Poker strategy for the newbie.

Hello, I want to start play poker and don't know what is the best strategy for the beginner. Will be glad to here any recommendations. :idea:

shove very hand with a face card in it and call all the other players donks and/or fishes

arabianights said:

shove very hand with a face card in it and call all the other players donks and/or fishes

Click to expand...

Simple and interesting. Will try!

Word of advice.

DO NOT PLAY ONLINE POKER.

Online poker is rigged to the hilt. Websites such as Full Tilt, have rigged RNG systems that make hands such as 2,7 killer badbeats. 2,7 is usually better than A,A online... no joke. I've witnessed so many people go broke with 10's of thousands in online poker rooms playing on sites such as fulltilt. They always lose to badbeat hands that never stand a chance in real poker... hence the reason people play terrible hands in online poker rooms, all the time.

The only website that is worthy for online poker is RealDealPoker.com

They have live everything. They are no bs. Unfortunately I cannot play there because I'm from the USA.

DO NOT PLAY ONLINE POKER. Find your nearest casino and play with real people, and a real deck.

Optioholic said:

Word of advice.

DO NOT PLAY ONLINE POKER.

Online poker is rigged to the hilt. Websites such as Full Tilt, have rigged RNG systems that make hands such as 2,7 killer badbeats. 2,7 is usually better than A,A online... no joke. I've witnessed so many people go broke with 10's of thousands in online poker rooms playing on sites such as fulltilt. They always lose to badbeat hands that never stand a chance in real poker... hence the reason people play terrible hands in online poker rooms, all the time.

The only website that is worthy for online poker is RealDealPoker.com

They have live everything. They are no bs. Unfortunately I cannot play there because I'm from the USA.

DO NOT PLAY ONLINE POKER. Find your nearest casino and play with real people, and a real deck.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the useful tip.

trader-john said:

Thank you for the useful tip.

Click to expand...

I hope you're not serious. The guy's an idiot.

Follow your tactics, rules and money management! Limit your losses and maximise wins.

You can try the 'small ball' technique (video 1 of 3):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeeozbb2_FQ

Be mildly aggressive by betting/risking small amounts up to, say, 1:1 Risk:Reward. When you're sure you've got a good hand (like catching a strong price trend) after the flop (in Hold'em poker), get more aggressive in your betting. Even if you've a Four of a Kind, someone else might have a Straight Flush (the improbable but possible Black Swan outlier) - it's just something to consider depending on how the other person is betting - they might be bluffing their way through. You don't know.

If you're confident you've got a killer hand, don't go all in at once since everyone else could fold - keep raising to try to extract as much as possible but without leaving you at risk of a wipeout if someone else has a better hand.

Be aware of other players' habits. It can get a bit annoying when others Call or over-aggressively Raise everything trying to steam-roller their way through - even if they don't have a decent hand. They usually end up getting wiped out (especially on free online poker where they are 'risk-seeking').

Don't be afraid of folding (hitting your Stop-Losses) with a weak hand or after already betting. Accept your losses and focus on your next hand.

Remember, betting and bluffing is down to skill and tactics. How the cards play out is down to luck and probabilities :clover:.

PS. I'm only play occassionally and casually, so I'm not a pro by any means.

This thread's great I just hope those who give advice play as i've read some of the most shocking poker advice ever in quite a while here.

rogue8 said:

Even if you've a Four of a Kind, someone else might have a Straight Flush (the improbable but possible Black Swan outlier)

Click to expand...

Technically it is not a Black Swan then.

Masquerade said:

I hope you're not serious. The guy's an idiot.

Click to expand...

trader-john is the most blatant "build up post count with useless posts" account I've ever seen...

arabianights said:

trader-john is the most blatant "build up post count with useless posts" account I've ever seen...

Click to expand...

Remember....if you make quads, don't put in a lot as someone might have a straight/royal flush PMSL, I might put that post on 2p2, it's one of the funniest things i've read.

Masquerade said:

I hope you're not serious. The guy's an idiot.

Click to expand...

And I hope you're not serious...

You're telling me that I'm an idiot because I'm stating that online poker is a terrible investment?

It's ok, you don't need to try insulting me just because you may be the outcome of those who play online poker.


Online poker is a terrible way to make money, just so happens that those who think otherwise are either so stubborn as to believe so, or are the victims of their mathematically inept brains.

I'm saying you're an idiot for saying the reputable sites such as Party poker, Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Ipoker network are rigged. If you think about it, it's got to be rigged in someone's favour surely? So who is benefiting from it being rigged? Then there are smarter people than you who play online poker and risk hundreds of thousands in games. Surely they'd not do that if they even suspected that the site was rigged and they weren't getting a fair game?

It's just typical live player stuff what you say. They play 20 hands in an hour and then they compare their tiny sample to people who play 1000 hands an hour and moan about the beats and bad luck and how it's not like that in live play. It's just you can cheat variance a very long time and never get near the long run in live play as it's so damn slow. A lot of internet players will play more hands in a year than any of these so called "live pros" play in their whole life time.

Then I ask why you happen to recommend of all the poker sites on the internet a site with a shady reputation which has also "temporarily" shut down. Poker may be a bad investment, but not for the reasons you think.

Masquerade said:

I'm saying you're an idiot for saying the reputable sites such as Party poker, Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Ipoker network are rigged. If you think about it, it's got to be rigged in someone's favour surely? So who is benefiting from it being rigged? Then there are smarter people than you who play online poker and risk hundreds of thousands in games. Surely they'd not do that if they even suspected that the site was rigged and they weren't getting a fair game?

