So why exactly do you want to avoid drunken degens? I have played at a casino once (before I even knew ANYTHING about poker), and made $200 off of a drunken degen. He was pretty obnoxious - got into a yelling match with another player - but it's worth it for the chance to win money from them IMO
I would like to add one tip to this thread about live play. I see so many people losing big pots because of this mistake (almost every session I have, someone does this).
One person will be all in, but there is still action with 2 or more players still in the pot with chips. Never ever ever expose your hand until the dealer tells you there is no more acton, and to showdown.
People will get all excited and roll over their boat on the river, before the last guy checks/bets, and it is an AUTOMATIC MUCK if you expose your hand before the action has ended.
Then the people say they are sorry, they didn't know, blah blah blah. Some even get into huge arguments with the floor because they were forced to muck the winner. "I thought they already checked!" says the player who exposed his hand with action still pending.
Never expose your cards until you are told to do so at showdown.
One person will be all in, but there is still action with 2 or more players still in the pot with chips. Never ever ever expose your hand until the dealer tells you there is no more acton, and to showdown.
People will get all excited and roll over their boat on the river, before the last guy checks/bets, and it is an AUTOMATIC MUCK if you expose your hand before the action has ended.
Then the people say they are sorry, they didn't know, blah blah blah. Some even get into huge arguments with the floor because they were forced to muck the winner. "I thought they already checked!" says the player who exposed his hand with action still pending.
Never expose your cards until you are told to do so at showdown.
One of the biggest things I can agree with from the original post is about being mindful of bringing your poker buddies along. I used to go to the local room with my step-brother all the time. We never played at the same table, so that wasn't a problem. It also wasn't that he wanted to go somewhere else. He wouldn't want to leave the tables while he still had money.
The problem was that he was a degenerate loser. He also had no bankroll. So he'd come wandering over, 50 minutes after we arrived, broke. He would then try to borrow another buy-in from me. This really put me in a bad spot. If I didn't loan him the money, he'd want to leave. If I did, it would be a while before I got it back. I did get most of it back, so that wasn't my concern. If I loaned him the money, it meant that I didn't have the extra buy-in or two that I planned on having if I was to get felted.
So yeah, be careful about bringing your friends along. It's a real double-edged sword kind of thing. They're fun for the car ride down and back. They might be great to have around when you want to whine about a bad beat. But they can really compromise a profitable situation. More than once, I had to leave before I would have wanted because of him.
The problem was that he was a degenerate loser. He also had no bankroll. So he'd come wandering over, 50 minutes after we arrived, broke. He would then try to borrow another buy-in from me. This really put me in a bad spot. If I didn't loan him the money, he'd want to leave. If I did, it would be a while before I got it back. I did get most of it back, so that wasn't my concern. If I loaned him the money, it meant that I didn't have the extra buy-in or two that I planned on having if I was to get felted.
So yeah, be careful about bringing your friends along. It's a real double-edged sword kind of thing. They're fun for the car ride down and back. They might be great to have around when you want to whine about a bad beat. But they can really compromise a profitable situation. More than once, I had to leave before I would have wanted because of him.
Agree - if the goal is just to log some hours and get familiar with live play then you'll get much better bang for your buck from a cheap tournament. The structure is guaranteed to be awful but you'll get much more experience from it.
An even better option can be finding a pub/bar league in your local area and using that to get used to handling chips and cards and reading body language and whatever. Then you can graduate to cheap casino tournaments, then maybe up to cash games once you're comfortable.
An even better option can be finding a pub/bar league in your local area and using that to get used to handling chips and cards and reading body language and whatever. Then you can graduate to cheap casino tournaments, then maybe up to cash games once you're comfortable.
live games
As a former poker dealer...new players are always welcome. As I owned and dealt cards in a small town in MT this was especially true...we get tired of the same dudes all the time....take it to the felt...real poker...much more of a game!
As a former poker dealer...new players are always welcome. As I owned and dealt cards in a small town in MT this was especially true...we get tired of the same dudes all the time....take it to the felt...real poker...much more of a game!
This is a great read! While I don't completely agree with everything I think it's a great starting point and all sound advice for beginner players. I believe you can deviate from a lot of the advice here and you wouldn't be wrong necessarily (although you have to exercise extreme caution when you get possibly "out of line" of course)
I've played several hundred hours of 1/2 as a rec so I definitely can't claim to know better but I will to try commit to most of what's here in the hopes that I can start winning once I get back into 1/2.
I've played several hundred hours of 1/2 as a rec so I definitely can't claim to know better but I will to try commit to most of what's here in the hopes that I can start winning once I get back into 1/2.
