First off, I would like to take this opportunity to thank 2p2 and more specifically STTF for all of the help you have given me. I hope I have answered enough dumb noob questions to repay this some what. Your advice to me since I originally joined has been very valuable. There are too many people who have given me good advice, so I will pass on individually pointing people out.
I figured I'd spare everyone from a strat post, since me giving strat advice is probably the equivelent of a kiwi bird giving survival lessons. So instead, I figured I'd try to impress some knowledge about some ways that may help you understand and use this tool that is the STT forum. So...
New posters guide to the (hopefully) successful use of STTF
Read the FAQ already dag nab it
I know much of this is covered in the faq. I will not be covering why the flack do they keep locking your threads. FAQ, if you haven't read it, STFU, GTFO, and go read it nao! Noone cares about your BBV. Yes, you need valid sample for your ROI % to mean jack-ish. Yes, the best site for SNG's is a site with SNG's.
Forums in general
If you are fairly new to forums altogether, he is a nice video that I first saw from BBV4L forum sticky that may shed some light on this monster that is teh interwebz.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/197209...ve_on_a_forum/
Posting hands
GIGO, Garbage in Garbage out
This section on posting hands can be pretty much summarized with this term, GIGO. GIGO means garbage in, garbage out. If you give people crap tail info in your OP, you are going to get crap tail answers, because you started a crap tail thread that does noone any good because you did not take enough time writing the OP to get useful, applicable, and accurate answers.
FFS convert your histories
Use converter if at all possible. 'Nuff said here.
Please god include some reads and/or relevant history in your OP.
I have no idea if your TT is good or what the best line is on the J high flop if I have no idea what villain will call your PFR with. I'm not saying you should have a booklet of notes for every hand you post, but try to provide the best information you can have.
Also, if you have no reads, you have no idea how your opponent is playing, you have no idea WTF is going on in the hand, that's a sign. It is a sign that you probably have: a) too many tables going on; b) need to turn the tv off; or c) probably should have a few less brandys/puffs of the magic stuff in order to expect to play profitable poker.
If relevant, include your image at the time. How did you double up? Do the other players think you are the son of two related primates because you have tried to steal every button folded to you? Maybe they will 3bet you lighter if this is the case. Your image is very important in many situations to what the correct play is. It is not always important, but it can't hurt!
Posting Wiz Hands
Wiz hands should not be forbidden IMO (some may disagree on this). With that said, noone wants to look at hands that your pocket calculator tell you are obviously good or bad. If you didn't run it first, you should not be posting it. PERIOD.
Additionally, starting threads with obvious answers you can figure out on your own are a great way to make someones ignore list. Once that happens, you will not be getting much if any advice from them again.
If you are going to respond to one of these threads, be pretty dang sure what the correct play is unless you have ran the numbers also. It makes you look like a total mouth breather when you do so and are wrong (trust me I have learned this from personal experience).
Please don't let this deter you too much from posting Wiz hands, because ICM is not always right. But please, please, please at least run the freaking hand first THEN ask questions.
Stopping the action at the critical decision in the hand
'Oh crap the FD got there on the turn.' Well maybe the critical decision was 'should I protect my hand on the flop or try to CR.' If so, you are only biasing peoples responses by putting more action in. Even good players can be results oriented, especially if they see the results, ldo. Also, while I don't think posting the results later in a thread is always a bad thing, you can from the point you post the results discount all advice you are given. Once you post results all advice in the thread will be tainted by you posting the results. Obv you need to protect your QQ on the flop, the K of
is coming on the turn!
Theory Posts
Theory posts aren't bad. With that said, posting individual hands will give most new players more mileage. Some times the theory is grey behind the scenes. Play pocers, post hands from those pocers games, get advice on said pocers hands imo.
Replies to threads (even your own!)
Noone is obligated to reply to you at any point
If they post in your thread, they are nice enough to respond to the OP at all! If they don't reply if they would do the same with AQo in your AKs thread, get over it and dredge your PT database trying to find a AQo hand that is the same.
