zinzir
Legend
Silver Level
Dear zinzir,
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[/FONT]I hope the time capsule finds you well. You are reading this letter because today is a special day, it's the first day you are playing poker. I know you will enjoy it and there will be other similar days to follow. I am you from the future trying to give you some advice I wish someone gave me on that day:
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Read a couple of old and proven books and try to understand the universal poker concepts, memorization should never be your focus. My recommendation is Sklansky's trilogy: The Theory of Poker, Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, and Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. These books contain all the information you need and you can buy them used on Ebay for 3 dollars and change each.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Play following your instinct from day one. Yes, at the beginning your instinct will be just as inexperienced as you are, but hand after hand, hour after hour, and day after day, your instinct will become sharper and sharper. Stay in touch with your instinct constantly, making sure you don't lose this capital poker skill. Many advanced players struggle at the table because they have focused only on logic for a long time and got out of touch with their poker instinct.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Be bold, experiment wildly, and try to cut your own path and craft your own style. That can be perfectly achieved by playing freerolls and play money tables. You should gamble your first dollar after already being a consistent freeroll and play money winner, with many thousands of hands under your belt. Poker is not gambling unless you're making it so. If you feel happy playing and winning only if risking real money is involved, your chances to ever become an astute poker player are slim.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Never overestimate your poker skills, be honest with yourself and know your place. Treat better players with respect and consideration, and try to pick their brains and learn from them. But during play, never respect the better players, harass them instead, give them hell. Challenge them to pre flop wars where they are most vulnerable, check raise, semi bluff, and bluff them. If you can't be a shark at least be a donk, never a lamb.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Never get upset by things not under your control like bad beats, trash talk, angle shooting, slowrolls, or busting on the bubble.
- Be very upset when you realize you made a mistake due to not paying attention, poor judgment, or disregarding your instinct.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Read any poker book or article you want, but always fluently, just like a novel, and only pause and focus on certain passages to understand why the author is claiming or advising one thing or another, never to memorize. When you are reading, your instinct aka subconscious is also reading with you, and your subconscious remembers more than your conscientious mind anyway.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Do not submit yourself to courses or coaching unless somehow you win a free subscription. Not saying they are a waste of time, just that it's not a good idea to invest money upfront in exchange for an unquantifiable benefit later, while there are plenty other cheaper ways to obtain information readily available. Do not pay attention to testimonials, they are nothing but advertisement garbage.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Play, play, and then play some more. While reading or attending lectures, courses or coaching sessions might give you some knowledge or insight, the only way to gain experience is by playing. There is no substitute for it, playing is the number one way to get better at poker, bar none.
In the end, my dear self, I would like to give you three tips that are unrelated to poker:
- Keep an ample supply of N95 masks, Purell, and toilet paper in the house. Not only you will need those supplies one day, but you could also sell them for a hefty price on Ebay at that time.
- Never get married.
- Next Saturday's Powerball numbers are: 8 15 26 29 46 6*
Live long and prosper!
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]I hope the time capsule finds you well. You are reading this letter because today is a special day, it's the first day you are playing poker. I know you will enjoy it and there will be other similar days to follow. I am you from the future trying to give you some advice I wish someone gave me on that day:
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Read a couple of old and proven books and try to understand the universal poker concepts, memorization should never be your focus. My recommendation is Sklansky's trilogy: The Theory of Poker, Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, and Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. These books contain all the information you need and you can buy them used on Ebay for 3 dollars and change each.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Play following your instinct from day one. Yes, at the beginning your instinct will be just as inexperienced as you are, but hand after hand, hour after hour, and day after day, your instinct will become sharper and sharper. Stay in touch with your instinct constantly, making sure you don't lose this capital poker skill. Many advanced players struggle at the table because they have focused only on logic for a long time and got out of touch with their poker instinct.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Be bold, experiment wildly, and try to cut your own path and craft your own style. That can be perfectly achieved by playing freerolls and play money tables. You should gamble your first dollar after already being a consistent freeroll and play money winner, with many thousands of hands under your belt. Poker is not gambling unless you're making it so. If you feel happy playing and winning only if risking real money is involved, your chances to ever become an astute poker player are slim.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Never overestimate your poker skills, be honest with yourself and know your place. Treat better players with respect and consideration, and try to pick their brains and learn from them. But during play, never respect the better players, harass them instead, give them hell. Challenge them to pre flop wars where they are most vulnerable, check raise, semi bluff, and bluff them. If you can't be a shark at least be a donk, never a lamb.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Never get upset by things not under your control like bad beats, trash talk, angle shooting, slowrolls, or busting on the bubble.
- Be very upset when you realize you made a mistake due to not paying attention, poor judgment, or disregarding your instinct.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Read any poker book or article you want, but always fluently, just like a novel, and only pause and focus on certain passages to understand why the author is claiming or advising one thing or another, never to memorize. When you are reading, your instinct aka subconscious is also reading with you, and your subconscious remembers more than your conscientious mind anyway.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Do not submit yourself to courses or coaching unless somehow you win a free subscription. Not saying they are a waste of time, just that it's not a good idea to invest money upfront in exchange for an unquantifiable benefit later, while there are plenty other cheaper ways to obtain information readily available. Do not pay attention to testimonials, they are nothing but advertisement garbage.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]- Play, play, and then play some more. While reading or attending lectures, courses or coaching sessions might give you some knowledge or insight, the only way to gain experience is by playing. There is no substitute for it, playing is the number one way to get better at poker, bar none.
In the end, my dear self, I would like to give you three tips that are unrelated to poker:
- Keep an ample supply of N95 masks, Purell, and toilet paper in the house. Not only you will need those supplies one day, but you could also sell them for a hefty price on Ebay at that time.
- Never get married.
- Next Saturday's Powerball numbers are: 8 15 26 29 46 6*
Live long and prosper!
