Kinda OT: How to teach a total novice poker

[Kyle Flynn]

when I didn't know anything.... i first got taught the BlackJack rule. Try'n play cards that add up to around 20... and introduce the strength of SC's.

After he can start reading the board and the draws that come along.... you can start teaching him pot odds... and the more intricate things of poker.

[wcsherry]

1.) Start with micro-limit cash games.

2.) Teach weak-tight ABC-nitty poker to begin with.

3.) Work from there to adapt a SSH approach to the game.

4.) Save him the agony of the game and don't bother teaching.

[luckychewy]

i've tried this before and all i can say is that if he's not like really dedicated to learning it's going to be incredibly hard. what i'm saying is, if he doesn't actively try to get better in his spare time or ask u question or think about the game etc, it's just not going to work and you will get frustrated. i'd recommend trying to teach him the basics of variance first.

[Exitonly]

[ QUOTE ]
1) Teach them basics
2) Get them to read small-stakes hold'em
3) Have them watch you play, talk about why you do things
4) Talk about your reasoning and logic behind general things early, make sure they get the general goals of the game before they have played much
5) If you don't value your time much, watch them play and critique

[/ QUOTE ]

good list.

[bulldogs24]

dear ansky, let me tell you that this is probably going to be one of the most frustrating things you are going to do even if he has the basic knowledge. aejones knows what he's talking about as i was given numerous opportunties to learn and listen which i did, but did i understand, not so much... this leveling idea isdead on because i would always ask him why are you doing that now and not then, etc, and it was just so much to comprehend and follow and im following almost alot of his sessions/tournies/talking hands etc and i still was barely able to grasp alot of it.. it was a failure with me and he will agree

it will be tough because he will have to be like 10000% dedicated as i was only like 75%.. but good luck none the less

[Highn]

[ QUOTE ]
i've tried this before and all i can say is that if he's not like really dedicated to learning it's going to be incredibly hard. what i'm saying is, if he doesn't actively try to get better in his spare time or ask u question or think about the game etc, it's just not going to work and you will get frustrated. i'd recommend trying to teach him the basics of variance first.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very good point...

[josie_wales]

I think that Lee Jone's
'winning small stakes poker' was probably the biggest help to me once I knew the basics.

[LearnedfromTV]

One way to cover "a basic concepts" starting hand guideline without handing a chart is to say, after going over hand rankings (what beats what):

"Quads and straight flush are like impossible, so don't worry about them.

Full House, straight, flush, and three of a kind are tough to make and very strong when you do. There's a group of hands (pocket pairs and suited connectors) that make these hands more often than any others. Playing those hands when it's cheap or a lot of people in the pot is good. If you hit, play very aggressively.

One pair and two pair are the most common hands; what matters most with these, especially one pair, is how high your pair is and what your kicker is. So hands that can make overpairs and top pair top kicker, like AA, AK, KK, AQ are much better than hands that can't, like KJ. Generally you want to play these hands with as few people and for as much $ preflop as you can."

And then say something about position being extremely important, but that he'll have to learn that as he plays (and always point out position stuff as he watches you, you watch him...)

[furyshade]

given that i only started learning a year ago, i can give you a good list from the perspective of a learner, you can ask gobbo about the other side of my learning

1) DO NOT tell to read theory of poker, he will so lost that he will probably play worse
2) start him on micro MTT's, the concept of robusto is common to everyone, the idea one winning a $3 mtt at his level will be an awesome motivator
3) explicitly write down the ranges of hands he should be playing from each position, the one on SSNL is kind of missleading
4)don't mix in % of times you should be raising, give him a concrete list of hands that he will always raise or always fold, its really hard to grasp raising sometimes and folding others
5)watch him and extrapolate on a concept once you see he understands the basics, like why you raise small pocket pairs(something new people HATE to do) and stealing blinds
6)try to switch off between watching him play and him watching you, it will be easier given that you guys will be in the same room
7)just answer the questions, you will get a lot of "should i raise KQ?" over and over again, the good thing about tournaments is you will not have to worry about postflop play really which makes it a lot easier to learn, i think the fact that i started on MTTs made it a lot easier since i only really had to worry about preflop pay and didnt have to worry about doing something later on, you can move him to cash once he gets a br/some confidence etc.

[skier_5]

I just remember, you should def get him to read Getting started in Holdem by Ed Miller. It explains the rules, hand rankings, etc, etc. It's a limit book for the most part but explains a lot of basic concepts like pot odds pretty well. It also includes some tournament and shortstack nlhe strategy.