Poker newb looking for advice on this hand. (1 Viewer)

[johnnyesper]

Since I live in Oregon, I can only play for fake money online. This hand got me thinking about betting on the button to snuff out weak blinds. I don't think I played this correctly and I walked directly into a trap. Any thoughts on my analysis and what you think I could have improved?

https://www.boomplayer.com/30948275_56E72D29C7

 

[Steve Birrer]

1. You dont' learn much if anything when playing for fake money. People just play loose since its not real.

2. A 3 off suit is not a good hand especially with so many players in the pot pre flop. I would have folded at in the first place.

3. At the run out there isn't much reason to bet. The only hands that every call you have you beat. And there is really no bluffing since its funny money. The biggest problem is your 3. So you are playing your ace and the board for your hand. Anybody else with an A has you beat or at least pushed. Plus any hand that has a 2 or ....etc etc.

 

[johnnyesper]

1. You dont' learn much if anything when playing for fake money. People just play loose since its not real.

2. A 3 off suit is not a good hand especially with so many players in the pot pre flop. I would have folded at in the first place.

3. At the run out there isn't much reason to bet. The only hands that every call you have you beat. And there is really no bluffing since its funny money. The biggest problem is your 3. So you are playing your ace and the board for your hand. Anybody else with an A has you beat or at least pushed. Plus any hand that has a 2 or ....etc etc.

Thanks for the response.

Sigh, I know play money is not a good way to learn but it’s the only way to see a high volume of hands. Shrug. I will take any advice on how to improve my skill with out risking my light bankroll early. 1/2 NLHE is the lowest stakes offered in my local card rooms.

I would agree with A3o being a bad holding. I don’t think it would be correct to play in a live game. However since the table was was loose preflop but very passive post flop I tried to see what I could stir up. What I didn’t see was a very weak 82o being good enough to play. Again, it’s funny money so no danger from other players.

 

[DrStrange]

I strongly suggest that Hero find another way to improve his poker skills. Free money poker will only teach very basic poker techniques. Beyond these very basics, free money poker is worse than useless, it is destructive. Hero runs a sizable risk of learning bad habits or "learning" successful techniques that mainly apply to villains with a "free chips" mind set.

Sure, you can have some fun playing these types of games. But you really, really do not want to see a high volume of hands. Doing so can cripple your game for life. < no, I am not joking. >

On a side note - - - - high volume real money on-line players often have significant difficulty transitioning to live cash games. It is absolutely true that nickel poker on-line is "tougher" than $1/$2 live. But the skills to win at nickel on-line poker aren't the same as the skills needed to crush a $1/$2 live game.

If Hero wants to develop live poker skills, there is no substitute for playing in live poker games. There are plenty of live poker options on the West Coast. Yes, there will be a "tuition" to learn at the table. Also no assurance you will ever "graduate" to profitability. But at least you stand a chance. Play money training offers no chance at all.

Good luck -=- DrStrange

 

[johnnyesper]

I strongly suggest that Hero find another way to improve his poker skills. Free money poker will only teach very basic poker techniques. Beyond these very basics, free money poker is worse than useless, it is destructive. Hero runs a sizable risk of learning bad habits or "learning" successful techniques that mainly apply to villains with a "free chips" mind set.

Sure, you can have some fun playing these types of games. But you really, really do not want to see a high volume of hands. Doing so can cripple your game for life. < no, I am not joking. >

On a side note - - - - high volume real money on-line players often have significant difficulty transitioning to live cash games. It is absolutely true that nickel poker on-line is "tougher" than $1/$2 live. But the skills to win at nickel on-line poker aren't the same as the skills needed to crush a $1/$2 live game.

If Hero wants to develop live poker skills, there is no substitute for playing in live poker games. There are plenty of live poker options on the West Coast. Yes, there will be a "tuition" to learn at the table. Also no assurance you will ever "graduate" to profitability. But at least you stand a chance. Play money training offers no chance at all.

Good luck -=- DrStrange

Thanks for the advice. I knew that play money poker isn’t a good way to go I just wanted to get something in between live game opportunities. I’ve been looking working on playing local tournaments to get some play time in. Like you said, I guess I have to play the tuition.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Thanks for the response.

Sigh, I know play money is not a good way to learn but it’s the only way to see a high volume of hands. Shrug. I will take any advice on how to improve my skill with out risking my light bankroll early. 1/2 NLHE is the lowest stakes offered in my local card rooms.

I would agree with A3o being a bad holding. I don’t think it would be correct to play in a live game. However since the table was was loose preflop but very passive post flop I tried to see what I could stir up. What I didn’t see was a very weak 82o being good enough to play. Again, it’s funny money so no danger from other players.

A high volume of information and practice is only good if the data is good. Bad play isn't going to help ya get better. Find a small poker group and do alot of tourneys ... money goes alot farther IMO. A3 was the mistake. What can ya do, I get goosy too once and a while.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Thanks for the advice. I knew that play money poker isn’t a good way to go I just wanted to get something in between live game opportunities. I’ve been looking working on playing local tournaments to get some play time in. Like you said, I guess I have to play the tuition.

If ya ever make it to Idaho, I run a weekly tourney you're welcome to join in on. Low-key cards every week.

 

[johnnyesper]

If ya ever make it to Idaho, I run a weekly tourney you're welcome to join in on. Low-key cards every week.

Thanks. I will definitely keep that in mind for sure.

