Best way to learn/ make some money |
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Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:33 pm GMT by JJBreeze
Hey guys,
Stumbled across this forum today while i was doing a little reading and i'm glad i did, i've found some pretty interesting threads.
I have recently decided to take up poker myself, partly for fun, but also to make some cash. I like to think i'm a fairly intelligent person, so i figured if i really go about learning properly i could do fairly well. I have ordered a couple of books off amazon. I went for Getting Started in Hold'em and Small Stakes Hold'em, both by Miller. I've just finished a law degree and i'm in the process of applying for jobs so i've got a fair bit (well a lot!) of free time to study. My plan at the moment is once i've got a good grip of the basics from these books to start playing ultra low limit tables like $0.05/$0.10, just for practice, and then move up a bit to maybe $0.5/$1 tables when i feel more confident.
Does this sound like about the right way to go about it? I have seen in threads on this forum and others that most of the guys who are making big money are playing STT or NL cash games. Should i be focusing on learning a NL game or do you think i should stick with my plan?
I have been advised i should perhaps be playing STTs. If i decide to do that should i order some different books as well? If so which ones?
Any advice for a newbie would be much appreciated!
JJB
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:45 pm GMT by BeerWench13
Welcome to the forum.
I suggest, when just starting out, that you stick with what you're more comfortable playing. When I started I played fixed low-limit hold'em. This will give you a chance to see a great deal of hands without risking a lot of cash in the beginning.
If you decide to play tournaments, Harrington on Hold 'Em is highly recommended. I have both of his books, but will be honest that I have not yet read them. I probably will eventually, but I have a stack of books that I'm working my way through right now.
If you have questions regarding certain hands or things that you read, please feel free to ask here. There are lots of tips in the beginners section also. Make sure you read up on those too.
Again, welcome to the forum. I hope it will help you improve your game.
Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:05 pm GMT by zinn0
To add to what Wench said, you should always play within your bankroll.
20 full buyins for NL ring, 300BB's for FL ring, and 20-30 buyins for STT's.
Most players first starting out love to play above what their bankroll can handle, most of the time it's not on purpose, they just don't know any better. I was guilty of this numerous times when I first started playing online, and it cost me about $500 before I finally figured out what was going on. Once I started utilizing proper BR management, I've not had to redeposit, and I've not had to look back.
Also, spend some time perusing older threads on this site. It's helped me immensely.
Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:26 pm GMT by greathuskie
go to a site with a great deposit bonus, and also with very aggressive tables, occassionally post your .25c blind or whatever and just rake in the bonus cash that these sites offer  .
Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:38 pm GMT by JJBreeze
Thanks for the replies guys, that's good advice about bankroll, it wasn't really something i had paid too much thought to yet.
I think that seeing as i've already ordered 2 fixed limit books i may as well stick at that, hopefully it'll work out and after some hard work i'll be able to turn a profit. I'm gonna play a few cheap STTs as well, i hear that it'll be good practice for me.
Any more tips are welcome!
Posted Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:53 pm GMT by LeafsFan1122
Welcome.
It's great that you're planning to read and learn before you start playing and fixed limit is a great game, but I think you should buy a NL book too. This is for a few reasons:
a) You may get bored of FL after playing x amount of hands of it.
b) You learn more in terms of general poker if you read about NL/PL too.
c) If you play both styles, you'll gain more experience
d) The microlimit MTTs are great for practice and also quite lucritive.
Anways, there are more reasons but it's just ultimately a suggestion. Good luck.
PS: For small stakes/limits/tournies etc, I reccomend PokerStars. Sorry if you already said that you're planning to play there, I forgot.
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:05 am GMT by mikenike
that's insane, you have alot of time to study, so you play online texas holdem  that's great i love you already, good luck with your lawyer crap. hollar at me if you need any laywer jokes.
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:03 pm GMT by tyhpoker
(insert your favorite spam here)
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:04 pm GMT by zinn0
You are an idiot.
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:05 pm GMT by BeerWench13
tyhpoker=idiot
Don't take his advice. He can't even read the forum rules.
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:07 pm GMT by mikenike
| BeerWench13 wrote: | tyhpoker=idiot
Don't take his advice. He can't even read the forum rules. |
seconded. don't click on urls that ppl posts, just call em an asshat and walk away.
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:58 pm GMT by UrAteUp
I can't tell you how to make money playing poker...but if you want to avoid loosing it then don't listen to Husky and Mikey...lol...we keep them around for token reasons...  ...ones out token muscle head...and the other is like our little puppy...he is fun for awhile till he starts humping your leg...then you just look and say "Bad Mikey...Bad!!!!"
Seriously, welcome to the forum and do all the studying you can on the game before you sign up to play online. Knowledge is power and the more you have the better you will understand the gameand how to play it.
