The Basics For Beginners

Jean-Guy

Jean-Guy

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Are you relatively new to poker? Here are some thoughts you might consider.

1. Each seat has a name, i.e. in a 6-max cash game:
A. Lo-Jack / Under The Gun - UTG.
B. Hi-Jack
C. Cut Off
D. Button
E. Small Blind
F. Big Blind.
Before the flop the above seats are the sequence the players have to act.
After the flop the Button is last to act. So he has position.
2. Money tends to flow clockwise in poker. This is due to position.
3. Thus you will win more from the players on your right wheras players on your left has an advantage on you.
4. Position is paramount in poker. This is because it gives you more information in a game of incomplete information.
5. As a general rule you should not limp. Limpers are losers.
6. If you 2-bet/openraise a pot, I recommend you to raise 3BB regardless of your hand. This makes you harder to read.
6. In most situations when you 3-Bet/Re-raise I recommend you 3-Bet threefold, i.e. 9BB.
7. Reading your opponent is perhaps the most important skill in poker. Are player X loose or passive? Tight or aggressive? And which combination of these attributes is she?
Don’t worry. Be patient and take small steps in the skill of reading your foes.
8. Tight is right. Tight-aggressive is the best style in microstakes and low stakes.
9. You probably should not be loose-aggressive if you are relatively new to poker. LAG takes time to execute.
10. Don’t be a calling station. Calling too much makes it impossible to win in poker over time.
11. You should not try to put your foe on a specific hand but a range of hands.
12. A range depends on player type and position.
13. The so called Tripple Threath is an absolute you have to acknowledge:
- Position
- Hand selection
- Aggression
If you can muster all three of these in a hand your foe is in dire straits. Two might do the job too.
14. Beware of bluffing in micro stakes poker. And especially don’t bluff a calling station.
15. Remember The Rule of 4-and-2. I.e. If you have two spades and there are two on the board there are nine spades left. So you have 9 times 4 = 36% chance of hitting your flush draw on turn or river.
16. John Dewey is the father of learning by doing. This also applies to poker. But you should also study the game off table.
17. Try to only play your A-game, but note that you also make mistakes playing A-game. Everybody does. But you should learn from your mistakes.
18. The player who claims he never tilt lies. There are seven common forms of tilt. Tilting makes you an ATM. Simply quit when tilting. However this is ever said than done since tilt according to studies play “evil” games with your brain.
19. Be realistic. Poker is so complicated that it takes time - much of it - to climb the ladder.
20. Never play beyond your means. Try to have at least 100 buy-ins. Don’t be scared money is dead money. And you off course want to win.

These are by no standard a guarantee for success but just some basic guidelines.
 
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Balou1982

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Hi Jean-Guy,

nice basic guidelines, im sure they can help newcomers ;-)!

GL man
 
dannystanks

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Great list! I love the 3 Bet suggestion of 9 BBs. It is important to make your 3 bets big like this to get the initial raiser all to yourself.
 
Jean-Guy

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Great list! I love the 3 Bet suggestion of 9 BBs. It is important to make your 3 bets big like this to get the initial raiser all to yourself.
The reason for the 9BB 3-Bet is exactly as you say to iso-raise the initial raiser. By this you show him - or represents - all attributes in the Tripple Threath: Position, hand selection and aggression. Should he 4-bet we have a new situation. Such a bet off course shows that he means business. The task is now to narrow his range. Since he is out of position and given he is TAG he probably has QQ, KK, AA, AK and AKs. JJ is also an option. This will normally make you fold. But not always. Sometimes I would call with some suited connectors. When you hit hard, he loses all of his stack. When you don’t hit - which will happen most often - it is an easy fold. Even if this is the outcome you have showed that you don’t just roll over. This you can benefit from in future hands.
 
Suns of Beaches

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Could u go into detail about the 7 forms of tilt?
 
Sparta77

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These are great basics in poker, especially if you stick to that.
 
Jean-Guy

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Could u go into detail about the 7 forms of tilt?
In his book The Mental Game of poker Jared Tendler outlines the seven forms of tilt:

1. Run-bad tilt
2. Hate-losing tilt
3. Injustice tilt
4. Mistake tilt
5. Revenge tilt
6. Entitlement tilt
7. Desperation tilt

It can be discussed whether Tendler covers all bases of tilt. But at least he comes close.
In my view Revenge tilt and Desperation tilt can cost most money since a player with these tilt stigmas totally has lost control
 
dannystanks

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There is also Positive Tilt. Which is weird but it does happen. If you win a big pot and you can’t shut that emotion off for the next hand and further future hands because that big pot now is all you can think about, it’s also taking away your ability to think clearly and concentrate on what’s happening at the table right now.
Emotions are great to have but need serious control at the table. Have fun and good luck!
 
Jean-Guy

Jean-Guy

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There is also Positive Tilt. Which is weird but it does happen. If you win a big pot and you can’t shut that emotion off for the next hand and further future hands because that big pot now is all you can think about, it’s also taking away your ability to think clearly and concentrate on what’s happening at the table right now.
Emotions are great to have but need serious control at the table. Have fun and good luck!
Good that you mention Positive Tilt. It is an often overlooked form of tilt. The enemy of any form of tilt is egoless control that keep emotions at bay. But it is a tall order to reach this state of mind.
 
Jean-Guy

Jean-Guy

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IMG 3672IMG 3673There is also Positive Tilt. Which is weird but it does happen. If you win a big pot and you can’t shut that emotion off for the next hand and further future hands because that big pot now is all you can think about, it’s also taking away your ability to think clearly and concentrate on what’s happening at the table right now.
Emotions are great to have but need serious control at the table. Have fun and good luck!
These two books are pure gold and excellent as inspiration for tilt management - and life as a whole in a holistic way,
 
Jean-Guy

Jean-Guy

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There are five - or more - reasons to openraise when the action is folded to you:
A. You show strengh
B. You gain the initiative
C. You thin the field
D. You build the pot with good hands
E. You steal the blinds.
If you just limp you’re higligting your passiveness and none of the above is deployed,
 
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