Many of these players charge people like real maneys and stuff for coaching, so don't expect free coaching just because they replied to your OP. It is fine to ask questions you have about replies, but you are not entitled to an answer to them (again, or entitled to an answer to your OP).
Derails
It is generally impolite to 'derail' someone else's thread (and by generally I mean never unless you know it is ok because you and the OP are friends).
What is derail? Derail is when two idiot posters argue with each other about something that probably isn't even realavent to the hand in question. Try to respect other's threads, and try to keep it on topic.
If someone is derailing your thread, ask them politely to stop. If they don't listen, hit the report button, or alternatively tell them to go ***** and stay the **** out your thread.
Also, many posters on STTF try to avoid confrontation (and some not so much
). They got over that to respond to you or someone else. That doesn't mean they have to put you flaming them or respond to someone trolling them saying they are stupid (again, say hello to my lil friend, the ignore button).
Engrish only at the tables!
Many of the posters here do not speak or read engrish as their first language. Us Yanks, Brits and other english speakers, we all feel bad for them.. but it is not their fault they grew up with such a disadvantage. Just be glad a player who is probably better than you was nice enough to read the crazy A
, 9
, and
UTG raises to 100, then break out the google language tools to tell you what they think.
Why didn't I get the response I was looking for
Fundamental problems with your play before the 'critical decision point' in the hand
If you played the beginning of the hand like a donk, you may not get a good answer to the rest of the hand. 'Ok, so I limped my AA from early position at level 1 and 7 people limped behind me, is my hand good on this flop?' Expect a lot of replies to the effect of 'wtf raise pre /thread.'
Bumping 'old' threads
Suppose 4 people responded to your OP. See that number called views next to the replies counter? Probably some very good players viewed it and didn't have anything to add.
Again, speaking from personal experience, when a poster give noobs (or other players) ****ty advice, someone usually steps in to tell that person said offender are a moron, or at a minimum give good advice to make up for your crap advice. It is fine to bump your thread within reason, but don't expect anyone to respond with much different if a couple established posters have given you the same advice (and it is 90+% because they were giving good advice).
Threads where a reply can provide info on how to exploit a player
Answering some questions will give away too much about a player and his/her thought process/strengths/weaknesses. Some spots are very sensative to ranges. Giving away ones full ranges can open you to exploitive play by other thinking players. If a respondent has a flaw in their thought process, they do not want people they play with to reconginze this from their posts!
Because of this, you will not always get the responses you are looking for with the 'what range do I do XYZ with ABC chip set up' questions. They aren't going to play the STT for you. Many times, they are going to post a reply of what they would do with THIS SPECIFIC hand, or stay out of your thread altogether.
Reading comprehension FTW
When you make a thread asking for advice, for the love of god, read the advice before trying to defend your point, your play, and what you think is the best play. They posted in your thread trying to help you. Please listen to their advice before you respond about how what you did is best.
It is fine to disagree, or even continue to play like a donk if you so choose, but posting hands is supposed to be an interactive activity. You post hands, and they reply. You think about it, and you take what you like. If you are just posting to state your case and ignore everyones responses, go to crappypokerplayer.blogspot.com.
ZOMG dey bein meen two mi
Tough love and welcome to STTF.
One day young padowan, you to may tell micro donks how much they suck. Maybe people telling you how horrible you are will help you become a good STT player too... or perhaps you will have to resort to making 1k posts about forum ettiquette like me.
Summary
In summary, everyone uses the forums differently. It can be a great tool if used properly. You will not agree with everyone on everything, and that is fine. There are a lot of great players that frequent these forums and give much better advice than me, perhaps if you use the forums correctly, they will give advice to you! Don't take it personally if they tell you how bad you play. Just try to listen to people with an open mind and learn.
IB4 a bunch of replies that don't answer my OP questions or people say what a cop out this is since I just plagiarized the forum sticky.
To all of those people GTFO, *****, and just be glad I didn't do a strat post!
Thanks again all.
Two Plus Two
Linear Mode
