Where should I learn to play poker this summer? (1 Viewer)

kaimat

kaimat

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This summer I am going to have a ridiculous amount of free time and have decided it's about time I finally learn to play poker. Quick history, I started playing online poker around 9th grade on True Poker or something like that, just for play money. I have an account on Ignition and played a little on Global when it first started (to date I'm down maybe $100 from online poker). I mostly enjoy playing with my friends and while I'm up a few hundred over the few years I've been hosting games, I've approached the games with the mindset that I'll likely lose money (no more than $100 per game) and I'm ok with that.

Anyway, now I'd like to take some time to improve. I have Daniel Negreanu's Masterclass, but I'm wondering if there are other basic books or videos I should be checking out. I sometimes watch Splitsuit hand analysis videos on Youtube. There is live poker at a couple casinos within 2 hours of my house, but I have no idea what the games there are like. Ideally I'd play a lot online and am wondering if anyone has specifics on what kind of limits to start with or sites to choose.

So yep, I own thousands of dollars worth of chips, but I suck at poker haha.
 
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Hands down, the best poker tutorial/learning site is Upswing Poker. It’s where I spent a lot of time before I found PCF. Now I spend way too much time on here looking for chips, lol.

I think if you spent one summer on Upswing really nailing down the content, it would go a long way.
 
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Learning is an open-ended process, but you must read the Bible before going heretical or just taking any "graduate" course.
The Bible is a combination of Doyle Brunson's Super System and Harrington's books on Cash - and Tourney.
You won't be able to assimilate much if you 're not playing at the same time, though.
There is no Royal (ie painless) way of learning poker.
 
It sounds like you still have access to online. I'd play a lot online at stakes that you are comfortable with. Probably play 2-4 tables as it makes you willing to fold enough preflop and not get too bored.

Potowatami base game is $1/$3 and generally on the aggressive side. You need to buy in for $200 at least to be deep enough to really play and $300 is better. Not hard to dust off a buy-in or two depending on how the game is playing.

I don't know how Oneida plays.

I think Coyote's suggestion of Dan Harrington's books is very good. I have to confess that I've never read Super System.

Andrew Neeme's vlog is very good. He is a nice guy, entertaining and does a good job of explaining hands -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLTP4Ns4v8EsVS0DVGugQrQ

As mentioned above Upswing is good. Doug Polk who runs Upswing also has a lot of free videos, but he tends to be long winded.
 
Good suggestions above. One option to learn is joining the nightly PCF games on P*s. Cheap way to play against some talented players and some wild cards. Learning to play is going to cost you buyins so keep your buy ins low. Also, consider limit games for your first casino experiences. Harder to stack off....
 
Home game tournaments are about the cheapest live game experience you can get. I hosted weekly $20 tournaments for a few years when I first started. We would have 25/50c cash games as well once we had enough to play and would often play 3-4 handed until 6am lol. The volume of hands I played in those years were invaluable.

I also read every book I could find starting with Super System 2 which was great for learn g games besides Hold’em. Harrington’s tournaments books were a great foundation. I never read his cash books.
 
Harrington’s books are good, just a little outdated. I think the best learning is always theory/concept + practical examples/exercises... which Harrington’s books do well.

But Upswing is by far the best now IMO. That and a really nice searchable database on 2+2 forums. I just hate the layout of the 2+2 forums. I haven’t been on 2+2 in ages though so I don’t know how it is now. It used to be the PCF for poker knowledge.
 
Decide what stakes to play first. I think 1/2 NL is a good starting point for live play. As a precursor play online at low stakes and watch training videos for those stakes. Once you feel comfortable then play at the casino.
 
If you’re planning on playing live, I highly recommend crush live poker. Especially if you have time to listen to podcasts, there’s about 5 years worth of backlogs to listen through that are chocked full of relevant highly applicable content. If you go back a few years you can still listen to all of the cash plays podcasts for free here http://www.crushlivepoker.com/podcasts/category/cash-plays

The videos on the site are worth the additional $10/ month ($20 instead of $10 for just podcasts) as they focus on NLHE cash, PLO and there are a series of tournament videos by Jonathan Little that are great.

That said, if you’re gonna play online, Upswing is also great.
 
Lots of books out there and I have a bunch from early 2000s and a few newer ones. The things is now there are tons of free videos on YouTube as well as other online resources.

One important thing to remember is consider the stakes for which the book is aimed at. I would recommend searching for books on “small stakes holdem”. That will be most useful for the games you are most likely to encounter. Several famous books out there are targeting higher stakes games with much better players. These game play much differently.

