Advice to New Poker Players
I got this email the other day... I get several like it a month and thought some people would get some use out of the response. Thanks, Bruce, for agreeing to let me post it here. Good luck in your poker endeavors!
=====
Hey Dutch. My name is Bruce Jobe. I'm 18 years old and to young to play in
most live games. I started playing last year just for play money though. I
started to get better, and I won 5 dollars in a free roll tourney and turned
that into 150 bucks in 1 day. I wanna know if you have any advice for a
young player like me. I honestly think I can become one of the greats. I
have been tracking my finishes in single tables tourneys ranging from 5
dollar buy ins to 20 dollar buy ins and I end up in the top three 79.5% of
the time. I know they are small buy ins but its a start. So lemme know what
you think, and if you ever wanna hook up online sometime and play me, it
would be an honor. Thanks dude
=====
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for the email. It sounds like you're on your way to poker stardom.
Here are ten tips that I came up with for you:
(1) Don't be in a rush. Poker is going to be around for a long time, and
you shouldn't feel the need to push your bankroll. As a player, there is
definitely a danger of falling into the "it's-never-enough" trap. If your
bankroll is $5k, then you won't be satisfied until it's at $20k. If it's
20k, no satisfaction until it gets up to 100k. At 100k, it's a million and
so on. Take it slow and protect your roll. Don't risk a significant
portion of your bankroll in any one sitting. I hope you take this to heart,
dude, because it's so important. There are so many ex-champs who are broke
because they sit down in the wrong games with way too much of their worth.
(2) Don't chase losses. Important for the same reason. You'll see a lot
of good players, great ones even, who can't take losing. They'll lose some
money, tilt, lose some more, tilt more... pretty soon they are spiraling
down into a pretty bad place that's hard to rebound from. The main goal for
you right now should be to nurse your bankroll while you fill out your game.
You can't improve past a certain point unless you're playing, and you can't
play if you're broke.
(3) Don't quit school. If you want to be a high-profile pro, it's going to
take a lot of money to keep yourself on the tournament trail. It's a lot
easier to put yourself on that trail if you have money coming in from other
ways besides poker. If poker is your only source of income, you will almost
certainly be broke at one point or another... probably more than one. If
you don't have something to fall back on, you can end up in some pretty bad
spots.
(4) Stay off drugs. Nothing is more destructive to poker players than
drugs. I think an occasional toke is fine, but coke will screw up your
life. Alcohol can screw you up pretty good too. Daniel Negreanu tells a
story about one night losing at a NL table drunk off his ass. The next
morning he woke up and checked his player box and it was 80k lighter... he
couldn't even remember playing. This is when 80k was a significant chunk of
his worth. If it can happen to Daniel N. it can happen to you.
(5) Stay away from table games. Don't be a loser and gamble away all your
hard-earned money at the craps table. A lot of great players do.
(6) Read. Read EVERYTHING about poker that you can get your hands on.
Every book that I've ever read has added something to my game. Some authors
to help you on your way : anything by Sklansky, Caro, Brunson, McEvoy &
Cloutier. In particular, Holdem for Advanced Players, Super System, and the
Book of Tells.
(7) Observe the other players. Don't just sit there at the table playing
your hands, and then waiting for the next one. The best time to learn
something new about poker is when you're out of a hand.
(8) Study the WPT and ESPN episodes. Really study them... try and get into
the players' heads and figure out why they did the things they did. Then
rewind the episode and watch it again. Write down every hand and take
notes. After you read everything out there, there aren't too many ways for
you to cheaply improve your game. This is one of those ways.
(9) Think about the tournaments you play. Don't just think about the one
hand that you went out on. If you went out on that hand, then some other
player had you covered... and there were plenty of things you could have
done so that you would have had more chips to survive. Think about the
opportunities you missed to maximize your profits and minimize your losses
on specific hands, and think about ways you could have played hands
differently. There are very few clear cut actions that come up in poker, so
consider every alternative that you could have taken.
(10) Never underestimate your opponents. It is so easy to read a few
books, place in a few tournaments, and then suddenly think you're the best
poker player alive. Every player you sit down with should be treated with
respect. Everybody is capable of making world-class moves at one point or
another. The "fish" at the other end of the table has probably read all the
same books, placed in a lot more tournaments, and has a lot more experience
than you do. If he's playing like he doesn't care about the money, it's
probably because he has a real job somewhere that pays a lot better than
poker. It doesn't mean he's stupid. Don't underestimate anybody.
Hope that helps you on your way. Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to post
your email and my response to it on my blog.
Cheers,
Dutch
=====
Hey Dutch. My name is Bruce Jobe. I'm 18 years old and to young to play in
most live games. I started playing last year just for play money though. I
started to get better, and I won 5 dollars in a free roll tourney and turned
that into 150 bucks in 1 day. I wanna know if you have any advice for a
young player like me. I honestly think I can become one of the greats. I
have been tracking my finishes in single tables tourneys ranging from 5
dollar buy ins to 20 dollar buy ins and I end up in the top three 79.5% of
the time. I know they are small buy ins but its a start. So lemme know what
you think, and if you ever wanna hook up online sometime and play me, it
would be an honor. Thanks dude
=====
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for the email. It sounds like you're on your way to poker stardom.
