Where do I begin? A guide for beginners

Ok, I know this has been done in the past...(i.e. C9, Jagsti, prob others I'm forgetting)

but I feel like after being on CC for awhile now, It's time to start contributing something more than sarcastic poasts in the cash thread. ( dont worry, I wont give this one up )

but anyways, I remember back when I joined CC, i didn't have a clue where to start. So I stumbled on C9's compendium post, read some articles and felt completely overwhelmed as to what was fold equity, 3/4 betting and wtf was ICM?!?!?

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed. If you don't know what FE is, then how can you read an article about it and understand how employ the strategy?

So to combat this, I thought I would put together a little "beginner's guide", the first few articles to read so you will be able to understand the forum. CC only articles btw

There will be some overlay, the same concept being discussed in different articles, but consider that to be a review.

Also, this isn't going to be "how to be a good cash game player, read this" Theres plenty of that here, this is just to introduce people to the forum/help beginners cross the threshold of "complete noob" to beginner.

(You'll notice alot of familiar faces in each article. I did not write any of these, just put this together to help some learners out. Cheers )


Step 1:

This is Savage Penguin's article on "Pitfalls of Thought". It is very informative to new players, as it debunks some "common myths" about poker/gives helpful insight into the "mental" aspect of the game.

START HERE --->A Few Pitfalls in Thought


Also, read this:

Stop complaining about the poor play of your opponents


Next:

Since many players on CC are building from freerolls, this should be very helpful to new players. This was written by OzExorcist discussing building up a baby bankroll.

Building from a baby bankroll


Now your ready to move onto:

written by FP, this is a good beginning point on how to "study" your game. Without good studying habits, you will not progress far.

Guide: Analyzing your own hands [long]


Since Tilt is a major leak in new players games...:

Storm Raven wrote a few helpful tips to combat tilting

Tips For Dealing With Tilt!


Pick your poison:

written by FP, this explains a "TAG" or tight-aggressive approach

A Nit's Apology (why tight is right for me)

For LAG, or loose-aggressive, try this written by ChuckTs:

note* LAG is considered a more "advanced" approach than TAG.


The maniacal/Brunson/aggro approach to ring games

I recommend reading both to get an outlook on the different styles of play.


Moving on, if your playing online, your going to need to figure out how to use a HUD, or heads up display:

written by ChuckTs, this guide should introduce you to how a HUD actually works:

6-max HUD stats and how I use them


Finally, a full post summing up the important skills needed to elevate your game:

Written by ChuckTs:

Important aspects and tricks for the beginner/intermediate player




Ok, this should be a nice foundation for CC beginners to get started with. I encourage everyone after reading these to look through the Golden Archive, (located under "General Poker") and dive into the more complex ideas. Again, hopefully this crash course overview helps people progress


Cheers,

Deuces

1st

good post thanks a lot mate

Nice post, and plenty of useful links for beginners

epic post, a must for every beginner to CC, and to poker for that matter.

(and yeah, gtfo of the cash thread and share your knowledge)


Golden Archive here you come DW.

Nice!

Great thread, especially like the one about the freerolls, thanks for making these easy to find!

you like the shout out in op?

Omg that first article is ****ing gold.

Also can you add the why we bet article so I won't have to keep linking people to it?

I'll link it in here, good point though

Even more advanced players (and, even pros) should continually "review" this type material. Great read!

thanks bull!

thread sucks

Excellent post. Only read the first 2 so far and wanted to thank you. that is why I signed to get some good points in minutes instead of reading books for days.

thx you guise

+100

I actually quote this thread now to every new beginner.

keep spreading the word

will do. keep doing good posts like this

will do

thanks for the support

self promoting bump

Thanks, otherwise I may have missed it again.

Good thread.

This all seems pretty helpful to non beginners too. Thanks for putting it all together.

yep thanks for the support

see, self-promotion has its purposes!

It's not an either/or situation. Good posts are very informative and helpful. So are good books. Both together are even more better, Not twice as good, but learning tends to be a matter of diminishing returns since the more you learn, the less there is left to learn - although most players, myself undoubtedly included, will always have a lot of room left to improve.

Nice thanks for all of this.. I like it all and hope i build a real big bankroll.. see u all in the carbon games....

thanks guise

I'm not a beginner but that is a great post for beginners and a lot of time and effort went into that post and there some good links actually I did get get a couple of good tips myself. CH72

woah sick bump bro

thanks for the info spammer

Good post. A lot of these links are really helpful since they clarify common questions. One thing I would point out too are the strategy articles available on this site because I know from my personal experience I have been going through and reading posts when I could have easily just referenced one these articles to get my answer.