subject: advice for beginners [print this page] What advice would I offer a beginning poker player?
The very first piece of advice i can offer to beginning poker players is to search out and read as much information about the game as you can. This can be in the form of buying books writen by various professional poker players, or by searching the internet for forum topics on the subject.
Always start your poker education at the beginner level and do not skip to more advanced topics of the game as this can cause severe gaps in your eventual play. I learned this lesson the hard way by skipping to more advanced topics such as poker tells, and c-betting, and had to go back to the beginning to plug the holes in what i had learned. A great place to start is with a good starting hand guide, many professional poker players offer them so a good one should not be hard to find. Another great piece of advice is to start slow and not jump into the game playing for big bucks as this will often discourage new players, i suggest playing for "play money" at first until you have a good grasp on starting hand requirements and the other nuances of the game such as proper bet sizing.
After you have the starting hand lists down and have played some "play money" hands to get the basics of the game down you can then move on to learning about possitional play and playing for what your opponent COULD have in his/her hand. Then you are at a level in your poker education where only practice can improve upon what you have learned, as practice is the only true way to learn about many of the different variables and situations in the game. Remember also that one can never practice too much, even the pros still practice and sharpen their game constantly.
So in closing remember to start off slow and read, read, read everything you can and dont over-insert yourself into a level of play you are not yet prepared to play or you risk becoming discouraged and losing interest in the game altogether. For a great community of poker players to get help from join my poker forums. If you have found this article to be helpful please stay tuned as i have many more informative and educational articles planned.
