Learning to play Poker...some Do's and Don'ts

[aliengenius]

I think it's important to make the distinction between "learning" poker, and improving one's poker game.

Sklansky certainly isn't beginner material.

Suggestions for start out reading here.

 

[Mrlova]

I don't agree with the play money thing. I built a $100 bankroll with only play money on FTP. I built a 10million play chip bankroll and than started playing the $40 freerolls every night for 500k playchips and built a bankroll and now I'm doing really well at omaha 8 when I play. Havn't gotten any good luck in tournaments but the ring games are keeping me alive.

TV, can be a good tool but its not the best. Its a good place to pick up the basics of the game but you can't get better watching tv, you actually have to play.

Good luck at your tables

 

[USFDoh]

Never play "play money" online. It will make you a horrible player. I also find freerolls hurt my game.

I think you need to be able to separate the two. There is a different brand of "poker" played in play chip and freeroll when none of your own money is at stake. I have found that some of this changes in the latter stages of a freeroll. Play chips is a good way to practice reading flops, calculating odds etc without ANY risk. It is also just a good way to get used to navigating the site and how to play on it.

It is also a great place to go when you are on tilt and see how many play chip players you can tilt...misery loves company.

 

[4Aces]

Start playing freerolls to build up a br, then change to real money games.

 

[Monoxide]

I AGREE CERCILE GETS THE SQUARE

Best spelling of the word "Circle" ever.

 

[DP_Machine]

Learning to Play Poker...

Yes, I've learned that TV isn't the greatest teacher, yet that's how I got started just before the explosion in 2003. Played with family in quick $5 freeze-outs. So if you can get family/friends to play whenever you get together, it's another way to learn (our tourneys are essentially bingo games, but it's fun).

Then I learned to play online at PokerRoom and shifted to play UB. Started with play money/freerolls just to get a sense of the whole online concept. I have to agree with those who believe that play-money / freerolls are not a good way to learn. It can get you only so far, but I fear players would pick up bad habits from it since you don't have anything vested in it. It could easily degenerate into a bingo or call-anything style of play.

Once you start to play real money, then you see that players will start to get serious about their reckless play. Now, I only put "start" to get serious, because at the low limits, you can still find a lot of call-anything style of players who will out-draw you on a ridonkulous play. Yet, there's still a wealth more of knowledge that's usable for your own game when playing for real money.

One tip that I suggest for those who may not have a lot of money to spend (I'm included being a student with tuition fees and books to be paid soon...) is to take advantage of some online promos. I know 2+2 has some sort of promo to pick up some books that they publish - so double bonus there. All sites have/should have first deposit bonuses (I can only vouch for PokerRoom and UB where I play, but others have to have these) so that you can pick up an extra 100% or more of your deposit by playing. This should get the ball rolling for you.

Hope this helps....thanks for the tip on taking notes on players, btw. I should really start doing that when I go to play online!

Good luck on the tables

 

[pigpen02]

I think play money is a good way to learn if you progress past the first several levels where people can refresh their bankroll just by asking for it. When you get up to 80,000 buy-in STTs, 80 people had to bust out earlier for each person to enter that game. You are not going to go all-in with K9o with that type of investment.

When you do start with real money, start low and build up. Penny games are about equal to the highest play money games. Each level is different, so don't jump too soon or too fast. :icon_porc

 

[MustangLou]

practice proper moves

No matter if for real or play always make those choices based on proper poker and we all can write on and on but im keeping it short to the point.