Teach an old man how to be as marginally -EV as possible in a 5k buyin

[timex]

Hey, I accidentally won my dad a seat to the Aruba Poker Classic, we're here right now, hes playing on Wednesday, and has been playing random $5 tournies etc for a while, but certainly isn't great at poker or anything, and he doesn't have any experience playing live(against like professionals, hes played like drunk with friends etc.)

So what sort of things would you help him with in the next few days.

I was thinking something like
1) Get him to read as much of the anthology as possible
2) Get him to play a couple online sessions and coach him
3) Get him to play a live tourney and give him advice.

What sort of things do you think I should do to get him ready for this tournament, any specific live advice etc etc.

[thebmorekid]

Make sure he knows ABC poker...I would stay away from online games. Try to find a nine man SNG at the casino and play in it with him. See how he plays and chat with him afterwards about the tourney.

I think the main thing here is to make sure he has fun, is not intimidated and has a basic strategic approach. You are not going to turn him in to a pro overnight.

Play the live SNG with him though. I think that's better than just sweating him.

GL to you both

[Butcho22]

If I could only teach him one thing, it would be for him to be able to calculate how short his stack is compared to blinds/antes and what to do with different stack sizes.

Like if he has a big stack, take a ton of 60/40's with small stacks. Don't raise half your stack and fold, etc. Stuff like that.

And I would have him watch you play a few online sessions and just let him ask you a bunch of questions.

Everyone learns different though so a lot depends on him.

[Bond18]

Timex i really recommend number 2. Always explain what certain actions are attempting to accomplish. There are several various concepts people never told me and just assumed i knew and i stayed bad for years.

Get into things like:
1. Pot odds calls.
2. Betting for value as opposed to betting as a bluff.
3. Pot control and why its necessary.
4. Stack sizes and what is appropriate for which stack sizes. ~10 BB's is an open shove, 14-20 is bad for open raising most hands that can't call a 3 bet, 22 or more is bad for restealing all in for most spots, stuff like that.
5. DON'T CALL RAISES OUT OF POSITION!!
6. How to take advantage of players who are VERY tight or VERY loose.
7. Get pokerstove out and give him an idea of how hands match up equity wise.


Give him that much and he'll be like top 10%.

[GTL]

if he has never played live in a casino before, he is probably better off making verbal declarations of his bets, calls, and raises (with raise sizes). tell him that when the action is on him, if he is ever unsure of what to do (physically do with the chips to make an action) declare it verbally first.

bond's advice is good, but you might not have enough time for that. i think you need to make sure he stays aggressive and do whatever it takes to make him confident.

[mlagoo]

bonds advice is good. i think if prepare some information that you can go through with him (like actual typed out prepared information about the stuff on bond's checklist), go through it for an hour or whatever, then spend an evening with him sweating him in a bunch of tourneys and applying the stuff he learned, he'll have a pretty good basis for doing well.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
Give him that much and he'll be like top 1%.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Bonified]

I think PokerXFactor would be a great teaching tool. If you're not signed up to it yourself, check out the thread of 2+2 PXF tournaments in High Stakes MTT, and go through a tournament or two, that was played by someone whose game you like.

BTW I am not affiliated with PokerXFactor :-)

[FatalError]

send him in there and tell him to just go at it, thats how you win tournaments, just get it in there and laugh like it doesn't matter

[Todd Terry]

Chris Ferguson claims to have won the WSOP ME by never calling, always either raising or folding. I think an inexperienced player should probably follow this advice to a large extent, constantly put pressure on your opponents.