The Day After RoswellFollow

Interesting...I was in Linguistics too. It does get deeper than Chompsky.

What is your wife going to do with that?

I was saving Smash's fragile feelings. Da[i][/i]mn you!

Read the book? Why not watch the TV show!
Roswell...great show. <two thumbs up>

Say smash, didn't you say you can teach anyone to win at Pokerstars? Teach me!!!

Say smash, didn't you say you can teach anyone to win at Pokerstars? Teach me!!!


Which game?

Limit or no limit?

Haha.

Start by only playing pocket pairs and AK, AQ, and AJ. Fold everything else.

Only play in games where at least half of the people see the flop. If you have AA, KK, QQ, AK or AQ raise before the flop.

If you're playing a pocket pair lower than queens and you don't make three of a kind on the flop, fold.

If you make three of a kind raise and raise bet as much as you can untill the river.

If you're playing KK or QQ and there's an overcard (and A if it's KK or a K or an A if it's QQ) on the flop, fold when someone bets.

Play very agressively, raising or betting when there's no obvious hand better than yours. (like three suited cards or a paired board) If it's obvious there could be a better hand fold.

Patience is a virtue.

You won't be playing many hands, but because everyone else is when you do you'll have an advantage.

If you can stick to playing that small subset of starting hands and being agressive when yuo seem to have the best hand and easily able to fold when you have the worst hand, you'll make money.

There's a lot more to poker than that, but that will beat almost any loose game up to about $2/$4.

I like hold 'em because it's pretty damn easy. I've never played Omaha and don't know how it works. I'm open to pretty much anything though as I'm riding this wave of Poker that everyone is getting into, even the reality shows. I was kinda playing like you said, only I would stay in with a face or ace no matter what, but now that I think, it makes less sense. Lookingat it from your way that does make alot of sense, and bluffing through the net doesn't have the same effect.

Omaha Hi Lo is a harder game to learn than Holdem but it's a much easier game to play well once you learn it.

It also has the benefit of the fact that most people who play it have no idea what they're doing.

It also has less variance. You can play Holdem completely perfectly and still loose 50 big bets easily. Long term you'll win, but the flucuations in Holdem are more severe than in Omaha hi/lo.

To be honest, a basic poker book is probably going to be too complex for the games you're playing in unless you're playing at higher limits than I'm assuming.

Ed Miller just wrote a good book about low limit holdem, but even that's a little complicated.

Let me define some simple terms for you really quick.

Tight - Player who doesn't play many hands before the flop.

Loose - Player who playes less than premium hands before the flop, ussually any two suited cards, any ace, etc.

Agressive - Player who bets and raises frequently before and after the flop.

Weak - Player who calls most bets but rarely raises or makes a first bet. Would be happy to check evey round most times.

Poker players ussually describe other players by combing two of the four terms so you get a few catagories of players:

Loose/Weak: Player who plays too many hands before the flop, and will call most bets all the way to a showdon and rarely raises even with the best hand. AKA Calling Station.

Loosge/Agressive: Player who playes too many hands before the flop, raises often even with poor hands and will rarely fold. AKA Maniacs.

Weak/Tight: Player who playes few hands before the flop and playes them passively. Will not raise pre-flop with anything but aces, will fold if there is straight or flush draw on the board, etc.

Tight/Agressive: Player who playes few hands before the flop, but playes them agressively with the long term goal of getting as much money on the table as possible when he has the best hand and getting out when he has the worst hand.

Most Holdem players progress through the four "archtypes" as they learn the game. Almost everyone starts out Loose/Weak playing too many hands, calling bets to see the other guys cards when they know they're beat, etc.

Most people eventually decide they're sick of getting sucked out on by bad river cards and learn that they need to raise to try and get some people to fold longshot draws before the river. They still tend to play to loosely however and some turn into Maniacs.

Sometimes Loose Agressive players get a good run of cards and make a lot of money, and come to the conclusion that this style of play is profitable. They ussually end up loosing all their money shortly after that.

Most players then progress to the Weak/Tight stage, which is basically what I'm advising you to play in a loose game, where they realize they can beat a loose game by playing quality hands before the flop, raising when they have the best hand and folding when they don't.

Most people don't become tight/agressive players untill they move up in limits to games where it's often heads up by the turn and realize bluffing can start making them some money, and calling bluff attempts can too. IT's a completely diffrent game at that point.

Weak tight play will easily beat low limit online games, probably for 3 or 4 BB/hour or more long term

Wow thanks. That actually makes a ton of sense. I was playing pretty schizo actually, not really following any of the patterns, trying to get a feel for the game. Funny thing is I doubled my money, I probably got lucky on the loose/aggressive. What does that 3 or 4 bb/hour mean?

I love chess. Phase 10 is good, but those last to sets are teh suc to finish.