Joining the forum, let's see how long I stay intrigued

[Weffy]

Is that spelled right?

Well anyways, I thought I'd introduce myself and get some opinions on my strategy thus far. I'm a fish. I just started playing consistently a couple weeks ago. Since then I've played about 250-300 hands ($1k) at the casino here in cinci, and another 500 online. Needless to say, my BR is down $1k... if you would even call that a bankroll. I call it "tuition".

After reading a bit online and on the forums here, I've realized that I'm mainly a limper. At the real tables, they were 1/2NL with 50/200 buy in. I always buy in 50, except for one night I decided to play more aggressive and bought in 200 for 20 hands then back in for 150... up to $500 10 hands later then a bad beat bust. Not bad enough to win the promo though aha.

That scared me back down to limping. mainly to just observe and play the hand if I could afford it.

A few questions I have for the world:
-Where do I start?... rather, how do I improve myself as a player (besides from playing)???

-What's an easy way to play in person games. - I actually used an App on my phone on session for pre-flop percentages and nobody seemed to object too much.
--I'm practicing pot-odds, but short stacked they seem to be useless.
--Implied odds are beyond my grasp right now.
--I don't understand half of the lingo/abbreviations


That's all for now, I'm sure I'll think of more stuff that I want to know if anyone wants to answer these and if I don't find my answer searching the forum and the net.

Anyways... Hello!

 

[Poof]

This forum will teach you not to limp, one of the best lessons I learned. Enjoy strolling the forum and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[JusSumguy]

This is a good place to start...

https://www.cardschat.com/poker-strategy.php

-

 

[DaveE]

Lingo/abbreviations

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/hand-analysis-lingo-other-poker-terms-80492/

 

[hobonc]

You can and should read about poker strategy starting with Justsumguy's recommendation and also a glossary of poker terms like kcanuck's recommendation that will explain things like implied odds, but you will also need actual experience to reinforce what you learn. Not only will you need to learn these things, you need to know when, or when not to apply them. You also need to be able to remember them when the time comes.
This experience can be costly at $1-$2 No-Limit, as you have found out. You did say, "What's an easy way to play in person games," which are hard to find for lower stakes but you might find some friends that will play for lower stakes. The beauty of internet poker is you can play for a lot lower stakes. You could very easily play quality poker for 1/4 or less of that amount. By quality poker I mean against people who are playing better poker than what you could expect in say a freeroll. You can get some hands under your belt and losses won't dent your finances as bad. Then, as you learn, you can increase wagers as your skill increases.

Welcome to Cardschat! Hope I have helped you.

 

[PokerFishin]

I may be totally wrong and I apologize in advance if I am, but it sounds to me as though you may be playing with scared money. Money that you are scared to lose. Playing with money you are afraid to lose will usually lead to timid play and/or limping. If you aren't comfortable losing the money you put on the table then buy-in for less. Maybe try to get a group of friends/co-workers/family to come play a couple of games at your home (or one of theirs) and make the stakes something you are more comfortable with $0.25/$0.50 blinds or $0.50/$1.00. After a couple of home games and getting more comfortable with betting, you may think about playing in the casino again.

 

[DaReKa]

Down a grand? Damn, that's gotta hurt. There are lots of good coaching programs available on the web. I'm doing the Roots at http://pokerzion.com/ and am only halfway done, but I can already clean up 4NL and 10NL at Carbon. I think if you complete this program you will be able to beat low stakes live. You will need to practice everything you learn playing online too of course. I would recommend spending the money for poker tracking software too. I use Hold'em Manager 2 (HEM2). It's really useful to look at certain hands that you misplayed, and figure out how you could have lost less or made more, and it also has a heads-up display (HUD) that shows all of your opponents' stats at the table. Makes it a lot easier to exploit them and to target the weaker players.

 

[hobonc]

PokerFishing is correct. I'd also like to add a corollary to it: when you are buying in to the casino game for $50 as you described, you put yourself at a disadvantage to an opponent who perhaps bought in for the max and has added to that. Your stack may not big enough to affect other players in certain key situations. This is just one of many, many things you will need to consider when playing poker.

 

[PokerFishin]

+1 to what hobonc said.