Also, I recommend you DONT read Doyle Brunson NL Holdem section of the Super System at this point in your playing career. That was written about playing in very high stakes NL games over 40 years ago where most of his opponents where playing relatively tight. Players today are much more sophisticated...even the low stakes players.
 
Anthony Martino said:
I'll sum up Doyle's section in Super System:

I'll call a bet on the flop to pickup a draw on the turn so I can apply pressure. I get lucky.

At the end of the day it really depends on what games you want to play, which isn't entirely clear. Cash? Tourney? Hold Em? Something else?
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That and “play super aggressive and win all the small pots so that you can afford to take more risk in the big pots.”
 
I recommend Red Chip Poker to get your start. They have a class called Core that will give you a lot of what you need.

I’ll have to check out upswing poker and see what’s going on there.

I see players in my home games that expect to give up $100-$200 a week and do that...every session. OP, I’m curious why you never wanted to get better and what made you decide to now?
 
Anthony Martino said:
I'll sum up Doyle's section in Super System:

I'll call a bet on the flop to pickup a draw on the turn so I can apply pressure. I get lucky.

At the end of the day it really depends on what games you want to play, which isn't entirely clear. Cash? Tourney? Hold Em? Something else?
Click to expand...
Because everyone else is playing premium cards looking to make top pair
Saoliver said:
That and “play super aggressive and win all the small pots so that you can afford to take more risk in the big pots.”
Click to expand...

All this in the context that most of your opponents are only playing big pots.
 
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codeman00 said:
I personally have a tough time with any Jonathan Little book or video. I know he’s a great player but I can’t understand his teaching method of listing a billion situations and expecting you to remember all of them.
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I liked this book but it was often very hard to follow. I never took so long to read through such a short book. I found myself rereading paragraphs over and over.
 
I'd like to improve in cash games mostly. I'm not sure I'll ever play in a tournament for more than $20.
 
I forgot.
After you masterfully slowplay yourself into losing the pot, curse, rant, rave, spit, sputter, and throw cards like it is the first instance, in the history of time itself, that someone has come from way behind to win.
In no case whatsoever behave like you've actually been there before.

And, be assured that if you come from way behind to win a pot from me, I will take it in stride... unless you say "I'm sorry." In which case I will jam a pencil through your ear canal and try to find any tiny piece of brain you might possess.

Have a nice day.
 
kaimat said:
I'd like to improve in cash games mostly. I'm not sure I'll ever play in a tournament for more than $20.
Click to expand...

Then you definitely need to come to Southern Michigan. Cash games galore, including crazy circus bullshit if that's what floats your boat
 
I know it is outdated in most people's minds and can be a little dry, but I'd recommend Sklansky's Theory of Poker as an excellent base for learning to play poker.
 
Now a days there is more poker training available than ever before. Reading books is good if you prefer that learning style. Online tutorials are even better (that Masterclass will help). But actually logging hrs live is very necessary to progressing and getting better, since playing live is a diff than online because “everything u do is observable”. You can approach this an apprenticeship with on-the-job training (live poker) and classroom time (studying poker) for best results. But start w studying first before u go spewing good money away the hard way :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

If you can’t log a whole lot of time live, the next best thing is watch the many videos on youtube of live small stakes cash games (1/2,2/5) like Stones Gambling Hall, Live at the Bike, etc. Its cool to be able to see how players play these stakes and see their whole cards, reasonings, announcer commentary, etc. Just keep an open mind that your local casino play may vary somewhat.

It also helps to surround yourself with good players to have as a support group. One thing you tend to notice is most good players have a great memory and can recall game info really well but that will come with time.

If you like reading I have lots of poker books (cash and tourney) in pdf form that i can send u if like reading off ur phone or tablet. Just pm me your email. Oh and one very important thing to remember is that some advanced poker training may not apply to small stakes, like others have said.

Good luck on your road to improvement!
 
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TxGoodfella said:
Oh and one very important thing to remember is that some advanced poker training may not apply to small stakes, like others have said.
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This is 100% true. I’ve read books from the pros that are a complete 180 on the same hand or idea because those players only play high stakes. I find that the more credible materials will actually note in the material the differences between low and high stake situations and some actually moved down in stakes for x hours to make sure their material is accurate.

I think Andrew Neeme’s YouTube videos are gold for anyone stepping up to casino poker.
 
After learning the mechanics of the games you are wanting to play and some basic strategies (most of the books mentioned will give you a good starting primer) the next step is to play as much live poker as you can against as many varied people as possible. It's a lifetime game so the learning never really stops. Experience is the best teacher. Nothing will hone your game better than just playing in as many different situations, as many different games and with as many different people as you can. Step outside you comfort zone on occasion. .Just start off slowly with stakes you can afford to lose. The early lessons are usually costly.

Good luck
 

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