So my in-laws want to have us all get together and play some poker for small amounts of money. They are supposedly very good and have played quite a bit in the past. I have only ever played 1 time where I learned the very basics. In both cases the game is Texas Hold'em, though they have talked about maybe 5 Card Draw.
I really don't even know the hands that you can get and tend to need a cheat sheet so I can keep up. There has to be a better way, any tips on keeping things straight and in order or do I just need to sit down and Memorize it.
I don't care about winning so much as just not being a total noob. The one time I played they said it was obvious what kind of hand I had as I get very fidgety when excited. I definitely need to work on keeping it cool. Is it plausible to got he other way where I stay intense the whole time or is that hard to maintain.
It seems a lot of guys here on TL play poker as well so I thought I would ask for advice. any good resources like Liquidpedia. I can of course search for them, but I am afraid like SC, I found a bunch of poor advice before I found the gold gem of TL.net
Any good guidelines on how to just play a basic game? maybe some SC2 advice I can carry over
Well, in live poker, I always play tight, bluffing is always a good way to lose money. I have that problem with being easy to tell. And I just keep myself distracted from whats on the board to help with that. Maybe cause I don't play with money.
never played poker in my life, but i'd imagine: Huge sunglasses Card covering your Faces Popped Collar if u cant stop fidgetting, ALWAYS fidget, so atleast its not beneficial for them
On October 13 2010 08:11 Asdkmoga wrote: never played poker in my life, but i'd imagine: Huge sunglasses Card covering your Faces Popped Collar if u cant stop fidgetting, ALWAYS fidget, so atleast its not beneficial for them
you forgot the ipod, white ear buds, and not noticing when you're first to act.
edit: oh and teaching the table how to play. because everyone else is terrible.
To get the hang of the rules/hands why not play some quick free online poker? Practice following what's going on and what hands beat what... if you screw up it doesn't matter!
Michael Bowling's work in learning poker strategies should be extremely helpful to you. It should only take you a few minutes to read and you can implement the strategy into your play quite easily.
Seriously, though, there's always pokerstrategy.com, they sponsored the TSL2. They have some easy-to-follow strategies. I'm not sure how applicable they would be to a friendly table game of poker, though, they're moreso about playing internet poker. The most important thing to know is that you should be playing a lot tighter than you think you should be - it's typically very cheap to fold compared to playing a mediocre hand.
For playing a little bit at a get together being the better player probably won't matter a ton. If you're not confident just find a place that lists the top 15 or so starting hands and play those. Although it's more fun to play more hands! Not always more profitable though unless you know how to play it right.
Well, having started playing poker at age 7, i can give you a few pointers.
1. Unless you get a really good hand within the first few hands, you can spend your time observing the opponent's habits, their tells, their betting styles. 2. If you get a pocket pair (two of the same card in your hand) , it doesn't mean you are unbeatable. Play slow until you are sure you have a decent hand, or at least are the most likely to win. 3. If you get a good hand, treat it just like any other hand you have. They are just cards, nothing to get excited about. This will help reduce some of your tells.
Learn to be an aggressive player. If you just sit and wait for a good hand and then want to wait out your opponents and play the amazing hand you have, experienced players will read you like a book, and you will just lose all your money.
Poker is not a place for someone who's passive and just sits and hopes for the best. Typically, those players are still holding on to the belief that poker is random when it clearly isn't.
On October 13 2010 08:00 rastaban wrote: So my in-laws want to have us all get together and play some poker for small amounts of money. They are supposedly very good and have played quite a bit in the past. I have only ever played 1 time where I learned the very basics. In both cases the game is Texas Hold'em, though they have talked about maybe 5 Card Draw.
I really don't even know the hands that you can get and tend to need a cheat sheet so I can keep up. There has to be a better way, any tips on keeping things straight and in order or do I just need to sit down and Memorize it.
I don't care about winning so much as just not being a total noob. The one time I played they said it was obvious what kind of hand I had as I get very fidgety when excited. I definitely need to work on keeping it cool. Is it plausible to got he other way where I stay intense the whole time or is that hard to maintain.
It seems a lot of guys here on TL play poker as well so I thought I would ask for advice. any good resources like Liquidpedia. I can of course search for them, but I am afraid like SC, I found a bunch of poor advice before I found the gold gem of TL.net
Any good guidelines on how to just play a basic game? maybe some SC2 advice I can carry over
You'll get more comfortable after you've played for 20 minutes. You'll still give off tells but they'll miss most of them.
Definitely memorize hand rankings. It's hard to win if you don't know the rules of the game You should do more than that and try to figure out how strong your hand is in relation to the board. I.e. 2 pair is a very strong hand if the board is King, Queen, 7, 5, 2 but not very much if it's 9,8,7,6,2 (because any ten or 5 makes a straight and beats your hand).
Other than that bet or raise if you have a strong hand, fold if you have nothing. Don't bet too small, about 2/3 of the pot is usually ok. Yes, you are supposed to keep track of the size of the pot. At least approximately.
Obviously this is very basic but should be enough to give you a chance, if you get lucky.
If you decide to read twoplustwo only post in the Beginners' section at first. Those guys can be unfriendly to newbies
Since it's a friendly game with friends and low amounts of money, don't bother learning poker and just have fun/splash around. Trying to get good takes 90% of the enjoyment out of the game.
EPT
You should do more than that and try to figure out how strong your hand is in relation to the board. I.e. 2 pair is a very strong hand if the board is King, Queen, 7, 5, 2 but not very much if it's 9,8,7,6,2 (because any ten or 5 makes a straight and beats your hand). 
