Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
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Notes -
Some old school friends invited me to a poker table around christmas. It's a bit too much for me to just happily play the money away as I usually did, but not so much to say no just for that reason (losing it wouldn't make a noticeable dent in my finances at all, I'd just feel bad). Does anyone here happen to know a decent, short basic poker intro guide/video series or anything that I can watch over a few days?
How is it structured, is it set buy in and then play cash and buy in again if you bust, or single buy in then tournament and pay out by rank, or variable buy in?
For the most part if your concern isn't making money (which depends more on the people you are playing with than on any skill you might build in a couple days) but just in not losing it: then your goal is to play tight, fold most of your hands pre-flop, and don't worry too much about bluffing or calling bluffs just play when you have a high percentage hand. This is where you start pre-flop:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PW7OB7crkxGKJMq9DKEBSCWDJHNcmrbmA05yEAJ3qrw/edit?gid=1033090205#gid=1033090205
Try to memorize the basic shape of the odds for the good hands, and give yourself basic rules of thumb for which to play through. Don't get obsessive with position or anything like that, if everyone else is playing at that level you're probably screwed anyway. If you're playing with ignorant normies, just playing tight and knowing which are the good hands will make you pretty solid. If you're playing against obsessives, it's going to take more than a week to get good enough at strategy for it to matter.
Personally, I'll add that as you play you can learn more about your own issues with certain hands, and either focus on learning to play them properly, or just learning to avoid them. For a long time I consistently lost money playing pockets, I'd take it to the flop because the odds were worth it, then fold immediately under pressure because I wasn't confident that the other guy didn't have a higher pair. So I started just deciding pre-flop that if I felt good I'd go all-in pre-flop and if I didn't I'd fold pre-flop for anything under JJ or QQ.
Fold on everything that isn't at least ${face card} + {ten or higher}.
They will think you're a poker GOD.
Most "bro basement" casual games devolve into wild risk taking within 30 minutes. Playing tight will be a contrast and you'll look amazing.
Not really? It'll be apparent that you're holding out for the best cards, not 'paying in' and taking part in the fun, and when you bet, it'll be obvious that everyone else should fold unless they hold an amazing hand.
Casual poker players are perhaps the best example of Dunning-Kruger. There will be nothing obvious or apparent about the cards he is holding.
This is ~95% of winning in poker. Position play with the nuts. Actual gambling is a very bad idea.
I'd assume it would be fairly noticable that "wow every time Fred bets any money he eventually wins with two high cards, given he just made a bet after folding 5 times, I can probably assume he has high cards again like the last two hands he played and won"
As we've already established, I play very little poker, but that's how I usually try and think when I play
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