How much did you know about poker before you started playing?

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par

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When you started to play poker, how much did you know about poker? I know how to count outs, how to do pot odds, I know if I should call or not(use the pot odds), I know how to put my opponents on a range of hands(the range can be sometimes be off), I am trying to get better at the things I know and learning new things, do you think this is enough to start playing(by start playing, I mean play for real money, mircostakes mostly) or should I know everything there is about poker to know before I start playing?
 
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ninoverm

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If you are confident and you can afford to lose the money you invest then I'd say go ahead, the best way of learning something is by doing it.
 
BluffMeAllIn

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If you chose the latter option "should I know everthing there is about poker to know before I start playing?" then you will never play because there is always going to be something to learn.

If you have a firm grasp on the things you have indicated then the best way to now begin expanding your knowledge is to play and see if you can put the knowledge to use on the felt. Knowing is one thing, putting it correctly into practice is essentially an entirely different challenge most of the time.

So give it a try, make sure you play the lowest stakes possible to begin to minimize any losses during the adjustment and learning phase ... and gl.
 
dmitriy skripka

dmitriy skripka

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When you started to play poker, how much did you know about poker? I know how to count outs, how to do pot odds, I know if I should call or not(use the pot odds), I know how to put my opponents on a range of hands(the range can be sometimes be off), I am trying to get better at the things I know and learning new things, do you think this is enough to start playing(by start playing, I mean play for real money, mircostakes mostly) or should I know everything there is about poker to know before I start playing?
hi I play 2years, was a poker school, a couple of times and won 1st place in tournaments,a lot of time was the last table game I know very well,but card luck is not often.
 
AATwoPairAA

AATwoPairAA

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When I started playing I knew very little. Of course I was in college and playing with others in home games. Seemed like everything was wild.

Before I went to a casino I knew I knew hand rankings and that was about it.

I played okay until I made a full house with the idiots end mostly with what was on the board and I shoved all in only to find out that the other guy who called had a stronger full house.

That is when I knew I needed to understand the texture of the board and shortly there after started understanding how many outs I have and pot odds.

I learned most of that from watching videos or reading books.

Cheers

AATwoPairAA
 
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XXPXXP

XXPXXP

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I only know the rules
the winning hand comb and rankings.:D
 
vinnie

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When I first learned to play, I was a little kid. I remember that we had a little chart of which poker hand beat which other hands. That's how little I knew, as well as some of the other kids that were playing. I mean, most of us knew nothing at all. The adults (we were playing in the weekly family penny-ante games) told us what we were allowed to do and when it was our turn. Eventually, we learned how the flow of the game went. As for actual "strategy" and odds, such things were never taught. Those I learned both by feel and later with the math.

These days, I prefer to understand the basics of the game, but I don't need to know enough to be sure to be a winner. I've recently jumped into PLO, and consider myself very weak in it. I definitely suck compared to other forms. Currently, I am losing. But, I am working on it. I expect to lose a little while learning. It's why I start back down at the bottom with the new games.
 
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Nutcracker69

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Playing? Or playing for real? (because there is a big difference)

I've been "playing" pretty much my whole life. (I'm 35 until Sept) But as a kid, it was just one of many games like Uno, Gin Rummy, etc.

Also, pretty much every "game" that you could find was played as 5 card draw. You'd occassionally get lucky and catch a 7 card stud game (which I consider a higher form of poker). And then there were Video Poker machines. These things are clearly designed to earn lots of money for the owner. lol

If I recall correctly, when I was a freshman and sophomore I didn't have a computer and so would have to use the lab. They had blocked all true poker sites, which was probably a good thing because I wasn't 21 yet. I remember there being a version played on Yahoo! Games (which might still be there) that I played long enough to realize how stupid it was. I had learned enough about NLHE at that point to want to focus on either that or Omaha. This was Limit Hold'em and it was no fold em hold em. THE ENTIRE TABLE would max bet every single hand. I won fairly often for some reason but decided it was totally stupid.

But, interestingly enough, they had a bunch of other games on there. Having never played before, I taught myself Sheep'shead. In under a year, I was ranked #1 and could definitely spend an entire day in the lab that Sophomore year from when it opened to when it closed playing that game all day long. (That seems like a tangent, but the takeaway is it prepared me for the "grind" of poker to come later)

Once I could, I played on my own computer on real sites, first for play money and then eventually depositing.

