Do You Have Friends Who Are Serious Poker Players?

I think it can probably help your game to improve faster if you have friends who are around your playing level to discuss strategy and hands with.

I don't really have any friends who also play poker though unfortunately.

Chris Ferguson said in his autobiography he wished he had a poker buddy when he was learning the game.

All those guys like Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel etc went to the Mayfair Club and worked together to improve their game.

If you asked my friends if they play poker,and pretty good,they would say yes definitely.
If you asked them where they play online,all except one guy would look at you puzzled.
If you asked them to play a game next friday,then the excuses would start flying out.(the truth would really be,any money they get would go for dope/chasin dope)
I can also add,if a miracle happened and they actual got seated together somehow,it wouldnt be long til an arguement got started,because none of them actually know the rules.I refuse to play with them,because of a past arguement where,playing with wild cards,I got 5 of a kind,another guy got a royal strait flush,..where I know for a fact 5 of a kind beats a royal st fl,but they were trying to tell me a royal st fl beats anything....so these are the kind of idiots you will be playing with around here....real pros.....makes ya wanna bang their heads together like the 3 stooges.!

I wish I did. That's why forum's like this is so valuable. Im in my late 30s and only hit a live casino about once or twice a year.

So 95% of mine is online. If I was still College age I think you'd have alot of people to talk with. Rather I just read alot, check the forums and try to grind it out.

I think you can get where you want to be with poker many ways. But a group going thru the same sort of things to talk with I believe will speed your process up.

how do u get 5 of a kind when there are only 4 of each card. and straight flush is the best hand. it beats 4 of a kind. no such thing as 5 of a kind

i rather play with random ppl i dunno and win their money rather than winning from my own friends

Well, I am college age (just turned 22 last week) and I can tell you that it doesn't help. If anything it makes it worse. My friends all think they are good at poker...but its hilarious to watch. They will limp in with anything, and then when I raise it up they still all call. I've found that its very hard to discuss poker with friends, because none of them really understand how much strategy is involved. When I tell them that I'm up $1,000 this year from poker they just go "Damn, can I borrow some of that luck?" None of them believe it has anything to do with skill.

yeah i agree winning money from total strangers is better cause u dont feel as tight about taking there money

I got introduced to poker by a friend who plays regularly online, and has just started going live. Any time I've been to the casino he's been there, although he goes on his own too, and the majority of time which I play online he plays on his laptop next to me - the benefits of being in university accomodation

I find it amazingly helpful; I can bounce ideas off him, he rails me and vice versa when we run deep, and we also watch poker videos and read poker tips and try and encourage each other to use them where possible.

I wish i'd have a friend that will teach me. But the fact is there are thousands of videos of verry good players that explain their sessions and i think watching them when relaxing is good enouugh for me.

OP's statement says... friends who are around your playing level.

For sure this is a HUGE help to one's game - being able to discuss hands/situations with another thinking player (even if they don't think on the same level as yourself) is very cool. I've been fortunate to find a few on my path but am always looking for more.

yes i have a couple friends that play three four hours a day on fulltilt and we discuss hands on a hourly basis.

oh right do they win big then and what stakes do they play how about u do u play on fullltilt aswell ??/

pascal i dont think ur allowed to play poker with someone else in the room are you because im sure ft only allows 1 account per household correct me if im wrong

I have a friend who is definitely a better player than me. He has helped me a lot with my game by discussing strategy and loaning me books.

trying to get up a poker night with 5 friends, but it looks line 1 day before the game, everyone use excuses

I think I got a bit lucky, my regular game has a poker dealer, a wpt final table player, wsop participant, and some folks struggling to learn. A couple of us do pre game advice for players who need it, and depending on the mood some of us are open to talking about hands at the end of the night. Our game shifts every month and a couple of wildcard players are always in the mix, so we keep learning. Also I'm lucky as hell that me and my hubby both like to keep learning about poker, and we each teach the other our own stronger attributes.

