Education of a poker player

[DaveG39]

Since my previous thread has taken an unanticipated, although interesting, turn, I'll start a new one. I played a few hands for free at games.com and msn.com, or at least I tried to. A couple observations:

Timers: Whose idea was this? At play.com, if you didin't make your bet within a few seconds your hand was killed. Terrible for beginers IMHO. Do all the "for money" sites (Pokerstars, Full Tilt, etc.) have this "feature"?

Shortstacks: Another thing I'll have to get my head around is what to do with a short stack. On MSN, they didn't have a timer (thank goodness) but the buy-in was small relative to the Big Blind and the blinds went up every 5 minutes of playtime. So, I found myself short-stacked very quickly, forcing me "all-in" on hands I would normally fold. I know I'll have to figure this on my own eventually, but any guidance from the more experienced players re: shortstacks and/or when to go "all-in" on "any two cards" would be appreciated.

[Roanan]

As this is a casino site, not geared towards poker, the help you seek can be found on other sites.

I would recommend PokerSpace. (My user name there is RIPStuNov22)

They have a great community and friendly atmosphere, much like Casinomeister, but they are there for the poker player.

They have a wonderful poker school that will take you through all the aspects of poker from beginners through to the advanced players, plus there are some nice rewards when you complete the school and pass the tests, in addition to many other rewards.

[swampwitch]

Nonsense. Casinomeister's membership is heavy with poker players, and there are quite a few lively discussions at any given time relating to poker.

This is a GAMBLING forum. Poker is gambling.

It's goddamned tacky of you to tell a Casinomeister member that he needs to go elsewhere for something he can find just fine here.



*Sorry for a second derail to your thread Dave.

[Roanan]

Nonsense. Casinomeister's membership is heavy with poker players, and there are quite a few lively discussions at any given time relating to poker.

This is a GAMBLING forum. Poker is gambling.

It's goddamned tacky of you to tell a Casinomeister member that he needs to go elsewhere for something he can find just fine here.

Hmmmm....that's saying the same thing as:

If you want a college education, just ask your friends to teach you instead of going to a real school.

Try rereading the first post. The kind of information he is seeking is NOT something that would be discussed here on a regular basis, but is covered at most online 'poker schools'


As for your comment that 'poker is gambling' ... everyone knows that is pure BS. Poker is a game of skill. There is some luck involved, but if you are a gambler and rely on luck, the poker rooms have many 'reload bonuses' for people like you.

[swampwitch]

Dave's been around a while RIP...he wouldn't have asked the question HERE if he didn't think he could get an answer HERE.

Yes, poker is considered a game of skill, but in the end there's still an element of gambling in it.

I wasn't attacking, insulting, or berating you. But telling a member he won't find info here and telling him to go to another site isn't cool.

Again Dave, apologies for a second derail by me. I'm out.

[bryand]

Since my previous thread has taken an unanticipated, although interesting, turn, I'll start a new one. I played a few hands for free at games.com and msn.com, or at least I tried to. A couple observations:

Timers: Whose idea was this? At play.com, if you didin't make your bet within a few seconds your hand was killed. Terrible for beginers IMHO. Do all the "for money" sites (Pokerstars, Full Tilt, etc.) have this "feature"?

Shortstacks: Another thing I'll have to get my head around is what to do with a short stack. On MSN, they didn't have a timer (thank goodness) but the buy-in was small relative to the Big Blind and the blinds went up every 5 minutes of playtime. So, I found myself short-stacked very quickly, forcing me "all-in" on hands I would normally fold. I know I'll have to figure this on my own eventually, but any guidance from the more experienced players re: shortstacks and/or when to go "all-in" on "any two cards" would be appreciated.

Hi Dave, great questions. All major real-money sites have timers. You're given a "time bank" - usually between 30 and 90 seconds. When you go over the alloted 5 to 15 seconds given to make a decision on a hand, your timebank starts running out. Timers are necessary for many reasons.

