Overwhelmed new player, help?

A bit late to the party, but for a true beginner, you are best off not trying to get too cute and just playing only starting cards that are among the premium and near-premium. This will tend to make your post flop play quite a bit simpler. It is not optimal, but playing mostly “fit or fold” on the flop would work well for a beginner. This means you play only hands like AJ, AQ, AK (maybe AT and KQ especially if suited) plus most pocket pairs. You should be raising pre flop with all of the hands you play.

If the flop completely misses your hand, donÂ’t be afraid to check and not try to take the pot with a bet. This is especially true if you are up against more than one opponent: it is much tougher to bluff when not heads up. If you flop top pair or better, then (depending on pot size and how your opponents react) you should be looking to build a pot. Start by betting the flop. If you donÂ’t get pushback and no obvious draws hit, then bet the turn. Repeat for the river. Keep betting unless your opponents give you a reason not to. You may not always win, especially if all you end up with is one pit, but given your starting hand selection, you should win more often than you lose. For example opponents at this level will often (mistakenly!) call preflop with any hand with an ace. If you only ever have AJ or better on an ace high flop, you will win quite a bit and quite often against such players.

If you happen to flop a flush or straight draw, it gets a bit trickier. You do want to have some bluffs when you bet the flop. Draws like this are good for that purpose. You are fine with it if a bet wins immediately, but you at least have some winning chances if your bet is called. If the flop hits your draw, bet, and if not consider betting anyway. The same logic holds.

Most pocket pairs (99 and lower) are best played by set mining. That is you are looking to bet mainly flops where you hit your set and give up otherwise. Low flops with one or zero overcards to your pair can be an exception. There is a good chance your hand is best now, but it is vulnerable. For example if you have 88 on a 752 flop, you should probably bet and try to get players with aces, kings and queens in their hand to fold. You really donÂ’t want to check and see an A or K on the turn. Even a flop like a 9 or T high flop might be good for your 88 hand. If you get called, in that case, though you probably should be prepared to just check it down and probably fold to a turn bet or a flop raise.

Big pockets are the moneymakers and they are pretty straightforward to play. Just be careful not to overvalue them. Pay attention to your opponents reaction to your bets. If you have AA and they are raising you when there is an obvious flush or straight possibility, be careful.

Just to be clear: these suggestions are overly simplistic and meant to keep you afloat and maybe making some profit while you learn. They are by no means optimal play and you should certainly continue to study and learn better strategy. The important thing to learn (and one of the reasons a program like Snowie probably is not going to be too helpful right now) is not what you should do in a given spot, but why the correct action is what it is. After all, you may experience similar spots, but generally not identical oneÂ’s going forward. Even seemingly small changes to a situation can change the correct action. Knowing the why is critical to spotting what features of a spot are important and helping you make correct decisions going forward.

Good luck and donÂ’t be hard on yourself. Poker is an easy game to learn how to play but a ridiculously hard game to learn how to play well. Also donÂ’t judge too much based on your profits, at least in the short term. The nature of poker is such that you can win a lot of money for a while (and sometimes a long while) by playing badly. Conversely you can lose a lot while playing well, again sometimes for a fairly long stretch. Be prepared for both upswings and downswings. There will be times that it feels like you canÂ’t lose and other times where you canÂ’t win no matter what you do. DonÂ’t get too high or too low - if you manage to stick with it, it evens out in the (sometimes extremely) long run.

Welcome too the poker world. Hope you had a great Xmas and New Years. Some good advice above. Some of it good for after you get some experience and move up stakes.

Personally if I was brand new and starting at micro/low stakes with little knowledge I'd get some preflop charts for the tables you play 6 max or full-ring. Just use goggle you'll find plenty. $30 isn't much $50 would have been better to start at 2nl cash tables. In my opinion play full-ring(8-9 player tables) I don't about WSOP.com but a lot of grinders, daily regulars and most winning players play 6 max. For them volume is king that won't be the case for you starting out against them with only $30. And 6 max tables have a much higher variance whish again with your $30 will likely kill you.

To start I'd learn a Tight Aggressive style(TAG) and play full-ring 2nl. This should get you the most playing time(experience) outta your money and hopefully keep you outta the toughest spots with marginal holdings. Which will lose you tons of money quite quickly as a new player.

I don't know if WSOP allows HUD's or not but even if WSOP don't if you decide you wanna keep playing online I'd get a HUD regardless whether you can use it at WSOP. They make a great study and hand review tool. In my opinion I have no idea how why everyone who plays online doesn't have one. Great easy for studying with if nothing else. You should be able to download hands or somehow get hands off the site and import them into your HUD. I prefer Poker Tracker 4. Again just google it.

A few more things you can work on is patience, mental toughness/tilt control and bankroll management. These 3-4 things are just as important as being good at poker when it comes to being a winning player long term. You can be the best player in the world suck at bankroll management or any of them things above......you're not likely a long term losing player.

Best of luck at the tables. Hope you do well or at least you get to play on your $30 for awhile so you can get as much experience as possible outta it. As it takes time to learn the player pool and their tendencies.

^My 2cents as a 20+ year micro/low stakes winning player on Pokerstars full-ring tables. Not a brag as I'm at best a okish poker player on talent/knowledge. Bankroll management, mental toughness/tilt control, patience and experience does the rest.

EDIT: Don't waste a single dime on any courses/books at this point save that money or any money and deposit it. There's plenty enough good free info and knowledge on google that will help you beat micro/low stakes. It's not hard as some think it is. I haven't finished reading or doing a new course in 15 years old now(only brought 2 new course). Not even half finished. Good courses but for me waste of $200. I can still win up too 50nl full-ring.

If I was to buy any book YOU don't need to and some may give me crap for plugging this book but **** it. Mason has a new book coming out about micro/low stakes. Mason's an OG and former owner of these forums. I only plug his new book because I own most if not all his old books and 2+2 publishing old books. Some of the best books poker books of their time and a reason I'm the player I am today. I'll be buying Mason's new book and may not even read it all. It'll simply go great with my collection.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/ne...

Cheers!!!

I think you should consider buying a notebook and filling it out with thoughts of poker and strategy. Map out how to win, bring that to the forums for tinkering, repeat.