help/beginner

[wizard]

i have been playing poker for 2 or 3 weeks now on Stans. i vary between cash and sit&go games but much prefer sit&go's. i tend to place in the money 1 in every 3 s&g's i play, but so far (although it may not seem much) im about £30 down. i think im an ok player and i finished 90 out of 10000 in the pokerbowl free roll, but i just dont seem to know when to stop and bank what i've got. im also not sure about pot odds etc. and hands to raie and not to raise... any advice would be a great help. thanks

[legendkiller]

Re: help/beginner i tend to aim at playing stts that are about 10% of my bank on that site, for instance if I have £200 in ladcrooks i play £20 stts, if I have £50 in will hills I play £5 ones. You could use this for mtts but your wont finish in the money very often, so either reduced the entry fee or play them less often. For mtt's it is often worth watch for tourneys that are just over a threshold for extra money places (201 players pay 30 places, whereas 199 players pay 20). Dont worry overly about pot odds, if you make them your master you'll end up in the nuthouse worrying saying "well the pot odds said that I should call" even though there was overcards on the board. If you think you are beat then lay em down. Other than that, the best advice I can give is - dont put yourself all in unless you either have the nuts or a very good ready made hand. I am amazed at the amount of players who will call an all in with a drawing hand.

[Doddsy]

Re: help/beginner Welcome to the Punters Lounge Wizard:welcome The person you are looking for is Jezza, he'll give you all the details you need although I'm sure there are already posts about pot odds on here somewhere with links to other sites Well done for placing 90th out of 10000 as well, quite an achievement especially if you have only been playing 2-3 weeks:ok

[Doddsy]

Re: help/beginner Welcome to the Punters Lounge Wizard:welcome The person you are looking for is Jezza, he'll give you all the details you need although I'm sure there are already posts about pot odds on here somewhere with links to other sites Well done for placing 90th out of 10000 as well, quite an achievement especially if you have only been playing 2-3 weeks:ok

[legendkiller]

Re: help/beginner i tend to aim at playing stts that are about 10% of my bank on that site, for instance if I have £200 in ladcrooks i play £20 stts, if I have £50 in will hills I play £5 ones. You could use this for mtts but your wont finish in the money very often, so either reduced the entry fee or play them less often. For mtt's it is often worth watch for tourneys that are just over a threshold for extra money places (201 players pay 30 places, whereas 199 players pay 20). Dont worry overly about pot odds, if you make them your master you'll end up in the nuthouse :loon worrying saying "well the pot odds said that I should call" even though there was overcards on the board. If you think you are beat then lay em down. Other than that, the best advice I can give is - dont put yourself all in unless you either have the nuts or a very good ready made hand. I am amazed at the amount of players who will call an all in with a drawing hand.

[wizard]

Re: help/beginner Thanks for that legendkiller, and thanks for the welcome doddsy, although i have been on this site for a while but i don't tend to post. the launch of the two tv channels have got me hooked on poker.

[Markpl1]

Re: help/beginner I disagree with legend killer i think pot odds are important to a succesful poker player especially in cash games. There are plenty of thread on here about pot odds and to be honest they describe them better than i can, also there implied odds for the more advanced players.

[laidbackbloke]

Re: help/beginner Hi wizard :welcome I think if most people are honest they will have suffered losses to begin with. this thread has some good advice on it http://www.punterslounge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15159&page=1 hope it helps :ok

[Jezza]

Re: help/beginner Hey wizard it has been a week since i have been able to post...but nevertheless a big :welcome to the forum. If you look through the archives you will find many threads on sit and go strategy etc. For a general rule of thumb I would suggest in the early stages when the blinds are very small you raise with very litte, infact QQ KK and AA only practically. However as the blinds increase gradually raise with more hands until when the blinds are huge you are raising hard every pot practically. In ring games you must be mindful of a few things - position and no of opponents are two important ones. If you are UTG or in early pos against a full cash ring game of 10 players I wouldn't even raise with AK - I would just limp, the same goes for jacks or tens. Stick to the big wired pairs. Around the back or on the button you can lower your raising standards for sure as you have far more control over the hand after the flop. Shorthanded (against less than 5 opponents) I would try and bully the game with frequent raises preflop with any two cards that stand a good chance of making top pair. As mark says I would say pot odds are of a good importance, especially playing cash games (in tournaments you can sometimes fold pots where you have marginally correct odds to call as you are risking too much of your stack, in a cash game you must always stick your money in and gamble when you are a favourite/have correct odds - you can always rebuy) You dont need to take them super seriously if you play for fun tho, I would suggest you just need to know a few common ones like your chance of making a flush, a set etc. Try www.cardplayer.com for a good odds calculator, you can plug in any combination you fancy Jez