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Trying to learn (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Noob26
- Start date
Cheapest way is probably YouTube. There’s tons of free instructional stuff there, and there’s a lot of value in simply watching the top pros play.
My personal favorite is Bart Hanson - his free videos usually discuss every action of every street of a hand at $1/3, $2/5, or $5/10 for 15-20 min. I’ve never paid for coaching; I don’t have the patience to study the game (at least not modern Holdem GTO theory) but I can watch these and pick things up.
Here’s his latest (though I haven’t watched it yet, so I don’t know if it’s a good one.).
My personal favorite is Bart Hanson - his free videos usually discuss every action of every street of a hand at $1/3, $2/5, or $5/10 for 15-20 min. I’ve never paid for coaching; I don’t have the patience to study the game (at least not modern Holdem GTO theory) but I can watch these and pick things up.
Here’s his latest (though I haven’t watched it yet, so I don’t know if it’s a good one.).
riesling
Sitting Out
Bart (and Crush Live Poker) make great content to beat live cash games (i.e. play TAG, value bet thinly). It's a very solid / somewhat exploitative approach that is probably the best route to beat live cash (up to 2/5 NLHE). If you're playing online, higher stakes live, modern poker theory is solver-driven (i.e. computer simulations have approximated the highest expected value strategy for NLHE for heads-up pots): Upswing Poker's content (YouTube, podcasts, website) is more solver-driven and many of it is free.
Never lose.
Set a limit and stick to it.
If your limit is $40, play until you lose $40. Review your play and figure out what you can do differently. Don't gamble your money away and continue to add-on... set a limit per session and honor it.
Good luck, have fun!
If your limit is $40, play until you lose $40. Review your play and figure out what you can do differently. Don't gamble your money away and continue to add-on... set a limit per session and honor it.
Good luck, have fun!
That’s good advice, as long as your limit is multiple buyins. You can’t be successful in a big bet game without knowing 1) you will be putting all your chips in the middle at least multiple times per session and 2) sometimes you will lose them.
Or you can play limit games.
DrStrange
4 of a Kind
Without knowing where OP is starting from, this is a really hard question to answer. Should we start with a flush beats a straight? How about a crib-card with starting hand selections? Is a discussion of GTO vs exploitation more appropriate? Omaha vs hold'em vs "three-ring circus" games? Tournament vs cash? On-line vs live?
And what does "learn" mean? Understand the rules? Get enough skill to win more than you lose? Keeping in mind a number of people play and struggle for years never doing better than breaking even. i.e., many people aren't going to be winning poker players even with a lot of work.
Getting a wide-ranging poker education is not "wallet friendly". Perhaps you can learn a little watching a TV tournament or participating in ultra-low stakes on-line games. Check out poker books at the library. Exploring 2+2.
In the end there is no substitute for actually playing the game, which ever form of poker you want to learn. You will almost certainly be "paying tuition" to the better players in the form of losing sessions. Obviously, you need to keep track of wins vs losses. I encourage extensive session by session reviews of your play. it takes longevity, effort and clear-eyed self-understanding because the wrong decision can win the chips sometimes or the right decision loses, and you have to be able to figure that out. All while other people obfuscate the situation.
Sure, coaching can eventually help but you need to be pretty far down the road before it would do much good. Poker books fall roughly into the same category. There are surprisingly few books well suited to beginners. There are quite a few book that are highly technical and presume a deep understanding of the game. And some that are targeted to a very narrow sort of advanced player. Cheapest way can be to post strategy threads on a forum like 2+2 - not fast, not easy, but cheap.
Good luck! it isn't easy. There are plenty of reasons why few players are solid winning players. -=- DrStrange
And what does "learn" mean? Understand the rules? Get enough skill to win more than you lose? Keeping in mind a number of people play and struggle for years never doing better than breaking even. i.e., many people aren't going to be winning poker players even with a lot of work.
Getting a wide-ranging poker education is not "wallet friendly". Perhaps you can learn a little watching a TV tournament or participating in ultra-low stakes on-line games. Check out poker books at the library. Exploring 2+2.
In the end there is no substitute for actually playing the game, which ever form of poker you want to learn. You will almost certainly be "paying tuition" to the better players in the form of losing sessions. Obviously, you need to keep track of wins vs losses. I encourage extensive session by session reviews of your play. it takes longevity, effort and clear-eyed self-understanding because the wrong decision can win the chips sometimes or the right decision loses, and you have to be able to figure that out. All while other people obfuscate the situation.
Sure, coaching can eventually help but you need to be pretty far down the road before it would do much good. Poker books fall roughly into the same category. There are surprisingly few books well suited to beginners. There are quite a few book that are highly technical and presume a deep understanding of the game. And some that are targeted to a very narrow sort of advanced player. Cheapest way can be to post strategy threads on a forum like 2+2 - not fast, not easy, but cheap.
Good luck! it isn't easy. There are plenty of reasons why few players are solid winning players. -=- DrStrange
Jonathan little and Daniel have good videos on YouTube
Thanks, I've never heard of Bart Hanson so I'll check him out
I guess I should have been much more specific lol....I have been playing quite awhile but almost exclusively home games but I always look to improve....my main focus is gto for hold em. With that said, I am not familiar with what a crib card is, could you elaborate please
I made a pdf for my friends. Pm if you want me to email it to ya.