So long story short, when I got to be about in your shoes ready to make my first deposit, I had years of experience playing and seemed to know more about Game Theory and strategy than my opponents.

If you don't have that YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE. So, keep your monetary losses as minimal as you can as you learn the game more. Eventually you "could" (not saying you will) figure it out and start turning a profit. But considering EVERYONE is an "expert" these days, even at microstakes you might find yourself up against someone with SUBSTANTIAL success/roll who is multi-tabling like 10-20 at a time to "maximize" blah blah blah
 
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Nutcracker69

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I didn't even get around to sharing this nonsense that I endured.

For some stupid ash reason I decided to make a trip to Vegas (for like a week I think) with my girlfriend at the time. I had been doing really well for a number of years and she was impressed and thought I'd be a good teacher. (Aside: I am, but wait, she was f*ing terrible)

So starting with the plane ride over, we had a deck and I started with the very basics. She tried to argue things like how a straight should beat a flush, how 6 or 7 card straights should beat higher straights (of 5 cards total), or how 3 pairs should beat a better two pair. Honestly, to this day, I still think these are valid points to raise as you learn not just WHAT but WHY.

So, like an idiot, I thought she was ready. We played some cash games and then did some of the small tourneys they had in our hotel (Alladin/Planet Hollywood). Not surprisingly, I was the backer for all our funding needs. So one particular tournament, I'm doing the same thing I've done my whole career. I'm absolutely dominating. There is a girl at my table (who was clearly a reg) who kept trying to talk down and then talk up her game. Really weird. Overall, a super talkative player who wanted to be table captain. She made a LP open pretty decent size and got some action, including from me holding 99. I'm OOP so I need a miracle. And there it is, pretty as can be the 9 I needed right there on the flop. The action was "weird" there was big betting, small betting, checking back. All I remember is we were either head's up or 3 way on the river. It was pretty dry, but there was an ace. Had to figure out if she had AA. Nope, she doesn't. I check to her, other dude checks and she makes a decent bet. I hollywood before "begrudgingly" putting her all in. The other dude folds and she snap calls, flipping over her AK like it was the nuts. I say, "sorry, good game" and show the winning set. She has this weird double reaction of like "you tricked/trapped me" (kinda like Teddy KGB in Rounders) and also like "good game" it was weird.

Anyway, I run into some problems after a couple of table changes, and usual aces and kings getting cracked so easily that I'm not susceptible to 3 and 4 bet bluffs. So it's not long before I'm done without cashing.

NOW, I haven't said this yet but the whole time I've been keeping an eye on my then girlfriend. We had to stay a certain distance away from the tables on the rail, so I felt helpless as she played without me. Seemed like hand after hand she kept getting the best of everyone. She would just flat call on the end with the stone cold nuts and i'd be going nuts behind her in my head. I finally figured out what she was doing. She had ABSOLUtELY no idea what was going on. So she just decided to check/call everything. And, maybe because she was a hot blonde who not only appeared clueless but was clueless the table combatted this by going after her. But she just refused to fold. When they got down to 3 handed, 1 of the 2 guys shoved in the remainder of his stack. The other guy folded but not her. She happily calls and he says "good call" assuming he was beat. He doesn't want to show. She has no idea what is going on. Since he didn't want to give up his tourney without knowing he lost the dealer makes him show. He has J high, like J10s that didn't connect. They ask her to show. She has Q high, like Q3o. Dude was both super pissed and dying laughing at the same time somehow.

So now they're head's up and I'm PRAYING for a break so I can reiterate top starting hands and some basic strategy. But it doesn't come. The guy seems to have figured out "hey, maybe only bet when you have a hand" but this goes out the window when he checks his nothing, she bets, he folds and she shows like 48o that didn't connect. Her constant calls have dwindled her down to 2nd place, but still close. There is a ton of action on the hand, and on the river, he, almost sheepishly, shoves all in giving her terrible odds to call. But she snap calls anyway. He says "wow, great call" and throws his 810 into the air (face up) thinking that she just knocked him down to like 3-5bbs. They ask her to show what she has and I can hear her say "Oh, I have this, what's that?" and shows 46o not connected to the board. On a pretty connected board, the dude won the tournament with 10 high. I was like 95% totally embarrassed because she was wearing a fake ring the whole time talking about how I was her fiance, super rich and successful and taught her everything about poker. One dude on the rail with me goes "you teach her that one?" And I can only smirk and grimace at the same time saying "uh, nope, that's all her."

