a weird question, but...

hey,

long time reader, first time poster here.

this is a bit of a weird question... i'm playing a lot of partypoker these days, and my wife has gotten increasingly more annoyed, but i only recently found out that it's because she doesn't feel included. i want to get her started in the world of online poker, but i definitely don't want her to become one of those donkeys that we all win so much money from... so where are some low-risk sites where she can get started? right now she plays on yahoo games and pogo, but it's not quite the same... anyone help me out here? it could save my marriage

thanks!

chuck

party is a good site to start at, the competition is pretty weak and she can learn there
dont let her dive into real money off the bat, let her play some play money games and some freerolls first till she gets a hang of everything

Hi Chuck. I wouldn't really worry about her being a donk - just start her very low stakes where the risk is small and let her start learning. Have her join Cardschat too and she can check out our learning poker section. She might enjoy being part of a community and after 50 quality posts she could play in our freerolls. After only 15 posts she could play in our low buy-ins at Pokerstars.

I would recommend Pokerstars and Fulltilt - and she can use our link to sign up if she doesn't already have accounts there.

Weather she becomes a "donk" or not, pretty much rests on your shoulders...


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For sure have her join CC and start with play money. During all of this, she can learn about the game, including BRM before she makes a deposit somewhere down the road.

I don't think it matters which site she plays at. I started on FT and PS.

I think the key is to use the play money tables to learn the game. Also joining a forum or 2 will help her with the strategy of the game.

I have never deposited at PS or FT and have managed to build up a small BR on both sites.

May I recommend the following DVD for her, its called:

Dominate Online Poker

If you live in the UK I could possibly send it to you as I no longer need it.

Let me know.

James Godfrey

She can practice for play chips at first. Or play the cent games on pokerstars!

I agree with everyone ,start her off on play money so she can get a feel for the flops and players betting , im sure she will enjoy the game like all of us (southsidecan)

I disagree with the play money advice. Maybe do it a little just to learn the mechanics of the game and the site, but you learn terrible terrible habits at play money tables. For it to be poker, there has to be something at stake, even if it's the penny tables. She already plays at Yahoo and Pogo you said. I assume that is play money. If she spends a lot of time at the play money tables, she will be the donk you're afraid she will become.

If I go to a new site, I might play play money for five or ten minutes, just to see where the buttons are and what the timing is like. Other than that, it's worse than a waste of time.

GW

Play money just a waist of time. As some previous posters have said, too easy to pick up bad habits there.

I think freerolls are the way to go for new players. Costs nothing and you do learn as you play. They can sometimes be a bit loose in the early stages, but if you survive the first 30 minutes or so, things settle down.

Pokerstars has the Astonomer freerolls. Most of the major games are catered for (Holdem, Stud, Omaha, Razz, Horse etc.) Players on the last eleven tables qualify for $2000 freerolls on Saturday or Sunday. Can be quite hard to cash in here as the first round has up to 10,000 players and the finals about 5000 to 6000. However, the object for your good lady is to get interested and learn about the game at this stage. Just imagine the excitement if she could qualify for a final, not to mention a payout. She would be hooked for life. I can still remember my first collect.

Also, the other site I play at is FullTilt. They have very good freerolls as well. Easier to make money here, as usually only 2400 or 2700 starters. They also have freerolls restricted to your country, which are even easier to win as the starters are a lot less.

Finally, as dakota-xx said, join Cardschat and become an active poster, then enter their freerolls. Also, lots of excellent information for beginners here.

Good luck to you both.

I'm also a member of Pogo. I've seen both donk play and good play on the site. If she's played the NL HE or Omaha there, she's got enuf practice playing to play for small stake. HOWEVER the draw poker on Pogo won't have prepared her for anything on the paid poker sites. Despite my love for real money poker, I also still go to Pogo because I love solitare,scrabble and backgammon...so I play Pogo right alongside my poker tables. let her know she won't lose her love for Pogo and those badges don't magically disapper, even if she doesn't play for a while, lol. My B/F always teases me about my imaginary badges and my imaginary Sheriff's dept.

She can get her practice on Pogo, if she doesn't play draw (not the easiest of the online real money games, if you don't know the strategy and on Pogo, there is no strategy to speak of in Draw. On NL HE in the middle roller section and on Omaha she can learn and practice strategy. she sould not play play chips on real money sites,if she's got her Pogo experience. let her kow its just the same as Pogo. Open an acct for her and traansfer her $10 that's what I did for my Dad.

Carbon Poker also offers a $50 freeroll every four hours with 1500 players. You just have to sign up no deposit required. Agree with the play money teaching bad habits if you play too much, but if she joins CardsChat she could quickly remedy that . Pokerstars has micro limit ring games .01/.02. Now here's the psychological question; are you worried about her losing alot of money or are you worried about her making bad moves and thinking it's some sort of reflection on you? Remember how you started out.Here's to her success!

Everyone is pretty much saying the same thing, start her off in some small easy games and let her learn, maybe even play a game with her together as a "team" and talk about hands together. I mean she will get attention, you get to play and teach her poker, doesn't get any better.

Ummm yeah everyone else pretty much got everything about playing play money and all that jive but if could save your marriage sounds like wether or not she is a donk is the least of your problems. Just sayin'.

play strip poker with her that way you can acomplish 2 things at the same time . then have her sighn up with pokerstars lots of ametures on that site. I also know of a good book called caros book of tails but it might get you in trouble

Wow, a lot of responses thanks everyone!

I'm not sure I wanna start her on party poker because she's on the credit card too, last thing I want is to be out of the house and come back to her racking up the debt because she decided to go out of her price range... then it's my problem, lol. not in the uk though... thanks anyways James.

i'm going to try to get her reading this once she's actually playing but not until she's actually hooked. for now i tried her on "lovethatpoker," because they work with a different system (subscription style). i watched a bit, seemed filled with donks... not sure if that's good or bad, lol.

anyway, hopefully she'll figure the game out there then can move up to the big leagues with me.

I had a similar situation, she was also a little scared to play online so I got a couple of friends and we played once a week as a group just to get her familar with the rules and flow of the game. She still doen't fully understand everything, but has started to play some freerolls online. She'll also now take my place if in some tournments when it's my turn to cook. That's sometimes a little scary because I've had to aquire my bankroll all from freerolls since it was the only way I could play online was to agree never to make an actual deposit.

i like the smaller sites for a chance to win freeroll money, stars, Ub, AP and fulltilt and some are so so large, its very hard to get a few dollars. I have built a small balance on many sites, and cashed out big on a few (back in the day). smaller ones include the3dpoker, poker4ever, pokerworld, and ummm.... anyways, their freerolls dont fill in 3seconds and you dont play against 10000 people
good luck to you and the wife