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BGonline.org Forums
Re: Teach a Poker Fish
Posted By: Stick In Response To: Teach a Poker Fish (Stanley E. Richards)
Date: Sunday, 29 April 2007, at 8:28 a.m.
First of all, you aren't a fish. To be a fish you have to tank off your money and think you're unlucky ;) You're new, inexperienced, ignorant in the strictest sense of the term. There's plenty of hope for you, typically for a fish he's set in his swim.
Normally I wouldn't recommend *play money* poker for anything except getting used to the server's software. For you however, if you really don't know what beats what, I recommend playing anywhere for free. *Free* play is nothing like real poker, especially on poker sites. People will all in any hand they want, because you can always get more "play money". Play until you're comfortable with all the rules, with what beats what, all of that should be beyond second nature before you start playing for any amount of money.
Backgammon & poker are different in many different ways when you try to tackle the game. I feel backgammon books, when consumed correctly, can be immensely helpful. I don't feel poker books in general can help that much. I don't mean to deter you from reading as much as you possibly can, because even though I don't think it's a great help, I still read every poker book under the sun and 3 magazines/month on poker.
As to the 'poker books' that would help you most, someone else may possibly have a better answer for you. Super System I & Super System II do cover a variety of games, then you might try anything from 2+2 (publishing company) or any low limit hold'em book.
Poker bots are generally shit. I don't recommend playing them as a good source of study. It's nothing like backgammon, playing against live players, online or otherwise, is 10x better than playing some shitty poker bot in my opinion.
The best sites to play on are basically the sites with the most players on them. As of right now that would be Pokerstars and Fulltilt. There are other decent poker sites too, like Ultimate Bet (UB), Paradise Poker, Doyle's Room, Bodog, etc... but Stars & FT are hands down the *best*.
You should, in the beginning, concentrate becoming proficient at one game, probably hold'em, probably no limit. It's the *in* game, you can always find a game, and it will help you with tournament play later in your poker career. As you get more comfortable with playing though don't be afraid to try new game after new game. I play every card game under the sun for many reasons. First, you'd be surprised how much you learn by playing different games. You pick up things that other players may not. Also, if another poker game does come along you'll be more likely to understand it if you have a lot of different games under your belt than just one specialized game. [in other words, when new games pop up, you'll understand them more quickly and be able to cash in on other people's lack of understanding $$$] Playing all games keeps me from getting bored too. This is me personally but I can't stand playing the same game over & over & over again. I like variety. I like being able to play some texas, then some 2-7, then O8, then 5 card draw. My home poker games (which I had one tonight!) we play more games than Hoyle himself could think up.
Back to reality ... what makes one site better than another? You want to make sure the site is trustworthy, that you'll have no problems depositing, and more importantly, withdrawing, your money. The big sites are obviously established and I have never had a problem withdrawing from a poker site and I've withdrawn a time or 98. I've withdrawn once from a backgammon site, the only time I ever played backgammon for money online, and my account was frozen for a 4 day inquiry. I eventually got my money but it shouldn't be like this. You see all the problems people have with various backgammon servers, poker is much nicer this way.
It's nice if you can get deposit bonuses, maybe rakeback, points you accumulate on certain sites can be used towards buying things in their online store or cashing them in to play in tourneys etc... Pokerstars currently has the best store out there hands down. I did a lot of research into the online stores because I get so many points for playing the stakes I do it's an important factor in where I play. Your new best friend in the beginning should be freerolls. There are tons & tons of freerolls if you want to put in the time to play them. They're very tedious and the payouts may not be huge, esp. for the time spent, but if you're learning the game & looking for some possible free money, you can't go wrong!
Make sure when you do sign up on a site and deposit money you get a first time deposit bonus. Every site basically has this, but sometimes you have to remember to look for it/ask/put in the code.
I will end this lengthy post with three things that are of the utmost importance in poker:
- Bankroll Management
- Position!
- Making correct decisions
I should expound on these but I'll leave that for later. You're probably familiar with #1 but it is often overlooked by even the professional. Don't move up in stakes until you're comfortable and you can afford it. #2 is more important than most people know...and you will learn that in time, and when you learn it, you will still underrate it! #3 is like backgammon in some ways. All you can do is make the correct decisions based upon the information you have and hope for the best. Do not think poker is about money, it's not, it's about making the right decisions. You make the correct decisions and the money will take care of itself.
Hope this is a good start to your poker career. It can be frustrating, you need to know anything at all just ask.
Stick
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