What are the top/first 5 or so things a beginner should learn?

Starting hands
position
pot odds
calculating outs
correct betting
??

Looking as to where I should really buckle down and build from.

-to think about what you are doing on every street
-to ask questions
-how to respond to a posted hand
-not be results oriented
-poker is about fun, not making a living (for the foreseeable future if you are just starting)

that was off the top of my head but all of those are important

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...ncement95.html

How to fold, really :P

1. Bankroll management
2. Bankroll management
3. Bankroll management
4. Starting hands
5. Position

Good Luck

Don't forget tilt control. And bankroll management of course .

Haven't read the replies yet, here's my take:

Learning mindset:
How to take away something from every hand you play or observe. Focusing on improvement instead of results. Finding and utilising the right resources (like forums, books or training sites)

The nature of luck and variance in poker:
What does it mean to win 2 buyins in a session? Not much. I got outdrawn, should I have bet more? Not sure, but getting outdrawn has nothing to do with it, since you couldn't have known it when you made your bet.

Bankroll management:
Find a good move up/ move down chart and stick to it. Something like 15 buyins for micro stakes cash games is the minimum.

Basic math:
This includes odds and expected value.

Emotional balance:
This is easier if you're playing in a learning mindset but still deserves it's own bullet point. What is tilt, how to recognize it, how to avoid it and what you can do about it.

+1
Good thinking process:
What to think about during a hand. How to decide between different actions. Reasons for betting/raising, calling and folding.

After every session(Started NL10) I write down how opponents play etc, if they can barrel 3 streets(2 streets) etc. It helps me alot, and it helps me doing the right folds and calls.

Agreed but, I'd take out #3 and put in "dealing with variance and tilt"

Well the first should be

1. starting hands.
2. blinds?
3. position is power
4. betting and bet sizes.
5. pot odds

Emotional control
Risk management
Maths relevant to poker
Session management/game selection
Having a plan for the hands you play

No particular order, they're all really important.

-Good Bankroll Management
-Not being results oriented
-Knowing about pot odds
-Not letting emotions influence your actions
-Knowing how to adapt your game properly to a cash game, SNG, or MTT.

1. BRM
2. Position
3. critical thinking
4. tilt control
5. BRM

1. BRM
2. Pot odds / Implied odds / Bet sizing
3. Position
4. Starting hands
5. Calling with speculative hands

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Its something I stress personally since I wish someone taught it to me when I first started playing

Dont call a 3bet OOP
Fold More
BRM
If someone check raises you on the turn or river - fold
Position

BRM is crucial for sure, and everything mentioned is real important.

That being said...

This one needs to get more love, especially for a beginner.

When you are first starting out, over all hand strength is even more important than position, since you won't be able to play medium strength hands well enough post flop, even with position. You will need to be playing only strong hands, regardless of your position.


The best way to insure you are playing only the strongest hands, and not playing the ones that will only get you in trouble early in your poker days, is to learn starting hands, and ...

playing less hands, and FOLDING more, and most, hands.

any really good resources i should check for BRM?

There are lots of resources and threads on brm. My advice is play cash stakes you have 50+ buyins or tourneys you have 100+ buyins. After a couple hundred thousand hands if u have become a winning player, become more aggressive in your brm.

As for learning basics. Learn the abcs first. Starting hand charts. Bet sizing. How to play very tight aggressive. Then just play thousands of hands of 2nl and every time u screw up, figure out what u did wrong. Learn what to do and why.

brm is what get me everytime

1. BRM for sure.
2. Reasons Why We Bet
3. Pot Odds and Implied Odds
4. Position, and why it is important
5. Preflop hand strength

Learn those 5 things and you have the foundation of poker.

1. Play most in position
2. Play tight
3. Don't bluff that often
4. Know the odds
5. BRM

Probably the most important thing to realise about BRM is that only winning players have bankrolls.

Everyone else is on a training budget.

Have an absolute minimum of 20 buy ins for the game you're playing (assuming nl cash)
Don't move up until you have 20 buy ins for the next level OR you feel like taking a shot and know that you can very comfortably reload if things don't work out for you.

Be aware that there are no shortage of guys who are constantly taking shots, 'comfortably' reloading, and spewing money long-term.

Only you can decide what 'comfortable' means.

Usual advice is to start at the bottom ($2nl) but there's a school of thought which says you're better off jumping into a bigger game (eg $10nl) because 'the players at $2nl are so bad, you can't learn anything from playing against them'. I've never come close to understanding the logic at work here but you will see it suggested that you should start higher. My guess is, someone just starting out could very easily take a battering at $10nl but again, if 'comfortably' reloading isn't a problem, it's an option I guess.

Bottom line: you should never (repeat never) be playing with money you can't afford to lose.

Good Luck.

#99. spending your winnings ..

if u don't spend some of your winnings you'll never feel like u won anything since poker is a streaky game and has many ups and downs ... after i win sometimes i'll spend 10% of my winnings just for the **** of it.