So now she's super excited about her "win" and we shuffle over to the podium for the payout. It wasn't a "huge" tourney by any means, cuz Planet Hollywood didn't really host any then. But it was likely about $75 to enter so came with a pretty decent payout for 2nd. I gave her her time to revel in her result. But then I felt the need to bring her back down to earth.

First of all, I'm not going to be staking you anymore. You didn't seem to pick up any of what I taught you. If you want further lessons in the room to prove that you at least know the basics, that's fine we can try that. Otherwise, I'm going to stick on my own for now.

Secondly, you had a nice result. The thing is, though, that I staked you. I only went over staking with you briefly because, no offense, you said you had no idea what you were doing. But to reiterate, you're supposed to pay back the entry fee and then split the winnings with me. 50/50 is fair. But the REAL thing is, though, your "big win" is still considerably less than what I have spent so far on your entries and cash games.

"So what?" ..."umm, so we should figure out how much of what you won goes back to me"
"No, f* that! I won, this is MY money"

um, awesome. So, yeah, we did not play together anymore that trip or ever again. She did, in fact, keep all the winnings and bought like a f*ing purse or some shit (oh and a winter coat) over in the shops.

That's a super long story (that I feel like I've been typing out for an hour) about how you CAN essentially know next to nothing and have beginner's luck and get hit hard by the deck and have some success.
 
PapaC

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One thing for sure, you need to put in a lot of playing time and gain the experience you will need like anything else you learn. It all goes together and you are the one to put it back together. One piece at the time. As far as playing for real money, thats your call.\
And when to start is another thing. You want to play, so put a small amount on the site and play,Play low stakes and for a little while play just to have some fun No I don't mean giving your money away. Just take your time and don't ever draw to an inside str8.
 
proud2Bwhack

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Find a 2 cent room and go for it, if you can play solid without tilting or calling too much, you will feel like a genius and start making money.
 
Vladimir Smugly

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I knew nothing about poker when I started playing. And now I know a little bit about it :)
 
naruto_miu

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I knew nothing when I first started besides what I've seen from the televised wsop events, and than I thought to myself "easy money, how hard can It be", lol.
 
rusgun92

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My first game was 5 years ago. It was Bankrolll. My friend told me the rules and we have started the tournament. I remember I took somewhere in the 700 place. :D

P.S. Sorry for my English. :rolleyes:
 
wc2hell

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When I started to playing poker, I literally didn't know what it was, I just saw my uncles playing and thought it was cool, so I went seaching on.
 
Brandlad

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I am an Indian. In india poker is not a common game. It is very rare to find poker players here. My quest for poker start after watching "Casino Royale". After that I dunk myself into poker ocean. I am playing at 888poker since 2014. I have got good wins from several tourneys. I mostly play freerolls. Sometime made 100 of dollars from zeros but I lost all in roulette. I play for 2-3 hours everyday. Mostly finish in money in Mtts. I play for fun only.
My heart wrenched loss was when I got out on 11th position in Rush to Vegas tourney. It was my mistake. At EP I was allins.
Most remembered wins are 3rd in Igoodies tourney where I won Mac Airpad. And Won 1st place in level 10 plus tourney.
I have never takne poker as an earning method.
I love when my flush got beaten by Straight flush or I got out via 4 of a kind..

Just blasting with it.
Live long poker.
 
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I knew nothing before reading Sklansky's 'Theory of poker'. After that, it was all downhill.
 
Melbell

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I knew very little when i started playing online years ago. Just the basic and saw a commercial for doyles room and there I was.
 
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I knew very little and I still don't know much. That is why I joined here to find out more
 
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redmast

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I before beginning to play poker did not know anything about it. I was an absolute zero in this. When the interest in poker began to read about on the Internet. I'm much more in poker do not know. People play a half life and the still learn to.
 
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Gimenez56

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Before I satrted playing I thought it was just one more card game that was built to make you lose money and get you addicted, besides that I knew the basics like you needed to do pair and sequences.
 
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