the 1st step you take for poker is an important one

[EN09]

here's the deal. i'm not a high stakes player but i've been playing for a few years on the initial deposit made into pokerstars and now have accounts on multiple sites. between reading the recommended books on poker, bonus whoring and eventually finding rakeback, i did manage to work my way up to the middle limit LHE games. then i took a dive (major slide) and fell back to micro limits. while retooling, studying and playing the micro's i knew i needed a break from the limit grind. so...

as a break i began playing the micro NL games. it's a whole new learning experience. why am i writing this for the beginners section? well it isn't a poo-bah post of course. and it isn't that i'm now a high limit successful player "giving back to the community which helped me so greatly".

what it is, is another poker player just wanting to pass a little something along which may help someone else who is starting their way up the ladder. i'm hoping, and assuming, we all want to eventually move up in limits. maybe not to a pro level though some of you may want to, but to a level where the time you invest into the game will pay you dividends. such as a little extra money for a few of the "luxuries" in life. maybe to pay off some bills. maybe for an extra night out or two. or to help pay for a vacation for you and the family or even to invest into a 401k or for other future returns.

keep in mind that although poker in it's purest form is just a card game, you should consider it as a 'business' and treat it as such. you wouldn't want to go broke or bankrupt in when launching a new business, nor do you want to go broke in your new poker business. play well, play hard and play smart.

invest in the business tools to make your business succeed. you wouldn't open up a retail store or restaurant without the proper tools to compete in the business marketplace. so don't do the same with your poker business. poker, if approached correctly, can make life changing impacts for you and your family.

obviously if you're young and just beginning you may not have the assets to procure the tools you'll need. but if you do, or once you have built a little bankroll, invest in those tools. when i was in sales in my own business one of the best phrases i came across was this, "invest as much INTO your head, as you do ON TOP of your head".

meaning, whatever you spend on haircuts and haircare products on your head, you should invest in books and tools to increase your productivity on a monthly basis. this is the same approach i take with poker. and you might want to consider adopting some or all of it as well for yourself. spend a few extra dollars on good poker books. buy a couple of poker magazines every once in awhile for the strategy/bankroll articles. invest in yourself.

invest in pokertracker and pahud if you've already haven't. yeah it's a few bucks but the returns you receive from using and utilizing them make the initial investment insignificant.

for pokertracker you'll want to read some notes on notes and how to use pokertracker. two excellent threads. then read this for pahud.

of course bankroll management is highly imortant to your success and there are a number of good posts on those here at 2p2 so i won't go into those now. maybe later.

one of the most important parts of building a strong foundation for poker, in my mind, is paying attention. this is often overlooked and i still find my mind wanders from time to time. yeah i play tables with the television on, and really i shouldn't. some times i'll play a few more tables than i can actually keep tabs on too. don't allow these to happen to you.

turn off the television. play less tables and really concentrate on what's going on with the players around you.

you'll want to keep an eye on the players to your immediate right and your immediate left. concentrate on their play. are they playing a lot of hands? are they coming in for raises in late positon? do they or have they folded to a reraise? you can't know for sure when it comes time for you to be heads up with them if you've been watching the ESPN WSOP ME coverage for the fifth time. nor can you tell what's going on at the table you're playing if High Stakes Poker is on the flat screen in front of you. watch your table not their table.

plus, if you have your tables overlapped and can't see the action, or you're too busy on a different table if playing too many, how will you know the table dynamics and who to bet into, who to fold your AQo to or who to raise it up to?

paying attention is paramount for those just starting out, or recently starting out. yeah it's a simple thing compared to set mining, all in equity calculations, floating and the other poker nuances. but without the skillz to pay attention, moving on to the higher lessons and nuances of poker just wont pay you the dividends that an ABC approach coupled with attentiveness will, especially at the micro tables.

this might be a little lengthy, in fact is is, but it's a part of poker i often see overlooked by the new posters and not mentioned as often as it could be from the carpal tunnel'ers.

there are all kinds of ways to play from TAG to LAG. all kinds of techniques, strategies and lines to take. but they all begin with paying attention to whats going on at your tables.

learn to pay more attention. turn off the distractions. quit surfing the 'net. and don't do what i do by reading 2p2 and playing at the same time!

EN

[raze]

Great post!


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turn off the television. play less tables and really concentrate on what's going on with the players around you.


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This line & the paragraphs below it are such great advice for players at every level that it should be stickied at the top of every forum on this board.

[Vitas23]

EN09, thank you that is great advice.

[MAC-N-TODD]

yea very nice. That is why I don't win more than I do because right now I am reading this and watching tv while im in a game on AP. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[basementproject]

You probably don't win because you're playing @ AP.

They seez holecardz yo

[sapol]

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You probably do win because you're playing @ AP.

The players suck there

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[DeuceSeven]

Great post, when I started up, I googled "poker forum" and came up with www.pokerforum.com. There I learned bank roll management and that that harrington book on mtts is pretty good. I bought that book, learned tons, noticed that there was a website of the publisher, checked that out and have learned even more about poker thanks to 2p2. I took the game seriously, at least when I wasn't drinking lol when I first started. I did all the thing OP said, after my first deposit on stars, have never had to redeposit unless I was moving up or moving my money somewhere else.

The other side of it is my brother. When he first started, I lent him HOH 1, 2, and 3. He got 1/4 the way through the first one. He'd lose, lose, lose. He never read books, never posted in this great forum, never played within his bank roll or means, when he played he would have IM going, playing 2 games at once tiled, and playing a video game on his 360. Needless to say he's become a mediocre small stakes mtt player, a horrible losing sng and cash game player. He still after playing for 10 months doesn't understand basic concepts about poker and thinks he loses because of bad luck. He's probably lost at least 1k online and maybe break even live as he had some nice cashes in some live donkaments.

[SellingtheDrama]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink...some people just don't want to believe there's so much work involved in what seems like such a simple game (I mean if Norman Chad can explain it, how hard can it be?)

I'm also convinced at least part of it is genetic - either you're wired right for this game or you aren't.

[aaokwitme]

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You probably don't win because you're playing @ AP.

They seez holecardz yo

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What ever happened with that?

[basementproject]

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What ever happened with that?

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Ongoing investigation. They've got the story out to a lot of media, including MSNBC and ESPN, a ton of daily papers on the west coast, and reputable net news sources.

New info and developments are being posted in a number of threads in BBV.