Getting Someone Started in Poker - Page 2

subzero · #11 10-20-2005, 02:36 PM

While I was reading WLLH, I played on the PokerStars NL play money tables. This helped me learn which hands to play, how to play them, and from what positions. I was also able to try the different strategies (e.g. when to slowplay, when to bet out) and see the frequency of hands like sets and flushes. I knew the play wasn't realistic since it wasn't for real money. My goal was to stay on the play money tables until I won 1 million. This forced me to see a lot of hands. I sold the play money chips and off I went to 2NL. Once I hit the real money tables, I had a decent understanding of which hands were playable preflop and which hands weren't.

BAK · #12 10-20-2005, 02:48 PM

I would be very surprised if it were a joke.

It is a good place to get started. Lots of very good articles. They also have ring games with teachers where everyone shows and they discuss why they played how they did. The ring games and tourneys there are not for money, but people are very serious about learning and it is the only play money poker I have seen that is worthwhile playing as you learn.

Mercman572 · #13 10-20-2005, 02:57 PM

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I would be very surprised if it were a joke.

It is a good place to get started. Lots of very good articles. They also have ring games with teachers where everyone shows and they discuss why they played how they did. The ring games and tourneys there are not for money, but people are very serious about learning and it is the only play money poker I have seen that is worthwhile playing as you learn.

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on the register screen they have pay methods, do you have to pay to view only some information, or do you have to pay to be able to see any of it?

Mercman572 · #14 10-20-2005, 02:59 PM

[ QUOTE ]
While I was reading WLLH, I played on the PokerStars NL play money tables. This helped me learn which hands to play, how to play them, and from what positions. I was also able to try the different strategies (e.g. when to slowplay, when to bet out) and see the frequency of hands like sets and flushes. I knew the play wasn't realistic since it wasn't for real money. My goal was to stay on the play money tables until I won 1 million. This forced me to see a lot of hands. I sold the play money chips and off I went to 2NL. Once I hit the real money tables, I had a decent understanding of which hands were playable preflop and which hands weren't.

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thanks I forgot I started on the party poker play money SNG's. this is a good point

dtbog · #15 10-20-2005, 03:26 PM

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thanks I forgot I started on the party poker play money SNG's. this is a good point

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noooooooooo

I have a friend who started with SnGs and then transitioned to cash games, and he loved to get all-in preflop or make huge overbets with top pair.

This is because SnGs are a totally different game than cash games... if you're a beginning player you're not going to realize anything about bet sizes relative to the pot. At one level of a SnG, you can have a 55BB stack (still short by NL cash standards), and at the next, you only have 27BB... and then sometimes you'll have 10BB and need to push anything preflop.

When these people sit at a cash table, it usually takes a LOT of adjusting.

poboy · #16 10-20-2005, 03:48 PM

The best way to learn is just to get in and start playing. Virtually every HE book ever written has some sort of hand chart and probability chart, show him one and let him go. Also as others have pointed out limit is probably a better starting point. The reason NL is so profitable is because better players can take advantage of "fish" to a much higher extent than in limit. JMO

Mercman572 · #17 10-20-2005, 03:50 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

thanks I forgot I started on the party poker play money SNG's. this is a good point

[/ QUOTE ]

noooooooooo

I have a friend who started with SnGs and then transitioned to cash games, and he loved to get all-in preflop or make huge overbets with top pair.

This is because SnGs are a totally different game than cash games... if you're a beginning player you're not going to realize anything about bet sizes relative to the pot. At one level of a SnG, you can have a 55BB stack (still short by NL cash standards), and at the next, you only have 27BB... and then sometimes you'll have 10BB and need to push anything preflop.

When these people sit at a cash table, it usually takes a LOT of adjusting.

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I was just told by friends back in the day "you can play more hands against fewer people" and accepted that maxim while I read TOP and found out about implied odds, and read about changing to stack size play in "Kickass No Limit Holdem" by one of the Nguyens. being results oriented, it works for me [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. I am going to give him credit bc he's one of the smarter and more analytical thinkers I've met here at Cornell and is currently reading everything I'm shoving at him before he ever really played. just seems to absorb complex concepts (especially in stats), which is why I'm going to eventually roll him and get a cut.

Edit: I'll make sure he understands the whole thing is based on pot odds and expected value but I don't think he'll have trouble grasping that

BAK · #18 10-20-2005, 04:56 PM

I don't recall how much you can see without paying. They had several people with multiple lessons posted about several different games (Rolf Slotblum, for one, and a couple other people who are regular contributors to Card Player, I think.) It costs $15 a month or so. And you have to give them 30 days notice to quit.