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I know I know nothing

    • erwite
      erwite
      Bronze
      Joined: 31.07.2010 Posts: 17
      Hi there. I have only started playing poker online a month ago. Got a free money from poker strategy so fortunatley not losing my own hard earned dimes :) The thing is the more I learn and the more I play the worse I do :(
      I have been reading david sklansky's book the theory of poker as well as ed miller's no limit holdem. To be honest with you I got confused completely. DO you think these books are too difficult for a beginner player. I would like to hear about your beginnings guys and what worked best to brush up with your poker skills. Cheers and good luck at the tables!
  • 12 replies
    • Swellfish
      Swellfish
      Bronze
      Joined: 06.08.2010 Posts: 98
      sklansky's book is just the theory of poker starting hand requirements, importance of position, the gap concept etc etc.

      I haven't been playing long myself but I have read this book and did other things.

      I would say that from my somewhat short experience I have found videos to be the most helpful as you have a running commentary of what they are talking about and there are wide variety of videos available to suit you i.e, mtt - sng - cash game (micro to high limit) and most videos instructors go into detail about every aspect of what you are playing over a series (breaking up the learning into sections).

      So yeah, books i reccomend are: Sklansky's theory that you are reading now & The Poker Mindset is also a must.

      imo videos over books anyday but thats just my 2 cents

      JoeRichy
    • SilverSag
      SilverSag
      Bronze
      Joined: 11.07.2010 Posts: 512
      Same thing here... The more I learn, the worse I do... When I was making mistakes with my SSS, there were days when I was winning. Now, when I do everything "by the book", things seem to get even worse. Good thing that bonuses are still keeping me in green...
    • Hadi
      Hadi
      Bronze
      Joined: 09.08.2009 Posts: 12,303
      Well for starters: Use our content :) Especially for the lower limits, you should do just fine using our strategy content (articles, videos, hand judging and of course coachings).

      Hadi
    • Helipacter
      Helipacter
      Bronze
      Joined: 28.07.2010 Posts: 474
      Originally posted by erwite
      Hi there. I have only started playing poker online a month ago. Got a free money from poker strategy so fortunatley not losing my own hard earned dimes :) The thing is the more I learn and the more I play the worse I do :(
      I have been reading david sklansky's book the theory of poker as well as ed miller's no limit holdem. To be honest with you I got confused completely. DO you think these books are too difficult for a beginner player. I would like to hear about your beginnings guys and what worked best to brush up with your poker skills. Cheers and good luck at the tables!
      +1 with this.

      I've been reading Phil Gordon's Little Green Book, which is helping me (I'm a beginner too). But then transferring his tips to the tables can be a nightmare, particularly at the beginner's levels. For example, the book recommends that if you have really strong hole cards you should raise, rather than call, to eliminate the competition. I've done this on numerous $0.02/$0.04 FL HE tables, and it seems to encourage competition. Though this can be a great advantage sometimes; I had quite a profitable day today, as a guy was raising and re-raising with nothing - well, from what I saw. He contributed to every pot, and I won a huge pot because he raised, re-raised etc etc etc with a 2h7c!!! Though sometimes you're not so lucky

      My biggest problem is that I mis-calculate the outs sometimes. I can't look at a table and know how many outs I, or my opponent, can be waiting on. I know if there is a flush or a straight on the board, but I sometimes forget to include Full houses or Trips in my calculation.

      Hopefully it'll get better with time! Though the videos here help a lot, as does some of the charts that you can download for free...

      Best of luck!
    • gadget51
      gadget51
      Bronze
      Joined: 23.06.2008 Posts: 5,622
      I watched videos on here and attended coachings (still do); the coaches just rock. Ask the coach questions during the session. Remember they are talking to a PC or laptop in a flat on their own often (yes, they are that sad, some of them even play World of Warcraft...sigh) and if no-one asks anything they may as well be talking to an empty room! Also remember there are no stupid questions and the coach has been in your position.

      Think about the vids, don't just watch them like a film on tv, post comments and questions about what you saw; i.e. 'Hey, that KTo at 25:30 minutes in you raised, that wasn't in the starting hand chart! Why did you do that?

      Also, 'information overload' can be a major problem initially. If you're getting confused it's likely you're trying to apply too many concepts for your ability without knowing the 'whys and wherefores' of them. So try to learn preflop and flop play using the starting hand charts first and get REALLY comfortable with them before moving on and adding the next bit.

      Bad beats and suckouts are harder to deal with for some. I learned this rule from a coach and pinned it to my PC; 'Decision Correct, Result Irrelevant (Marty Smith). Now I don't care what happens after I make my move, unless I make the mistake that is (too often still).

