My attempt at a beginner guide

First of all, I just want to mention that included are things I have been doing in the recent months to help step my game up along with some other things I keep in mind while playing. I'm hoping it will help some new players out and get them serious about the game. Most of the things are regarding sit and go tournaments. I want to mention that after making some changes, I've almost doubled my bankroll (from $64 to $121) within about a month, maybe a month and a half or so. I was a losing online player for years and then decided to really find out why. I've had quite a bit of success playing live but couldn't really get why my online game was lacking. I started making changes and now realize that I am heading upwards. So I'll just get to it.

1. Bankroll management. Keep track of your wins and losses and stay within your bankroll. If you have $50 in your account, it doesn't make sense to start out playing $20 tournaments. Start small, like $1 tourneys and work your way up. There are websites and software that can help you with this.

2. Patience. I am a very patient person so I very rarely have trouble sitting and folding for 20 minutes. Stick to formulas that have been proven to work. Sit tight and wait for hands, in middle stages loosen up. I don't mean loosen up like raise in early position with a 7-3. Pick your spots. Which leads me to...

3. Know your opponents/Take notes. When I take notes during play for SNGs, I usually put things like players playing styles in different stages of the tournament, specific hands, calling ranges, etc. For example, I may make a note that says "Early stages - LP. AJs - player limped in middle position, called my 4x BB raise, showed down A6h." Some people change gears once a few players have been eliminated. I like to make notes on this. Another good note is to keep track if you notice a player raising from the cut off or button in, what seems, every orbit in the later blind stages. I'm the kind of person who remembers things much better when I write them down so keeping notes is a great way for me to gain an advantage. There are times when you really aren't sure how a player is playing even after having them at your table and that's okay. You can still make notes on specific hands.

4. Online tells. This is kind of an extension of knowing your opponents and you really don't need to pay much attention to this. Many people will tell you that the only major online "tell" is betting patterns. How much do they raise when they have a weak hand? Big hand? He just overbet the pot... last time he had a flush draw when he did that. Things like that. Another one is when an OOP opponent bets when the board texture has straight and/or flush possibilities and you raise, they flat call then quickly check the turn when a blank hits. This is supposed to suggest they are on a draw. I hate to even mention this because I can't for the life of me remember where I heard this. If anyone can help me out with this, I'd appreciate it. The bottom line though is DO NOT RELY ON ONLINE "TELLS". Timing tells are pretty much non-existant. They're quite unreliable. Many people are multi-tabling and if you think that a hesitation before they re-raise you is a bluff, you could be wrong and cost yourself the tournament.

5. Cardschat. This website is a great resource to help get advice. When I first joined, I stated how pleasantly surprised I was at the friendliness of the people here. People seemed to want to and enjoy helping. When it comes to poker, this is the mentality I have. I want to help people improve if I can, hence this post. You can post hands for advice on if you played it correctly and things you can change, book and website suggestions, etc. One of the best things I think is that they have standards. In order to play in a freeroll you have to have at least 65 meaningful posts. The funny thing about this is as I'm writing this, I don't have 65 posts. I'm weird like that.

6. Collin Moshman's book. READ THIS BOOK. RE-READ THIS BOOK. There are concepts in this book that I read and they make so much sense to me. As I've said before, I remember things better if I write them down. If I know I'm lacking in a certain aspect of a SNG, say bubble play, I can go to the book and I write down things on a notecard that help me. The man has these tournaments down to a science and as much as people recommend this book, I kind of don't want people to read it because I encounter a lot of players who don't understand the formula on how to play these tournaments. If you read it and apply it's teachings, you will have a significant advantage.

7. Discuss the game with people. When I played poker for the very first time and had no clue about what to do, I remember a friend of mine at the time mentioned that a couple guys she knew would watch videos of the same poker hand over and over and discuss it and I thought they were stupid. Today, I am that guy. It's funny how things work out like that. You can get on Cardschat and discuss the game with people who appreciate it. It will get your brain in poker mode. I know that when I watch the WPT or WSOP on television, I just get this "I have to play poker" mentality.

8. Record videos of your play. I am in a group where we will play tournaments and make video reviews of the table and discuss hands we were involved in and how and why we played a hand the way we did. This is a great way to get helpful criticism on your play and gives you a group to support you. I use a program called CamStudio for this. When I record a video, I make my own commentary and mention if I'm happy or unhappy with the way I played that hand.

9. Learn when to take a break. A big thing for me is when I know that I'm playing bad and making the wrong plays. That's when I know I need to take a break. This usually occurs after a bad beat from a stupid donk but it also happens when I fail to cash 3 times in a row. I take a break. This rarely happens these days luckily but we all have bad streaks. Understanding this is a must. It's easier for me these days knowing that I am playing better than I used to so when I have a bad run, it's not as hard on me.

These are a few things that I do and I can tell it is helping my game out tremendously. Here's a suggestion on a start up plan:

1. Acquire Collin Moshman's "Sit 'n Go Strategy" book and take notes to help you remember. If you already have several SNGs under your belt but aren't cashing as consistantly as you think you should be, figure out where your weaknesses are. The book will help you grasp the concept of how you should be playing single table SNGs. Once you adapt that concept, you'll notice a big difference. If you already own this and have read it, try re-reading it and taking notes.

2. Join or start up a group of people who want to give and recieve critique on videos of their play.

3. Set goals for yourself. Many players like to set goals for themselves, such as, playing X amount of SNGs a day, getting to $XXX in 6 months.

I play microstakes which is where beginners should start. I know that even though I'm doing better, I'm not ready to move up. Plus, my bankroll isn't where it needs to be to move up limits.

I know things are a bit scattered in this post but I went back and forth writing it on my own time. I hope that at least some of these ideas will prove helpful to people and am happy to talk to anyone who would like to. I have several videos that I've made of my table reviews that I'm more than happy to share with anyone who cares to check out and wouldn't mind joining another group to share videos of this nature with so feel free to PM me for whatever reason.

Thanks for reading and good luck.

Nice little read, with plenty of useful information for beginners.
Good post!

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