DTXCF's 4-year anniversay post: Getting started at poker
Hello all, this post is to commemorate the 4-year anniversary of my first post (which, for the record, isn't actually until December 24th 2015, but who cares). To give you all an idea of how far I've come, in my first post I called AKo a marginal hand:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32/beg...
I'm still far from a great player, but I'm thrilled to have found a hobby that four years later I find even more invigorating than when I started.
My goal for this 4-year-anniversary post is for it to be the definitive answer the question, "How do I get started?" Literally, every time someone comes into this forum and says, "I want to learn how to play poker" I'm hoping everybody's answer will be, "Go read DalTXColtsFan's post"!
This post will be very similar to the series of articles I wrote back in March, but scaled back to the point where absolutely anyone can readily understand everything. You don't have to know a nut flush draw from the desire to put cashews in the toilet to understand this post.
This post also assumes that when you say "I want to learn how to play poker" you're really saying "I want to learn how to play no-limit Texas Hold'Em." There are other forms of poker but no-limit Texas Hold'Em (NLHE) is as sensible and practical a place to start as any.
About me http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
Lose the idea that poker is easy money http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
Understand that poker is about decisions, not results http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
The two worst poker players in the world http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
The value of play money poker http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
How to get started http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
Appendix: Playing live http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpo...
7 Replies
I missed the 10 year anniversary of my writing this thread. I was always proud of it. I believe every word is as relevant to beginners in 2025 as it was in 2015.
Poker is about decisions, not resultsForget poker for a minute and let's just talk about general gambling:1. Suppose you can make a bet that gives you a 40% chance of doubling your money. Is it a good bet?2. Suppose you can make a thousand such bets. Should you do it?Clearly #1 and #2 are bad bets. You'd have to get lucky to win bet #1. For bet #2 you're all but guaranteed to l
I may be misinterpreting, but if you can double your money 40% of the time, that’s a +EV action.
EV = Pr(win) * $Win - Pr(lose)*$Lose
Suppose you have to bet $100 to win $200 and you win 40% of the time.
EV = 0.40*200 - 0.60*100 = 80 - 60 = 20 (> 0)
Indeed it is a question of interpretation and I maybe could have clarified.
In *my* mind, if I sit down with $100 and get up with $200, I doubled my money. So I only "won" $100, not $200.
Does that help?
ASSUME Hero has $100: Villain bets $100 into a $100 pot. Hero calls $100
My EV equation shows a win gives you $20 expected profit.
An alternative equation is to use the total return with a win which is $200 +$100 = $300
Then EV = 0.40 * $300 – $100 = $20. If hero does win, he now has $300 but had to risk $100 to get it. The amount won, $200, is twice hero’s stack of $100
Your interpretation is that hero ends up with $200 after the bet if he wins. This might occur if the pot is 50 and villain bets 150. Then
EV = 0.4*200 -0.6*150 = -10, a bad bet
So, yes, we are using different interpretations.
By the way, nice thread
I was thinking the same thing as brokenstars! TDA was a legend around here yesteryear LOL
