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#1
05-25-2006, 12:26 AM
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Variation on a Theme: Poker and my Father
Cliff notes: I played cards with my dad, he's bad, but claims he wants my help and values my insight. He then tells me that I don't understand when I make a specific rather than general critique and refuses to patch his leaks.
[rant]I got home tonight from a five day trip with my brother and my father. My father has been playing poker online for around a year and a half, and is admittedly down overall- though he claims this was mostly early and he is better now. My dad plays bad, period. The interesting thing, is that he "wants" to improve, but he simply doesn't take my advice, and is constantly asking the wrong questions (e.g. "How can I make the idiots not chase"), he also follows this up by hitting 2 outers in situations where he had an extraordinarily easy fold at some point in the hand(3 of them in 2 nights to be exact, strangely enough all against me). After the first one I explained to him in some detail why what he did was bad for making money, but he made nearly identical mistakes twice in the next two nights. When I point out his mistakes afterall he's "willing" to learn, he'll defend them with statements like it was only x more dollars. At which point I say its the size of the pot and range of opponents hands that determine your decisions not a dollar amount that doesn't mean much to a successful executive. But he doesnt listen. Also, he'll bring "Scenarios" that he wants to do better in and I tell him he needs to have more info, and that specific hands work better, he doesn't want specific hands because he wants a "System" to win, I say that doesn't exist, and by critiquing individual hands he will eventually gain the tools to analyze his own play, I then realize he's ordered another vodka on the rocks and isn't paying attention anymore. I told him if he wants to play for fun and not worry about playing well, I have no problem with that- because he plays well within his means- but if he asks for advice, he should listen. The thing that bothers me the most, though, is the fact that he really seems to believe he is right on issue when poker is something I am more experienced and better at than he is. His telling me "I don't understand" or "You play too tight," only seem to frustrate me because really he doesn't understand the game on any real level and he's too loose. [/rant] So, what's my line? 
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#2
05-25-2006, 01:14 AM
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Re: Variation on a Theme: Poker and my Father
I totally understand where your coming from. My father plays a little online and a little live, but he doesn't take it very seriously. I give him plenty of advice, but when it comes right down to it, it is more about having fun for him.
No matter how many times I tell him not to limp A4o UTG, he just doesn't listen. But if your father really wants to learn, I think you should loan him a beginners book so that he understands the fundamentals of the game such as being tight preflop, common mistakes, etc. With this basic knowledge, you can probably teach him a lot easier and he will probably be more adaptive to your advice.
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#3
05-25-2006, 02:09 AM
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Re: Variation on a Theme: Poker and my Father
[ QUOTE ]
So, what's my line? [/ QUOTE ] Leave him alone. You keep saying he "really" wants to learn and then go on to describe his behaviors that indicate the exact opposite. So, leave him alone. Maybe he's just telling you he really wants to learn, when - in fact he just enjoys that the two of you have a common interest. If you are talking to your dad about pot odds and his reply is "It was only a few dollars more", then the truth is that he isn't REALLY willing to learn. Anybody who wants to learn...learns about pots odds within the first 10 pages of Winning Low Limit Holdem. If I was you, I'd just refuse to offer any additional advice until he reads WLLH.
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#5
05-25-2006, 11:22 AM
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Re: Variation on a Theme: Poker and my Father
Does he know about this board? If not, lead him here so he can learn from others. It's hard for a father to learn from his own kid sometimes, but he might be more open to listening to non-family players.
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#6
05-26-2006, 08:54 AM
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Re: Variation on a Theme: Poker and my Father
Buy him a copy of small stakes hold'em by ed miller...
You have a cool dad by the way. Make sure he doesn't become a compulsive degenerate addict because the description of him sure does sound like he's going to cross that line.
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