With just the 25x the BB you aren't leaving yourself with much to play with. If you look at it as if it was a war and you only had 25 bullets vs the other players 100 bullets (more if they have won more than their initial buy in) you are going to have to play super tight and wait to take your shots where as the other guy can take more chances with his shots and will be more likely to get you when you may have peeked your head out too soon. The odds aren't in your favor, but you can do it with an great deal of patience.

Plus there aren't many chances in a 1/2 NL game where you are going to be able to limp into a pot. In my experience with 1/2 NL most pre flop bets are going to be anywhere from $6-12 (sometimes more). That makes it so you in reality are probably only going to get to see 2 to 4 flops before being all in on your initial investment.

 

[Arjonius]

$1k is more than ample bankroll for an entry-level player. If that amount is money you can easily afford to lose and won't miss, fine. But IMO, there's still a good argument for playing online at much lower stakes than $1/$2. You're a beginner, so start at the beginning i.e. the lowest stakes available on the site where you play. Once you learn enough to beat the players there, you can consider moving up. In the meantime, by playing online, you'll be able to see a lot more hands per hour, which will let you move up the learning curve more rapidly than playing live.

 

[Weffy]

Still soaking in the advice, but your'e right for the most part. You could call it scared money. Not that I didn't know that I would loose it, I just didn't fully accept that fact.

I'm going to start playing lower stakes real money... first one in with the Bovada ref gets it. Recommended stakes?

Points are well made on the $50 buy in's. I didn't really see it that way until now, but it totally makes sense because the live session where I bought in max was the best session I've had. That and what you guys said.

 

[Weffy]

Did I play this right?

2 questions:

1) Where would a question like this go on the forum?

2) How would you play this hand differently? (and how to write this correctly)

10th hand with this player at the table (UTG player) I can't get a read, seems to only play face cards so far (2 of 10 hands he played through)

4/9 Players call blinds, button to my right (SB)
So Button, SB, BB, and ?UTG?

My Hand:


[7225]UTG calls 240
[7580]Button Calls 240
[5555]SB, Me Calls 120
[-out-]BB Checks, but is sitting out.

Flop:

pot:1,680

[5555]SB Check
[-out-]BB Checks, but is sitting out.
[6505]UTG Bets 740
[7580]Button Folds

[4835]SB Calls 740
[-out-]BB Folds

Turn:

Pot:2,400

[-----]UTG Goes All In for 6505
[4835]SB WWJD(What would you do?)

 

[Kenzie 96]

You limped to see a flop, flop missed you & UTG bets approx half the pot, what was your purpose in calling his bet?
Why would you consider calling his all in?

 

[Poker Orifice]

This forum will teach you not to limp, one of the best lessons I learned. Enjoy strolling the forum and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

I saw you limp in the Carbon game on Friday. It was early/mid levels (maybe 50/100) & you limped UTG+1 with K8s. (come on Foof! I saw it! lol)

 

[Poker Orifice]

2 questions:

1) Where would a question like this go on the forum?

2) How would you play this hand differently? (and how to write this correctly)

10th hand with this player at the table (UTG player) I can't get a read, seems to only play face cards so far (2 of 10 hands he played through)

4/9 Players call blinds, button to my right (SB)
So Button, SB, BB, and ?UTG?

My Hand:


[7225]UTG calls 240
[7580]Button Calls 240
[5555]SB, Me Calls 120
[-out-]BB Checks, but is sitting out.

Flop:

pot:1,680

[5555]SB Check
[-out-]BB Checks, but is sitting out.
[6505]UTG Bets 740
[7580]Button Folds

[4835]SB Calls 740
[-out-]BB Folds

Turn:

Pot:2,400

[-----]UTG Goes All In for 6505
[4835]SB WWJD(What would you do?)

check/fold flop

 

[Weffy]

You limped to see a flop, flop missed you & UTG bets approx half the pot, what was your purpose in calling his bet?
Why would you consider calling his all in?

I was considering the straight draw to the all in bet. It was a long-shot that I don't know the odds of hitting (someone tell me?).

I called his first bet because the board had no draws, and I was willing to pay to try and make a pair. From the two or three hands I did see him loose, he did something similar and it ended up being a complete bluff. Not enough of a bet to make me pot-commited say if I did hit on the flop, but enough for me to fold to an all-in bet.

I did fold.

So I should have folded right to the first bet he made and waited till' I actually had some decent outs to call his bluff?

