) I've downloaded and registered Poker Tracker.

3) I'm now going to head into Party Poker @ 2/4 or something thereabouts with my MAIN learning objective to be sticking to tight opening hands in spite of the desire to loosen up.

This is somewhat like drinking from a fire hydrant. I'm sure I'll be back soon to ask more dumb questions. Thanks again, all.

MBR

[JasonM]

Another trap that a lot of new players are falling into right now is poker on tv. It is fun to watch, but very dangerous for new players. If you do watch, look at it as only entertainment, do not try to learn anything from what you see. What people don't realize is that what you are watching is a tournament. Many of the plays you see on tv will cost you a lot of money in a cash game. Good luck and welcome to the board.

[drewjustdrew]

Keep in mind that everybody is different. You may not have a desire to loosen up like others would. I don't, and never have had that problem. I have had the problem of taking hands too far on hopeless bluffs when I am steaming a little. I try to work on that. You need to self evaluate. Once you get the technical aspects of the game in order, read Zen and the Art of Poker, by Larry Phillips. That will help with psychological issues you are having with the game.

[MzLisa]

Hey there,

Look dont go buying all that stuff all at once, buy one book at a time, digest it, put it to practice and perfect it, then move on to the next book or two, gain more skills and play more until ur bankroll can afford the higher limit.

I read phill helmuths book ((which everyone will say is bad) and Holdem Poker. That holdem Poker alone has so much information on it, hand rankings, pre flop and post flop strategies, semi bluffs and much more. You dont want to find urself just reading the words, but instead digesting them.

Im living proof it can be done, i started off with 35 bucks and i have not gone broke yet and i average about 100 bucks a week in 1-2 limit games. if it werent for my cashouts, which ur not supposed to do, i would have a nice bankroll to move up in the 2-4 limit.

what u need to do is play the 1-2 limit and see how they play and how ur money will fluctuate before moving up to 2-4. why loose 40 bucks on the QQ u raised with preflop to loose to the yutz holding k 3 off when u can lose just 20. lol thats the way i see it. its possible especially when the flop is Q 3 8. and u raise only to have him call then have the turn come 3 and he raise then u and reraise, only to have the flop come K. It happens all the time.

The point im making (before i get ragged on) is to know what u are and arent willing to lose, no matter what ur bankroll is. Especially if ur bankroll is limited, like mine. And to get used to the highs and lows of the game.

good luck

[colgin]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm now going to head into Party Poker @ 2/4 or something thereabouts

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think that there is anything per se wrong about starting at $2/4 (in fact at a casino I don't think you would find a lower limit hold 'em game). If you have the low limit skills to win, then those skills would definitely serve you well at $2/4. However, keep in mind bankroll requirements for any given limit. You don't want to go broke at a game at which you have the skill to win solely because you did not have a sufficient bankroll to survive the inevitable swings. You can do a search on 2+2 for "bankroll" for many excellent discussions of bankroll requirements. However, 300 big bets is the general rule of thumb for a given level. For $2/4 that would mean a bankroll of $1200. Of course, you can start with much less so long as you are prepared to replenish your funds if you go broke. Now, if $1200 seems like a pittance by all means go ahead. But if $1200 (or $500) seems like a lot, then at least consider starting at $1/2 or some of the microlimit tables online. This will allow you to practice some of what you have learned in the books and with the Wilson program, gain some confidence and build your bankroll for higher limits. Best of luck.

Colgin

[Louie Landale]

I think you are missing the boat pretty badly on this one. For one thing, your play ..err.. your strategy on earlier rounds is mostly based on what you can expect on later rounds. As an example: You know that 72 is a bad hand. But why? Its because it tends to make hands that are inferior and tends to win very few showdowns. Now if you don't know anything about showdowns or about betting patterns in the mid game, you would have no feel whatsoever about whether or how to play 72. Another: don't call a raise with QT because you don't like flopping either a Q or a T.

So if you ARE going to do this one-stage at at thing time, I'd start from the show-down and work your way forward.

Besides the ordering of things, so many things are interrelated you will lose continuity focusing on one thing at a time.

But I wouldn't focus on the staged thing so heavily.

I would try this: Play TTH until you are confident you can beat the good lineup. Then stop. They don't play that well and if you continue to play you will learn BAD strategy: there is a BIG difference between playing against disciplined and predictable brain-dead folk and playing against unpredicatable rational folk.

Your objective to play break-even poker is a bad one. Play to win around 1bb/30 hands, figuring to start moving up when you reach that threshold. After each session be sure to reconstruct a couple of interesting hands working out the detailed math etc.

- Louie