I used to work with some guys that liked to talk poker, the manager hated it, he didn't like poker.

I have friends that play poker and one of my friend taught me how to play poker and all of them are DONKS lol

We use different IP addresses and never play at the same table

I became a member of this forum due to a friends recommendation. We play in a home game and along with another friend play a lot online.

It really helps to discuss hands and strategies, but 1 thing you cannot under estimate is the times when you are down due to a swing and someone is around to kick you up the back side and get you going again.

GL everybody

Xavier, let me be blunt.

what prevents you from progressing faster at this game has nothing to do with a lack of friends playing poker at a similar level as yours, and everything to do with the fact that exactly 0% of the threads listed below were posted in the hands analysis section.

You're not going to get any better by whining.

Attached Images

Clipboard01.jpg (241.2 KB, 83 views)

i was lucky enough to be roommates with a top sng pro.. i used to play cash mostly. but never took it very seriously. still dont. but having someone like that teach me sng concepts and what notwas very beneficial. but tbh, the internet is packed full of free info, this forum and others i suppose are great for helping you out.. so if you look for the info and work hard on your game you dont really need someone like that.. it is good to be able to bounce hands off each other though stuff like that.. agian, thats what the forum is here for.

The SO is on the path of becoming a semi pro with the ultimate goal of pro (based on US IRS criteria) & I guess he qualifies as my friend ...LOL.

I'm unsure if it's helpful having him as a mentor, other than poker basics, since his style of play is geared more for B&M NLH Cash Games whereas I'm focusing on online NLH SNGs & MTTs. He's not too interested in playing online due to personal preferences...so I'm more inclined to depend on CC for valuable online poker insight. I did learn quite a bit about live LHE strategy from the ol' timers who play @ a San Diego casino on a daily basis though.

I don't mean to be pedantic but I have a book that covers all kinds of rare poker variants and it says a royal flush beats 5 of a kind while 5 of a kind only beats other straight flushes.
I'm guessing there are probably no established rules for this because its not really a standard game playing with wildcards.
I also do have friends who know how to play and play maybe like 5 times a year but don't know anything about strategy.

I might start posting some threads in the hand analysis section then.
I reckon It would still help if you have friends in real life who play at your level though.

All i can say is if u use this forum and all your friends on it to its full potential, u should have no problem improving your game(Must read books to).

So yes we all have friends in poker at differant skill levels CHARDSCHAT

Lazmansa

I guess in a way. A friend could guide you in a way and could work with you in your time of downswings, but it all depends on you. Besides, there is a wealth of information online that I doubt that one friend in real life could teach you.

You should go back and read his post. And yes a straight flush does beat a 5 of a kind.
As for friends I do believe that it will greatly benefit you if you had a group of friends that did play poker as you would be able to share experiences, information and to discuss and debate certain strategies as well as hand selection and advice on making certain plays.

Having someone you respect honestly assess your poker decisions provides a massive learning edge. He/she doesn't have to be better than you, just knowing your friends mind and appreciating his different perspectives on a play are enough to trigger thoughts on how to get better.

I have several friends who are very serious poker players like myself.
I have some friends right here on cardschat that I myself consider very serious players.
I know several people who are sponsered by big online sites as well.
I would say 95% of my income comes from palying poker,so I suppose you could consider me A serious player of some sorts

Online sure, I read alot of strat and I have lots of people to talk poker with if I needed hands analyzed...

Playing poker successfully doesnt hinge on having friends who play in real life though, my friends are so bad at poker lol, but like all of them play home games with me. I think finding people who beat poker and have some RL friends who can successfully beat significant stakes in online cash would be hella rare unless you live in vegas.

Is this ^ from 'live play'? Just curious as your post got me wondering.

I know a few friends and family members that think there good at poker, but they will call a all in with 2 7o. I prefer not to play with them because they never fold and don't understand poker.