      Lots more but this post is too long already. GL.
    • erwite
      erwite
      Bronze
      Joined: 31.07.2010 Posts: 17
      I am gonna check the videos as I most of you recommend that way of learning. Going to hold reading the books and see if I can do better following pokerstrategy advices. See you at the tables:) Oh.; Just had a terrible bad beat. Thats what I think it was. 0.05/0.10 NL Hold'em. . Raise $0.10 preflop with AKo. All players fold. SB raises $0.50. Previosuly noticed the guy rised with cards like 9,10s so though that cant be two aces or even two Kings. Alright. We go further. I reraise $1.20 and he calls. The flop comes K 2 7. So I bet 1.50. The guy calls and the turn comes 5. Well I though to myself for a while. He may have a King but he wont have a more powerful kicker than I do. So I go all-in. Well, he does the same. He shows the card it is K8o. The river comes 8 and I lose a big pot:) with what I believed to be a good play. Can you advise if that was correct play or not or just a bad beat?
    • Helipacter
      Helipacter
      Bronze
      Joined: 28.07.2010 Posts: 474
      Originally posted by erwite
      I am gonna check the videos as I most of you recommend that way of learning. Going to hold reading the books and see if I can do better following pokerstrategy advices. See you at the tables:) Oh.; Just had a terrible bad beat. Thats what I think it was. 0.05/0.10 NL Hold'em. . Raise $0.10 preflop with AKo. All players fold. SB raises $0.50. Previosuly noticed the guy rised with cards like 9,10s so though that cant be two aces or even two Kings. Alright. We go further. I reraise $1.20 and he calls. The flop comes K 2 7. So I bet 1.50. The guy calls and the turn comes 5. Well I though to myself for a while. He may have a King but he wont have a more powerful kicker than I do. So I go all-in. Well, he does the same. He shows the card it is K8o. The river comes 8 and I lose a big pot:) with what I believed to be a good play. Can you advise if that was correct play or not or just a bad beat?
      In my short experience you have to chalk that up and move on. I had a really bad beat, where I had a full house on the turn, and the guy caught a Straight Flush on the river. It was fixed limits, so I didn't blow my pot entirely. If it was NL I think I would've gone all in. So I was lucky in that extent.

      As you're playing probabilities, there's no such thing as a dead cert (well, except for a Royal Flush), if you think that there's a strong chance you might not have the nuts, then if he re-raises you, check, rather than raise, the guy.

      If you've kept a note of the above hand then post it in the hand evaluation section. (The evaluators will need everything, Stack Sizes, position, blinds, etc. etc.)

      Best of luck!
    • HannesZ
      HannesZ
      Headadmin
      Headadmin
      Joined: 30.06.2010 Posts: 16,323
      Hey,

      thanks for all the helpful answers :)

      I also can recommend our hand evaluation forums, where you can ask our hand judges about how to play a hand:
      Hand Evaluations BSS until 0.05/0.10

      Maybe I misread the last hand, but why did you just raise 10 cents? An openraise in NL should be to 4 big blind.

      Best regards,
      Hannes
    • erwite
      erwite
      Bronze
      Joined: 31.07.2010 Posts: 17
      Well. Thats a very good question. And it turns out I made a mistake right at the beginning of the hand. Well. I am not at home now and do not have access to my hand history. But when I get there I will post that hand on the forum in evaluations section so that you can guys make a more in depth analysis and point out all mistakes. I will be grateful for that. Cheers.
    • conall88
      conall88
      Bronze
      Joined: 02.01.2009 Posts: 1,715
      as an owner of a few poker books, I recommend if you do get confused to focus on learning the basics first. you can always read the books later. Try to be a winner at 4NL or something first!
    • erwite
      erwite
      Bronze
      Joined: 31.07.2010 Posts: 17
      To be honest with you I am doing way better on NL10 that NL4:) All the rules do not seem to work when playing the lowest limits as players do not sometimes really care what they are playing. Yesterday playing at everest had guys who even went all in preflop every hand. They do nto respect money at this stage at all. I think my problem is I do not play tight enough for 0.02/0.04. I keep calling with Q7, K7 etc whereas in these instances SSS strategy hands should apply. So a lot of folding and playing only very strong hands like 99+ AJ, AQ, AK. Correct me if I am wrong
    • JannoT
      JannoT
      Bronze
      Joined: 20.07.2010 Posts: 5
      • 10.08.2010, 10:05
      • This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by JannoT: 10.08.2010 10:05.
      Originally posted by erwite
      ...as players do not sometimes really care what they are playing. Yesterday playing at everest had guys who even went all in preflop every hand. They do nto respect money at this stage at all...
      :f_love:
      Well thats the kind of players you want. You do want to get payed off dont you?
      DONT YOU?!?