 

[surfik]

Terrible. Preflop, bet on turn and river.
Time to scare blinds was Preflop.
Sorry to say but I think how could play that worse and I do not have good answer.
What kind of tournament was that?

 

[johnnyesper]

Terrible. Preflop, bet on turn and river.
Time to scare blinds was Preflop.
Sorry to say but I think how could play that worse and I do not have good answer.
What kind of tournament was that?

No tournament, It was a cash game. It seems the truth hurts. As brutal as it Is, the lesson has been learned. I will stick to working on my skills off the table until I can get access to more live games.

 

[surfik]

No tournament, It was a cash game. It seems the truth hurts. As brutal as it Is, the lesson has been learned. I will stick to working on my skills off the table until I can get access to more love games.

Cash? Play money or real?

 

[Steve Birrer]

I think i can summarize Dr. Strange's post in a simple line every sports coach ever has used.

"Perfect practice makes perfect." Practice makes perfect was the original line and it was just flat wrong. And that is what online free is in regards to learning to play poker.

 

[Johnblue]

You gave up the hand preflop. If you are going to play that button, raise big before the flop.

That hand in that position, classic steal move... pot size bet... 70-100k or something. Get 1 or 2 callers, most likely not the 8/2 .

The goal is to make all those limpers fold though and steal the pot right then and there.

 

[crussader]

Rather than play free money games that are 100% guaranteed to instill at least some bad habits in your game, spend your time reading the poker strategy forum on this and other sites. Watch you tube videos. Read books. All the lingo may be a little confusing at first and some of the points may be hard to follow, but keep at it. When everything starts to make sense, you will know you are learning.

 

[johnnyesper]

Rather than play free money games that are 100% guaranteed to instill at least some bad habits in your game, spend your time reading the poker strategy forum on this and other sites. Watch you tube videos. Read books. All the lingo may be a little confusing at first and some of the points may be hard to follow, but keep at it. When everything starts to make sense, you will know you are learning.

That’s what I’ve been doing as well however I was trying to apply that study to hand reps. Since I posted this thread, I’ve stopped playing fake money games. I read a lot of articles and have a few books, like Small stakes Hold’em by slansky. I’m moving to real money sites soon, like betonline or ignition. I’m doing that research now. Coincidentally, I played a .25/.50 live cash game on Saturday with rec players and cleaned up based on my study. It was a rocky start where I was in for $80 but I battled back to $140 by the end of the night. That was all due to my off table study. I’m trying. ‍shrug

 

[Mike Wells]

Suited ace wheel hands are perfectly reasonable to raise in position...even to 3-bet.
Offsuit...meh. If I get involved, I'll play it passive, and let it go to most bets.

 

[Riomaa]

Let's ignore fake money being a bad learning tool. Let's assume you're okay with playing a bit aggressive/loose.

I'm not even a little surprised to see 8-2 off suit from the BB who got to limp in and play for free. You should've raised the button if you wanted to play. The raise could've gotten rid of the limpers. 8-2 is probably not calling a 5x bet out of position. You're also hoping to have weak aces fold from your button raise. Hard to believe your ace is good even if it hits when there's 3 other players in the hand.

At the turn, the second you got a single caller when you re-raised, you should have assumed you were very likely behind. When the second and third caller came, you should be MORE certain you're behind. When the river got checked to you, you should've been happy with "cheap" showdown. Your hand was not likely to be good and you were never stealing that from 3 other players at that point.

GL. You'll see a very interesting difference in skill when you get to online cash games. It will be different from your live cash home games and extremely different from casino cash games.

 

[Johnblue]

Low stakes online is almost as bad as fake money. Haha. Play live if you can, it’s just better for learning in my experience. Much slower and you get a better vibe for your opponents. In my younger days while playing online, I was studying and implementing odds/pot odds and putting the math into play. It’s good for that because you see so many hands and have to get fast at calculating quickly.

 

[johnnyesper]

Low stakes online is almost as bad as fake money. Haha. Play live if you can, it’s just better for learning in my experience. Much slower and you get a better vibe for your opponents. In my younger days while playing online, I was studying and implementing odds/pot odds and putting the math into play. It’s good for that because you see so many hands and have to get fast at calculating quickly.

That is precisely why I want to play online. Im not a spring chicken either so practicing the math off table is important. Hand reps online applying the math will help me when I go back to live play. I prefer live over online anyway. I just don't want to be torched when i do play live. lol.

 

[johnnyesper]

Let's ignore fake money being a bad learning tool. Let's assume you're okay with playing a bit aggressive/loose.

I'm not even a little surprised to see 8-2 off suit from the BB who got to limp in and play for free. You should've raised the button if you wanted to play. The raise could've gotten rid of the limpers. 8-2 is probably not calling a 5x bet out of position. You're also hoping to have weak aces fold from your button raise. Hard to believe your ace is good even if it hits when there's 3 other players in the hand.

At the turn, the second you got a single caller when you re-raised, you should have assumed you were very likely behind. When the second and third caller came, you should be MORE certain you're behind. When the river got checked to you, you should've been happy with "cheap" showdown. Your hand was not likely to be good and you were never stealing that from 3 other players at that point.

GL. You'll see a very interesting difference in skill when you get to online cash games. It will be different from your live cash home games and extremely different from casino cash games.

Yes to all of this! I agree with your assessment here. I want to be a much better aggressive player not just an aggro fish. My biggest mistake was letting player call me when have a good hand or good bluff situation. I have seen so far that too many rec players are passive. even though this is fake money there are ways to exploit them.