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I know there have been many people on this forum who have posted about poker so I am hoping I can get some good advice before I go.
I enjoy poker and feel my financial situation is okay to pick up this hobby even if I lose frequently in the beginning. I want to become a tournament player (not a cash player) and begin entering some tournaments and hopefully can add a win to my name sometime in the future.
Some facts:
- I know how to play poker but do not have an immense amount of experience playing live. So I have an understanding of all the probabilities and stuff so at least I can make rational decisions when I play.
- I have played some cash games (when friends go) at casinos but I am definitely down in lifetime earnings and have never really played tournaments.
- I am thinking of entering a satellite tournament this weekend (Philly open at Harrah's Philadelphia) and maybe another event with a lower buy in.
- I would be an infrequent tournament player (maybe twice a month) and would like to add a win of any size because i would like that as an accomplishment. It has been something I have wanted to do during my lifetime.
Here are my questions:
- Are satellite tournaments worth it? The lower buy in makes me think it is a good place to begin picking up poker or should I just play the lowest buy in event for cash?
- Do you get money for placing in the top for a satellite tournament or is it just for a seat in the bigger tournament?
- Do player's have strategies thought out before they go into a tournament? What's the difference in strats between cash and tournament players?
- Any advice for a beginner or share some insight on pursuing this kind of goal?
Thanks in advance and I hope to write a blog about what happens this weekend!
 
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Just play and enjoy yourself
If you wanna learn about getting better (at tournament poker) there are plenty of resources, both for money and for not money, all over the internet, of varying qualities (and often contradictory qualities - if you start spotting this then you're probably getting better)
But you won't find that on this site 
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There are plenty of training sites that will help out immensly. First i would maybe buy a book or two to learn the basics. If you're a beginner then tight is right, don't enter a pot without a good hand. Always have a plan for the hand and mind the stack sizes (the most important thing in tournament poker where people have varying stack sizes).
- I'd probably just play the smallest tournaments instead of try to play satellites.
- Satellites are just for the seat(s) depending how many players enter.
- If you're an experienced player you change your playstyle depending how your table is playing. Tournaments and cash are pretty much the same except you're often playing with a much shallower stack in tournaments and then there's some ICM considerations during the money bubble and FT etc.
- If you're new to poker you're most likely not a winning player, atleast by much. You should just play for fun.
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I haven't played much in a few years but I remember finding that Dan Harrington's book on no limit poker was really helpful to understand some basic concepts.
There is really no substitute for experience in poker. Play a lot of hands, and learn what you can from every spot, but play tight so you don't blow your wad while you're learning.
Pay attention. Watch every hand even if you're not in the pot. Try to understand how people at the table are playing. You can pick up valuable information while other people are watching sports or checking out the cocktail waitress.
When you win a pot, always ask yourself if there was a way you could have played it to win more. If you lose a hand, ask if you could have played it smarter and lost a bit less. In the long run it's these little edges that make you a winning player.
My last piece of advice is to be friendly and chatty at the table. If people in the game are having fun they're more likely to splash money around. At least in low stakes, a game where everyone is happy is a good game to be in.
Good luck 
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Ok thanks for the advice everyone. I will aim to have fun since this is just the beginning of me entering tournaments.
I feel like I am past the basics. Should I still consider getting a book to learn poker? If everyone is using these books to play poker, isn't it better to play out of the norm??
Also, anyone ever get too addicted to gambling? When should one quit?
Cheers!
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On February 13 2013 04:25 needcomputer wrote:
Ok thanks for the advice everyone. I will aim to have fun since this is just the beginning of me entering tournaments.
I feel like I am past the basics. Should I still consider getting a book to learn poker? If everyone is using these books to play poker, isn't it better to play out of the norm??
Also, anyone ever get too addicted to gambling? When should one quit?
Cheers!
Be VERY careful of this mindset, especially at low stakes. For the most part you can play your hands fairly straight-forward and beat out a lot of low-end competition. If you try fancy bluffs or plays you see on WPT or WSOP, your opponents won't "get it", and you just end up playing yourself out of a bunch of money. (This is called "Fancy Play Syndrome." All of us who have played poker for any length of time went through a period of doing this.)
Bluff less, play only good hands, and be aggressive when you do play, but not afraid to lay it down when you're sure you're beat. You'll take out everyone who's terrible doing nothing but that.
Once the field whittles down and you figure out who's good and who's bad, you can tailor your play based on who you're up against. But I wouldn't worry about this until you've had some live experience.
Tight and aggressive. Repeat it to yourself over and over. And have fun! Good luck! :-D
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Don't get results oriented. For a single tournament, whether you win the whole thing or go out in the first hour is virtually irrelevant to play skill. I'll leave the play advice to those who are actually good at poker.
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EPT