Once you think you have a firm graps then signup and play some small stakes stuff online. You'll find it fun and hopefully rewarding....
Posted Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:03 pm GMT by mikenike
yeah, im a dog. just ask urateup i cut his wiener off now he can't bang his wife anymore, thats why she called me for a real man.
Posted Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:14 am GMT by squirrel barefoot
| tyhpoker wrote: | | (insert your favorite spam here) |
My favourite one was about a picture taken from space. Much to their surprise, the scientists noticed an alien playing Texas Holdem right on the pic. And the link went to a long article about the aliens who play poker and how good it is for the world economy.
People with imagination forever
It is such a pity the whole thread was spoilt by spam...
Posted Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:45 am GMT by crack
Along with reading, I advise you to post up any situations you have trouble with in the relevant forums here. I would also love ou to blog your progress using the thp blogs. You are the type of person I have so much time for. You are ready to listen to advice, you don't mind doing research and finding a forum to post on, you are willing to purchase books on poker.
It's a great attitude to have and I will help you as much as I can if you need/want it.
Good luck!
Posted Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:57 pm GMT by jimmer
I think it's great you'll willing to study a few books before playing poker. I think we all must play people everyday, who have been playing years and still make major errors because they haven't read basic theoretical concepts.
Now i don't know you as a person and i don't want to knock your confidence, but i think there is one area which will cause you problems.
The problem is; the inconsistantcy of other players. I'm guessing a large majority of your studies involved learning the theoretical concepts, which combined with many case studies, would give you a logical solution or outcome?
This is the same concept a logical poker player uses to assess their chances of playing any particular hand. However some poker players don't play logically. This is because of various factors from going on tilt, to bluffing.
Over the course of say 100,000 hands, the poker players who have the most knowledge, will finish higher than the ones who haven't. But in the short term, you'll experience many players (especially on the lower limits) who will play completely the reverse to the way the norm suggests you should.
I hope this makes sense?
Good luck to you.
Posted Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:25 pm GMT by 72o
When i started to play poker i decided to play limit. Not because i was afraid of big bets (my first few games have been no-limit) but because i had absolutely no idea how much to bet. By playing limit I learned a lot about the betting structure.
It's always a good advice to start with limits as low as possible. Even weak real-money players are much stronger than playmoney players and you will loose a lot of big blinds in the beginning. Since you need a stack of the size of 100 big blinds or at least 60 times the big blind even .10/.25 limit tables may come quite expensive. Unfortunately most online poker rooms don't offer 1/2/5 cent limit tables. But most of them offer $5 buy-in NL single table SNGs. I'd reccomend to start with ultra-low limit ring tables if available and once you became familiar with real-money poker switch to $5 NL SNGs.
Concerning poker books: My point is if you are not smart enough to figure it out yourself you aren't smart enough to win. I read "Low Limit Holdem" and my impression was that it is one of the more intelligent poker books. Nevertheless a beginner won't get much out of it because the information isn't very concrete. You won't really understand the book until you know it already.
For a beginner there are only a few rules you have to know:
Play only quality hands.
Fold if you don't hit the flop.
Believe your opponents. Hight bets almost always mean a strong hand. Almost no player has the guts to make a big bluff.
These rules sound simple but it is hard to obey them. As long as you are not able to obey these rules you will never become a winning player. I've seen a lot of players who are playing for years and have studied a lot of books (at least according to their chat comments) but who were terrible loosers because they weren't able to fold a hand.
Concerning starting hands: 72 hits the flop as often as AK does. But if you hit the flop with AK you got top pair and if you hit with 72 you got nothing. It's not about winning more often but about winning more securely. It's essencial to know when to throw money in the pot and when to fold. When you start playing real-money poker you will encounter players who seem to win most of the hands they play. That's not because they buff all the time (what they to of course but not all the time) but because they play only quality hands like AJ etc. So if they hit the flop they are likely to hit top pair or at least something worth to bet on.
That's all you need to know for the first weeks. And if you are smart enough you will figure out the rest by yourself.
EDIT: A last word. When beginners encounter good players they are often unable to believe what tey see. The stack of the good player only goes up but almost never goes down. So they start to become paranoid. They think the player is cheating, colluting or whatever. That's the same bunk as stories about alien spaceships in the Area 51. Instead of thinking about the reasons why they are loosing they are looking for excuses for their poor play. Even many (if not even most) people who played for years think that way. That's what is meant by the sentence "they are not learning from their mistakes".
You might think that this will never happen to you but the poker situation of having absolutely no information about the hand of your opponent and the need to fold to high raises without knowing wether you opponent really has a hand or is just cheating on you has a high paranoid potential. So be alert.
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