Tourneys in which blinds (in the case of holdem and omaha) or ante's (in the case of draw and stud) increase every five minutes are called "turbo". Increases are slower (10 to 15 minutes) in regular tourneys.

[skiny]

As for your comment that 'poker is gambling' ... everyone knows that is pure BS. Poker is a game of skill. There is some luck involved, but if you are a gambler and rely on luck, the poker rooms have many 'reload bonuses' for people like you.

How the hell can anyone say poker isn't gambling? You put your money on the table and hope to hell you get some good cards. You might get away with being dealt crap for a while but unless you're lucky enough to get a good hand you're going broke eventually just like any other game of chance.

Even if you whittle your opponent down on bluffs to almost nothing eventually he's going to toss all in and unless you are lucky enough to have been dealt the better hand, you'll be sitting there with your jack high and he'll be doubling his chips. ( Or she )

I've watched dozens of televised poker tournaments where the winner went all in with low pair, got called on it and then pulled a third jack or queen out on the river. Very skillfully played.

[skiny]

Timers are necessary for many reasons.

Tourneys in which blinds (in the case of holdem and omaha) or ante's (in the case of draw and stud) increase every five minutes are called "turbo". Increases are slower (10 to 15 minutes) in regular tourneys.

Not to mention the people who check once and then go sit on the toilet for 10 minutes.

[DaveG39]

Hi Dave, great questions. All major real-money sites have timers. You're given a "time bank" - usually between 30 and 90 seconds. When you go over the alloted 5 to 15 seconds given to make a decision on a hand, your timebank starts running out. Timers are necessary for many reasons.

Tourneys in which blinds (in the case of holdem and omaha) or ante's (in the case of draw and stud) increase every five minutes are called "turbo". Increases are slower (10 to 15 minutes) in regular tourneys.

I realize a timer of some kind is necessary, but at games.com it's only 15 seconds. I'm getting to the point where I can almost make play/fold decisions pre-flop in that time, but post-flop, forget it. I was looking on PokerStars and it says their clock is set to 35 normally for hold 'em. I'll try some hands in fun mode and see how it goes.

[Zoozie]

Since my previous thread has taken an unanticipated, although interesting, turn, I'll start a new one. I played a few hands for free at games.com and msn.com, or at least I tried to. A couple observations:

Timers: Whose idea was this? At play.com, if you didin't make your bet within a few seconds your hand was killed. Terrible for beginers IMHO. Do all the "for money" sites (Pokerstars, Full Tilt, etc.) have this "feature"?

Shortstacks: Another thing I'll have to get my head around is what to do with a short stack. On MSN, they didn't have a timer (thank goodness) but the buy-in was small relative to the Big Blind and the blinds went up every 5 minutes of playtime. So, I found myself short-stacked very quickly, forcing me "all-in" on hands I would normally fold. I know I'll have to figure this on my own eventually, but any guidance from the more experienced players re: shortstacks and/or when to go "all-in" on "any two cards" would be appreciated.

The timer for each player is a very good idea. It is really annoying at a full table when several players are extremely slow.

Also it seems you played a 'turbo' tournament since blinds increased every 5 minutes. In turbo tournaments the timer is often even shorter than normal.
But it also seems you need a little more experience and you will have no problems with the timer. Some hardcore players are able to multi-table up to 30 tables at the same time. In the more expensive tournaments the timer is much longer and also the time between the blind increase is 15 minutes instead of 5 minutes.

When you get short stacked (relative to the blinds) the game changes and you need to adapt. Poker is a very complicated game and this is very much appriciated by the better players. When to go all-in when short stacked is a very tricky situation. You do not need a strong hand to go all-in when short stacked, but you need a stronger hand to call
an all-in. The first question when to go all-in as first player in the hand, is the most easy situation. It only depends on that you think you opponents call range are and then it can be calculated. I made an applet doing exactly that, which can help you try different situation as see the general picture.

All-in calculator:
http://www.egense.dk/egense/Thomas/a...alculator.html