Another idea for beginners is to find some low stakes firehouse/social hall tournaments. In my area (New York State) there are plenty of these; usually can be found advertised on Facebook.
For a low price you can get some actual live experience. Just bear in mind that the player pool is going to be very different than what you will encounter in casinos or tougher home/private games. A lot more limping, a lot more ABC play.
If you are looking for more advanced strategy advice, I highly recommend the Thinking Poker Podcast, hosted by Andrew Brokos. There are hundreds of old episodes if you don’t want to pay to subscribe to new ones. Each episode has a strategy segment and then an interview with a poker pro, statistician, or other relevant guest.
Brokos also has written hundreds of strategy articles for various sites and publications, if you google his name, plus several high-level strategy books.
For a low price you can get some actual live experience. Just bear in mind that the player pool is going to be very different than what you will encounter in casinos or tougher home/private games. A lot more limping, a lot more ABC play.
If you are looking for more advanced strategy advice, I highly recommend the Thinking Poker Podcast, hosted by Andrew Brokos. There are hundreds of old episodes if you don’t want to pay to subscribe to new ones. Each episode has a strategy segment and then an interview with a poker pro, statistician, or other relevant guest.
Brokos also has written hundreds of strategy articles for various sites and publications, if you google his name, plus several high-level strategy books.
First of all - welcome to the forum from a fellow New Yorker! I grew up in Manhattan it have been in Brooklyn for the past 10 years (our group of friends host non raked games regularly).
My advice would be to find 1-3 people who are interested in discussing/reviewing hands with you. While YouTube is a great resource (as others have pointed out), your first steps towards any kind of real “study” have to involve zooming in on specific hands and every aspect of those hands until you begin to identify leaks and potential strategies to counter your opponents leaks. Now this seems simple but it’s actually quite challenging to find those people who both enjoy discussing hands/spots but who are also themselves interested in learning and really getting better (this is the major line of demarcation amongst all players btw, those that love the game and play for fun and those that love the game but are really trying their best to improve).
Good luck and feel free to reach out if you have additional questions. I do some coaching myself but it sounds like you might be a few steps removed from going down that route.
DrStrange
4 of a Kind
A crib card is a summary of notes on a subject. e.g., formulas for calculus, state capitals, compound names for organic chemistry and in this case a list of hands you can play from what position. Typically in the form of a single page or note card you could prepare to study for tests.
Back in the dawn of the on-line poker era i had an index card with recommended preflop hand selection as a range guide for what a tight player might play on limit poker games. I was bonus whoring limit hold'em and wanted a snap range estimate vs the better players.
Back in the dawn of the on-line poker era i had an index card with recommended preflop hand selection as a range guide for what a tight player might play on limit poker games. I was bonus whoring limit hold'em and wanted a snap range estimate vs the better players.
Search for free bar poker leagues in your area. Free phone apps. And watching poker streams helped me by listening to the commentary of the play.
redchippoker.com has some free content on its site, and also has a free Discord you can join without being a member of their paid content where you can post hand histories and get feedback from their coaches, teachers, and community. This coupled with the free content already mentioned in this thread is a pretty good start. If you do decide to take their CORE course, it's $5/week (one red chip) and has some pretty good cash game and tournament courses available. Can start/stop your subscription at any time, etc etc.
WedgeRock
Royal Flush
Crush Live Poker podcast has a free version that is 25% of the paid version.
If you're truly a noob, it might be too esoteric. But there are good things you can pick up from his podcast.
The main Red Chip guy posts strategy videos on YouTube quite often, and he seems like one of the saner voices out there.
I think this is true. But also, "success" can be different things at different times. I agree there should be no fear to "lose money," but sometimes loosing money can indicate there's something to learn about a particular situation.
I guess for me, learning can be expensive, or controlled in terms of cash burned. Better to learn within set limits while not being afraid to lose money (playing the right way, etc).
Limit games are also a good way to learn initially, but I wouldn't suggest limit games for very long if the OP wants to play no-limit at some point. Really different games in terms of strategy in my opinion.
He does and is imo. Redchip also have like 6 or 7 seasons of podcast available for free on YouTube. They're all pretty easy to talk to folks over in their discord too. Their early approach of simplified GTO ranges and small stakes exploits has served me pretty well too. It's why I keep recommending them when the question comes up. Constantly putting out new content too
Kentucky
Two Pair
+1 for Redchip as a wallet friendly intro - you can binge their content for a month for $20, then cancel which is orders of magnitude less than you’d pay for something like JL’s PokerCoaching, or JakaCoaching.
The main guy’s name is James “Splitsuit” Sweeney. Search Splitsuit or Pokerbank on YouTube for free content. He’s also written a couple of books that occasionally on sale at Amazon.
Splisuit and Jonathan Little’s free YouTube content is pretty good but you will end up being all over the map topic wise - which can be confusing. I’d say do a couple of weeks of redchip, cancel, but let it percolate through your brain while you play for a month or two, then maybe do another 2 weeks.
Kentucky
Two Pair
I read somewhere that in raked games, not even 1 in 10 players are longterm winners.
CincinattiKiddo
High Hand
I would like this as well
Right on man. Let me get that email on the pm
SirSauce
Sitting Out
Hey man, i've just send you a PM. Thanks !
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