My first post

Ozy · #1 07-19-2007, 01:37 PM

Hello there, my name's Ozy.

Well I'm brand new to this site and very new to poker and I'm really enjoying it. I've been playing for about a month now and I'm still a complete donk/fish/idiot/whatever else a novice gets called, though and I'd really like to become a better player.

I know the basics; the mechanics of of the games, I know stuff like the rule of 4 and 2, knowing what the nuts is after reading the board and that you can play more marginal hands in late position etc but I know that I'm still a bad player.

I play online but only for play money since I'm only 16 (I hope people here don't look down on minors playing poker). I've won about 10 Sit'n'gos and have about 600k in play money chips, which I think is pretty good, but I'd put quite a bit of it down to luck. (Quadrupling up when you flop a boat is always a good thing)

So the point of this post (Yup, there is one) is what would you recommend to me as far as improving my game. Websites, books etc would be great or even personal explanations of key concepts I should know. I've bought Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and intend to start reading that later on today. Anyway, enough of my rambling and thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Ozy [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Dranoel · #2 07-19-2007, 01:47 PM

Welcome to the site Ozy.

There's a lot of information, news, & gossip here.

Dive right in, and feel at home.

UATrewqaz · #3 07-19-2007, 02:00 PM

Reading books is a great first step. The Theory of Poker is a great all around book no matter what form of poker fancies you.

That is another thing that would also be good to do. What form of poker interests you most?

Hold em I assume? If so what variety, limit or NL? If NL, then cash or tournament? IF tournament would it be SNG or MTT? and so forth.

If you're interested in alot of these forms that's fine.

After you've decided what direction you wanna go in get the necessary literature (2+2 books are the best, I don't work for em so I'm allowed to say, haha).

Investing in poker software is also a good idea, specifically Poker Tracker to keep track of your results and analyze your play.

cheburashka · #4 07-19-2007, 03:32 PM

The books session of this site lists a lot of good ones.

Also, for inspiration, you should go to the WSOP site and look up Annette--she's a Scandanavian, 18 years old, and is already a top pro. Best, she's never invested a dime in poker, because she got her start playing free rolls.

foal · #5 07-19-2007, 03:49 PM

I don't think anyone here looks down on minors playing poker, real money or otherwise, as long as it's cool with your parents. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I think you'll enjoy Theory of Poker, I found it fascinating when I first read it. Little Green Book is decent, it's light and very broad, but you will learn something from it.

Be careful about getting cocky and switching to real money. About three years ago I played play money on Party Poker, thought "this is easy", deposited 50 dollars and lost it within a few hours.

[ QUOTE ]

Investing in poker software is also a good idea, specifically Poker Tracker to keep track of your results and analyze your play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Poker Tracker works for play money?

Harv72b · #6 07-19-2007, 05:33 PM

Theory of Poker is an excellent book. You definitely need to read that at some point in your development as a poker player.

The Harrington on Hold'em series is probably the best available for NL tournament play. The best that I've encountered anyway.

Aside from that, any book will have its good points to pick out, even Play Poker Like the Pros. Some books have far more good points, but so long as you think about what you read & analyze its accuracy, reading a book can't really hurt. And of course there is literally a wealth of information in these forums and their archives.

You have the right attitude when it comes to your play money wins thus far: it is a small sample size, and they are just play money tables. Quite a few of your opponents probably couldn't tell you if 3 of a kind beats a straight or not. But while it's good that you aren't overconfident in your game, it's also okay to be proud of what you've done so far. Just keep looking for ways to improve (that piece of advice will still hold true 30 years from now).

Welcome to the forums, best of luck at the tables, and I'll keep an eye out for you on the real money side in a couple years. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Nairb · #7 07-19-2007, 05:46 PM

The three volumes of Harrington on Holdem contain a wealth of information.

DMC0627 · #8 07-19-2007, 06:46 PM

Welcome to the boards. I am still new and learning also, and have gotten a lot out of reading threads here and posting my questions. I agree on Theory of Poker and Harringtons series, they have been very helpful to me and the community here has been also. Good luck.

raju · #9 07-20-2007, 06:49 AM

Make sure you read the stickys/FAQ`s at the top of each forum, even forums you dont think apply to you like PL/NL high stakes or limit M-HSH.
These hold an absolute wealth of info that will improve the way you play poker.
One ( icant remember which ) has a post by pokey explaining how to use the search function properly. Without this knowledge you will soon get fed up with trying to find things there and you will miss out on many, many very good posts that have already been written.

Good luck

Ozy · #10 07-20-2007, 06:50 PM

Thanks alot for the replies so far, I will definitely look into getting The Theory of Poker and the Harrington on Hold'em set. I've seen them both in shops but they were like £20 each (the only had HOH volume 1) which is somewhere near forty bucks a book which I couldn't afford at the time, but can now.