uNL Lessons for Friends X-POST

[Casper05]

Whats up guys- this is an x-post from the SSNL forum and I was told some of you may like to see what I'm doing. A couple of my friends asked me to teach them how to win at poker, so I drew up some sort of basic "class outline" and will be writing about 20 lessons in the next month or so...They are all pretty basic, and if you've read the stickies then there probably wont be anything new, but that doesnt mean you dont stand to learn anything.

Let me know what you think, and if you see anything you think should be added dont shy away! GL at the tables!

Ok, the first "lesson" was just a link to basic rules and an explaination of the game structure.

LESSON TWO

POSITION

Ok, screw the previous plan...we're going to start as if you know nothing about the game, which I think is a good assumption. Im not talking theory of anything until you understand very basic preflop strategy, since you'll encounter this situation in every single hand.

Position
Position is the seat you are in relative to the Button. It is important to play MORE hands from LATE POSITION than from early position because you will have more information. By playing more hands in late position, you are able to see the actions of your opponents before you decide whether or not to invest in the pot.

For example, you are "Under the Gun" (UTG is the seat directly to the left of the BB, and is the first to act pre-flop) with AK and raise it up to $1. The player to your immediate left (UTG+1) and the Button (BU) both call. Everybody else folds. The flop comes J48 rainbow (all different suits). The pot is $3.35 (your bet+2 callers+the blinds), and we are first to act. Well, the board blanked (didnt hit us) and now we have a tough decision. We can bet and we might take down the pot, but we also may get raised- we dont know.

Conversly, we have the same hand (AK) on the button. UTG+1 calls the BB, as does the Cutoff (CO is the seat directly to the right of the button). The pot is 85c (2 calls plus the blinds) so we're going to raise to $1.50 (4XBB + 1BB per "limper", which is a player that only calls the BB and does not raise...this is a good rule for pre-flop raising). Both players call. The pot is now $4.85 and the flop comes J48 rainbow again. Now, since we have position the hand is easy to play, regardless of the flop. If it goes "check", "check", then we can bet and both players will probably fold. If one of them calls, fine- we will see one more card and we have 6 "outs" (cards that can come that improve our hand- 3 Aces and 3 Kings) to draw to. We also have position on the turn and can check if he checks and fold if he bets assuming we dont hit any of our outs. Conversly, if the action goes like this: UTG+1 bets $3, CO raises to $11, now we have an EASY fold and we saved ourself $4...all because of position.

UTG- First to act preflop
UTG+1
CO
BU
SB
BB

So, make sure you play more hands in position than out of position, and remember that the blinds are the worst positions on the table...worse than UTG because they will act first (SB then BB) once the flop comes.

Im not going to tell you what hands to play from what position right now...just play and keep position in mind until you get a better grasp of the game.

[Casper05]

Lesson 3

THE PLAYERS

Just like in football and basketball, the more you know about your opponents the more successful you will be. As a beginning player, you arent going to notice how players play in specific situations, such as how they play their draws (a draw is a hand that needs another card in order to make a good hand: If you have 9T on a JQ5 board, you have an open ended straight draw and need an 8 or a K to make a straight). At this stage, you should look for generalities about the type of players they are.

In order to really know a player, you should be able to describe their pre-flop play AND their post-flop play. Both are important, as you encounter pre-flop play in every hand but the money is made (and lost) post flop. So, lets get started.

Pre-flop can be put into a matrix because there are 2 categories that you must consider. Looseness and aggression.

___________ Tight ___________ Loose

Aggressive___TA________________LA

Passive______TP________________LP


Tight Aggressive Players are coming into the pot raising (aggression) and with the goods (tight). They dont play many hands, and when they do they are going to be quality hands. When a tight aggressive player raises you and you look down at JQ, you can safely "muck" (fold) your hand because you probably aren't ahead. On the same note, you can sometimes abuse these players with a reraise because you know they will fold everything but their VERY good hands. Stay away from these guys unless you have a big hand- at the level you'll be playing at there is too much money to be made vs the other types to even worry about good players. This is the player you want to be.

Tight Passive Players are coming into the pot with the goods, but more than likely are not raising. Be careful when they call your raises, because you know they have a solid holding. If a TP player raises you, get out unless you're holding a premium hand (AK, TT-AA).

Loose Aggressive Players are playing tons of hands and raising almost as many. These guys are tough to play against, because you never know if they have AA or 45. Exercise patience and their stack will be yours when they go all-in with nothing while you hold "the nuts" (the best hand). Dont change your pre-flop strategy (tight) against these guys, just wait for a premium hand and abuse them. They'll bluff a lot and can easily be lured into big pots because they frequently overestimate the value of their hand.

Loose Passive Players are my personal favorite. They call with everything and never raise. Again, watch out when passive players raise you because they probably hold a very good hand. These players will check or call a lot in hopes of hitting a card to make their hand. Dont bluff these guys, because they'll call. Bet when you have a good hand, again, because they'll call. Be careful when they show aggression, and be careful when draws hit because there is a good chance it helped them.

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Ok, post-flop players fall into two categories we already covered: aggressive and passive. Most tight aggressive players are aggressive post-flop and most passive players pre-flop are passive post-flop. Its important not to just assume though, because there are some Loose-Aggressive players that never raise post-flop unless they're holding the nuts...if you dont pay attention you'll call off your stack with Top Pair because you think he's a maniac.

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I'll add some hand examples later - after you ask some questions, or say that you dont have any...A good exercise for you to do would be to make up a hand example yourself, describe each player involved, and then determine your actions based on your "reads" (observations on how they play)

EDIT TO ADD: I mentioned buying 2 programs in a previous posts. These programs pretty much do this work for you. "Poker Tracker" saves a hand history of every hand you play, and after a while tells you which players at your table are tight/loose/passive/aggressive/etc. It also lets you go back and review your hands so you can look for mistakes...I use it all the time. The 2nd program is "PokerAceHud", which uses the stats Poker Tracker collects and puts the information right on your screen while playing. I would HIGHLY recommend purchasing these programs before you start playing....they will pay for themselves within your first 500 hands.

[Sweir]

GL with this. I see a lot of posters in uNL that appear to be new to the game and could really benefit from this.

EDIT: I think that a rough guide as to what hands to play from what positions would be useful for the kind of people who would read this. Almost all new players will overvalue hands like QJ/KJ UTG and undervalue hands like 67s on the button with weak blinds.

[LearningCurve]

Excellent framework to educate a new player. Very nice job!

[SnappyJoe]

I dropped this link to a friend of mine and he was very grateful, hope you'll write the next lessons soon.

[clearcut]

Very nice, although I disagree with this to an extent...

"Loose Aggressive Players are playing tons of hands and raising almost as many. These guys are tough to play against, because you never know if they have AA or 45. Exercise patience and their stack will be yours when they go all-in with nothing while you hold "the nuts" (the best hand). Dont change your pre-flop strategy (tight) against these guys, just wait for a premium hand and abuse them. They'll bluff a lot and can easily be lured into big pots because they frequently overestimate the value of their hand."

A true LAG will not play a big pot without a big hand. Although, I do agree that you must be patient playing these opponents.