It's just typical live player stuff what you say. They play 20 hands in an hour and then they compare their tiny sample to people who play 1000 hands an hour and moan about the beats and bad luck and how it's not like that in live play. It's just you can cheat variance a very long time and never get near the long run in live play as it's so damn slow. A lot of internet players will play more hands in a year than any of these so called "live pros" play in their whole life time.

Then I ask why you happen to recommend of all the poker sites on the internet a site with a shady reputation which has also "temporarily" shut down. Poker may be a bad investment, but not for the reasons you think.

Click to expand...

The RNG systems are rigged on the basis of giving "handicaps" to newer players. They do this to lure players into the system so that they (the poker companies) can benefit from the rake generated once the player deposits larger amounts of money, typically betting larger amounts of money as time progresses along with their bankroll. This is only after the winning streaks from the newer players give them a sense of confidence, that they are actually "good" at online poker.

A lot of business comes from "free bankroll" poker sites/affiliates. Essentially these players aren't risking anything, but due to the RNG systems illegitimacy and their "lure & trap" based nature, this convinces these players that they are "good", thus many of them make deposits. The deposits are typically higher than the $50 "free bankrolls" which usually results in higher stake games (higher rakes) as compared to stakes & rakes of games played with a $50 bankroll.

There are so many articles discussing this all over the internet, take a look if you would like.

I also don't think you understand the criminal aspect of the internet-base poker world. Party Poker which is a leading poker company was previously caught for allowing an insider to have access, to view other players cards. Of course this was swept under the carpet and they still operate.

Absolute Poker which is also another top poker company hired a former, pro poker player to use insider-software in order to view other players cards and steal money for both himself and Absolute Poker. They were caught red-handed doing this, and have refunded all the stolen money to date.

Both these fraudulent activities were into the 10's of millions of dollars. Even the "big" poker companies cannot be trusted.


I didn't recommend "all the poker sites"... the only poker site I recommended was "RealDealPoker". I have little knowledge of them, but from what I do know, they are not "shady", nor do they run off an RNG. They are closed down now due to lack of players and/or funds. I believe they never reached over 5,000 total players. Surely any poker business cannot run off the minimal income that would come from such few players.

hahaahahahahahahhaahah @ RNGs being rigged

Firstly, they're audited by (to steal Masq's phrase) people significantly smarter than you

Secondly, if it were true, it would be heavily exploitable. I have no doubt you can find articles on the internet alleging it, but you can also find article on the internet suggesting 9/11 was an inside job or that the queen is a shape shifting lizard who controls the world's cocaine trade, so that means little by itself

Party Poker was NEVER caught in a hole scam!!!! That was ULTIMATE BET/ABSOLUTE POKER with Russ Hamilton and other people. I mean, how can I even discuss the rest with you when you're so clueless. They never returned the stolen money as players such as Mike Matusow lost millions and never got it. Not to mention some other well known players.

Go read all the conspiracy theories from losing players and people who don't understand variance. Maybe when you've researched it better you can try again. The only thing that Party Poker did was pull out of the USA when they passed some legislation and paid off the americans so they can operate in the USA with no problems if/when the legislation gets overturned.

Masquerade said:

Remember....if you make quads, don't put in a lot as someone might have a straight/royal flush PMSL, I might put that post on 2p2, it's one of the funniest things i've read.

Click to expand...

Clarification: I didn't say that. I just said it's something to consider.

rogue8 said:

Clarification: I didn't say that. I just said it's something to consider.

Click to expand...

If you think about laying down quads in a game of NLH when the board's not double paired you're playing with too much money.

Masquerade said:

Party Poker was NEVER caught in a hole scam!!!! That was ULTIMATE BET/ABSOLUTE POKER with Russ Hamilton and other people. I mean, how can I even discuss the rest with you when you're so clueless. They never returned the stolen money as players such as Mike Matusow lost millions and never got it. Not to mention some other well known players.

Go read all the conspiracy theories from losing players and people who don't understand variance. Maybe when you've researched it better you can try again. The only thing that Party Poker did was pull out of the USA when they passed some legislation and paid off the americans so they can operate in the USA with no problems if/when the legislation gets overturned.

Click to expand...

It was Ultimate Bet, not Party Poker, my bad.



RNG's are still rigged though.

If you want a prime example... go to Absolute Poker and "demo" play the virtual horse racing. If you lay any horse with the highest odds (most probable to lose) you always lose.

God forbid anyone do this with real money, the demo won't even let you lay a horse and win. I layed 15 horses in a row, all least likely to win and lost every time. Do the math on the probability of losing 15 horse lays in a row (out of the 7 horses or so they offer), on horses that have the least probability to win... it will blow your mind.

So to say that "RNG's are audited"... explain Absolute Poker's virtual horse RNG system to me. It's surely not audited.

If Absolute Poker, being as big as they are are running wild with jacked RNG's then tell me who else isn't doing it.

RNG isn't rigged in the slightest. It would be far harder and costlier to rig an RNG program to certain outcomes for certain players than it would be to just keep it RNG. They make money from the rake so they have absolutely no need to put their business at risk by rigging games, online poker is a zero money risk for these sites.

As for casino style games, horse racing and all of that, the odds are made so that no matter what the results the operator wins in the long term. Sure you might win one night and maybe even for a whole week/month... but the more you keep playing the more you get exposed to the house edge. It is IMPROBABLE to beat any of these games so they have absolutely no need to rig them.