Here are ten tips that I came up with for you:
(1) Don't be in a rush. Poker is going to be around for a long time, and
you shouldn't feel the need to push your bankroll. As a player, there is
definitely a danger of falling into the "it's-never-enough" trap. If your
bankroll is $5k, then you won't be satisfied until it's at $20k. If it's
20k, no satisfaction until it gets up to 100k. At 100k, it's a million and
so on. Take it slow and protect your roll. Don't risk a significant
portion of your bankroll in any one sitting. I hope you take this to heart,
dude, because it's so important. There are so many ex-champs who are broke
because they sit down in the wrong games with way too much of their worth.
(2) Don't chase losses. Important for the same reason. You'll see a lot
of good players, great ones even, who can't take losing. They'll lose some
money, tilt, lose some more, tilt more... pretty soon they are spiraling
down into a pretty bad place that's hard to rebound from. The main goal for
you right now should be to nurse your bankroll while you fill out your game.
You can't improve past a certain point unless you're playing, and you can't
play if you're broke.
(3) Don't quit school. If you want to be a high-profile pro, it's going to
take a lot of money to keep yourself on the tournament trail. It's a lot
easier to put yourself on that trail if you have money coming in from other
ways besides poker. If poker is your only source of income, you will almost
certainly be broke at one point or another... probably more than one. If
you don't have something to fall back on, you can end up in some pretty bad
spots.
(4) Stay off drugs. Nothing is more destructive to poker players than
drugs. I think an occasional toke is fine, but coke will screw up your
life. Alcohol can screw you up pretty good too. Daniel Negreanu tells a
story about one night losing at a NL table drunk off his ass. The next
morning he woke up and checked his player box and it was 80k lighter... he
couldn't even remember playing. This is when 80k was a significant chunk of
his worth. If it can happen to Daniel N. it can happen to you.
(5) Stay away from table games. Don't be a loser and gamble away all your
hard-earned money at the craps table. A lot of great players do.
(6) Read. Read EVERYTHING about poker that you can get your hands on.
Every book that I've ever read has added something to my game. Some authors
to help you on your way : anything by Sklansky, Caro, Brunson, McEvoy &
Cloutier. In particular, Holdem for Advanced Players, Super System, and the
Book of Tells.
(7) Observe the other players. Don't just sit there at the table playing
your hands, and then waiting for the next one. The best time to learn
something new about poker is when you're out of a hand.
(8) Study the WPT and ESPN episodes. Really study them... try and get into
the players' heads and figure out why they did the things they did. Then
rewind the episode and watch it again. Write down every hand and take
notes. After you read everything out there, there aren't too many ways for
you to cheaply improve your game. This is one of those ways.
(9) Think about the tournaments you play. Don't just think about the one
hand that you went out on. If you went out on that hand, then some other
player had you covered... and there were plenty of things you could have
done so that you would have had more chips to survive. Think about the
opportunities you missed to maximize your profits and minimize your losses
on specific hands, and think about ways you could have played hands
differently. There are very few clear cut actions that come up in poker, so
consider every alternative that you could have taken.
(10) Never underestimate your opponents. It is so easy to read a few
books, place in a few tournaments, and then suddenly think you're the best
poker player alive. Every player you sit down with should be treated with
respect. Everybody is capable of making world-class moves at one point or
another. The "fish" at the other end of the table has probably read all the
same books, placed in a lot more tournaments, and has a lot more experience
than you do. If he's playing like he doesn't care about the money, it's
probably because he has a real job somewhere that pays a lot better than
poker. It doesn't mean he's stupid. Don't underestimate anybody.
Hope that helps you on your way. Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to post
your email and my response to it on my blog.
Cheers,
Dutch
posted by Dutch Boyd at
09:10
5 Comments:
Absolutely great advice Dutch. I love to see that you can be a positive role model for kids just starting out in poker and hope that your sincere comments are taken seriously by all. It's great to see a poker figure like yourself take the time and effort to not only lend some great advice, but be such a great role model as well.
Love the site/blog and I hope to see and play with you in some of the tourny's coming up. Good luck and hope you're at a final table soon.
http://frankiepoker.blogspot.com/
I too made about $150 off of Pokerstars and im only 15 :D I just hate all of Pokerstars's river beats - pisses me off.
-- BeefStew
great advice dutch. The only thing i could add would be keep tons of stats on your play. The only way to really improve is to take tons of notes on your tendancies and look for holes in your game. Pokertracker is a absolute must.
Also, i wouldn't spend too much time watching WSOP episodes. It is hard to understand hands without seeing the 20 before them. often, you will see gus hansen raising with a crap hand. what you didnt see if the 3 hands before where he won the hand with a flop bet with nothing.
Hey Dutch,
Glad to see you read my posts. I.e. you answer number 9. Glad I can provide the poker community with some great advice.
JJDude
(5) Stay away from table games. Don't be a loser and gamble away all your
hard-earned money at the craps table. A lot of great players do
You need to pass this one on to your buddy Fischman. Earlier this week at the WPO, I spotted him playing blackjack (I was counting in the single deck game at the 'Shoe at the time) for multiple blacks--and let's just say it was clear he is not an adavantage player . . .
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