 

[Weffy]

You can and should read about poker strategy starting with Justsumguy's recommendation and also a glossary of poker terms like kcanuck's recommendation that will explain things like implied odds, but you will also need actual experience to reinforce what you learn. Not only will you need to learn these things, you need to know when, or when not to apply them. You also need to be able to remember them when the time comes.
This experience can be costly at $1-$2 No-Limit, as you have found out. You did say, "What's an easy way to play in person games," which are hard to find for lower stakes but you might find some friends that will play for lower stakes. The beauty of internet poker is you can play for a lot lower stakes. You could very easily play quality poker for 1/4 or less of that amount. By quality poker I mean against people who are playing better poker than what you could expect in say a freeroll. You can get some hands under your belt and losses won't dent your finances as bad. Then, as you learn, you can increase wagers as your skill increases.

Welcome to Cardschat! Hope I have helped you.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm here to learn how to play, and then I'm gonna win wsop. Signed up for Bavada, trying to figure out deposits with a green dot or bluebird card. After today; I played a 90 person tourney for play chips and I played 250 hands in about an hour. Finished 13th, not the point, and I realized that I just played the same amount of hands in an hour online as I would in 4 hours on the felt. Not to mention it got really intense down to the last 18 players.

Thanks for the links too [above him]

 

[Weffy]

Sorry for the triple/quad post, but I want to address everyone and this is what I could figure out.

$1k is more than ample bankroll for an entry-level player. If that amount is money you can easily afford to lose and won't miss, fine. But IMO, there's still a good argument for playing online at much lower stakes than $1/$2. You're a beginner, so start at the beginning i.e. the lowest stakes available on the site where you play. Once you learn enough to beat the players there, you can consider moving up. In the meantime, by playing online, you'll be able to see a lot more hands per hour, which will let you move up the learning curve more rapidly than playing live.

Best advice. Simple to the point and true. Thanks!!! Not that I'm kicking myself in the head for that $1k loss, but now I would have rather played online lower limits and maybe played $1/$2NL once a week instead of every day for a week.

 

[hobonc]

I'm like Poker Orifice on the hand you posted, call the other half of the blind since you have moderate cards with plenty of potential, doing so simply because of the pot odds. If the flop doesn't hit you hard, you should fold to a 3-bet. I know some say to raise here (or anytime it hasn't been raised yet) but others like to see the flop and play from there. In this particular case, if you did raise pre, with that board texture on the flop, UTG may have checked to you on the flop allowing you to bet or check depending on how you felt.

 

[Poker Orifice]

I was considering the straight draw to the all in bet. It was a long-shot that I don't know the odds of hitting (someone tell me?).

~9%

I'd strongly recommend picking up a poker book. I think you won't go wrong with Phil Gordon's 'Little Green Book' (a small investment that will pay for itself in one session... even if it just means losing less. You can likely get it from a local library or have them order it for you).

 

[fletchdad]

I like professional no limit holdem by Flynn, Mehta and Miller as well. You can prolly get it used on Amazon or ebay.

Lots of good advice ITT (in the thread)

check out the hand history section as well.

 

[tracyrickrobby]

i think cardschat will keep u intrigued for quite a while!! i was never really one for these forums, but this is one of the best ones ive seen!! lots of good reading, tips and advice!! good luck to you!!

 

[TrailerPark]

GL brother im sure you will find this palce and the people here pretty awesome and helpful when they want to be,as some have said this is one of the best forums,aside from 2+2 just joking LOL enjoy your time here.

 

[Weffy]

Thanks for all the help and support thus far guys!

I previewed Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em and I decided to buy it. $5 shipped used is quite the bargain. I laughed out loud when I was reading the preview, came across other book recommendations and saw that the last one was The Art of War.

I guess that means that Hold'em can be more than just a game, but also a way of life. Not in a gambling problem way, but in a super-wisdom kinda way.

Besides that, I've been wondering how does everyone keep track of their felt table sessions? What do you use ; what do you record regularly ; and what do you record when you want to remember a certain hand? Played 300 hands online FTP last night, still working on real $$ at Bovada, but play chips get serious at the final table of a 90 person online tourney.

Gonna take a break from playing today, and cruise my hands from the past few days instead. That and the hands history section here, gonna try and find some similar situations and look for; how do you say?; my leaks.

 

[Weffy]

Can anyone recommend good software to use with FTP and Bovada?

Also a way to play FTP with real money