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Howdy, my girlfriend has recently shown an interest in learning how to play the unlimited texas hold-them. Naturally, my first reaction was "Awesome!" Then it was, "Crap, how do I teach someone how to play poker?" I mean, she literally does not know what hand rankings are. However, she's extremely intelligent, an over-achiever, very adept at reading personalities, and she's hot with big hooties. Needless to say, I think she can succeed at live poker given her innate talents.

I'm struggling to come up with a plan on how to take someone with literally zero experience in poker and get them to be comfortable playing for actual money. I pulled out Lee Jones book "Small Stakes Hold 'Em" which could be a good guideline, but since I'm in a part of the country that almost never spreads LHE, I was curious if any of you had a similar situation? How did you make your n00b student into a crusher? Any thoughts/suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Have her play limit holdem first, preferably online for low stakes or play money. Tell her to only play AQ+/77+ and play them very aggressively. She'll need to she as many hands as possible to get used to basic board reading, knowing her card strength, and the value of position. She should track how her opponents play preflop, did they fold, limp, raise? She can see who plays too many hands and who plays too few. I think starting out, real playing experience with a very basic game plan will be more valuable than reading a couple books.

Pics?

Teach her the basics of position, hand rankings and preflop hand rankings/aggression. Tell her to never call a raise, only be the initial raiser and have her play a 50 BB short-stack strategy while you guys sit together at the 1/2 table.

I don't think there is any substitute for actually playing. Before she reads any books, etc. she has to see if she actually likes it and if you teach her those basics she should be better off than at least half the table from the get go.

Golf and poker....two things men wish in hindsight they didn't teach their girlfriends/wives how to play....good luck bro.

+1. Absolutely. If this works, have her read David Sklansky's Theory of Poker before moving up to NL.

Find the smallest NL stakes online that you can. I think starting with limit is a mistake. Give her a starting hand chart for raise first in only, and tell her she can only Raise or Fold, no calling. That will instill the proper aggro factor. After a few thousand hands, then start in with the videos and books. Would be interested in a PGC tracking her progress. Good luck.

I tried this once...

GeorgeCostanzaWorldsColliding.gif

Did someone say my name?

Dgiharris's 10k post was pretty epic and has quite a bit of useful information. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...g-pro-1426688/

Tournaments are a great place to learn how to play short-stack poker, and home games are also great live experience if you can find a good group. Where else are you going to be able to play $0.25/$0.50 NL with a $20 buy-in? The experience alone is worth it.

Agreed. She learns best by being "hands-on" (heh heh).

See above. Heh heh. Don't think she's ready to stake herself and I'm not putting her in a cash game yet either. I like the idea tho - absolute hand strength & position is the foundation.

Ha! She's not opposed to golfing either but she gets frustrated at the range very easily. I'm barely qualified to coach her at poker, golf would be an unmitigated disaster. Although she's always saying she admires golf because you can drink and get lifted on the course.

I figure LHE is good to teach her fundamentals about hand strength, aggression, and position. We can add to that down the line.

Sheeeeeeeeet, I haven't updated my PCG, gonna be tough to convince her to start one. Two in one, perhaps?

LOL that has occurred to me. I'm scurrrrrrrrrrrred.

We've talked about hosting a monthly $10 freezeout with other friends of ours who aren't poker players but are intrigued by the idea of playing socially with a little skin in the game.

Agree with teach her the basics, get her some good books, and sit her at a limit table.

If you have low-stakes home games or online, that's good, too.

If you are trying to teach the very basics of poker, starting with the absolute strength of a 5-card hard, then I would not start with hold 'em at all. I'd start her with games like 5-card stud, 5-card draw, 7-card stud, etc., because they have simpler rules. You can just say "here are your cards, this is your hand" and you can teach her to evaluate her own hand. (This is what my dad did with me when I was a little kid.)

Then when she's mastered absolute strength of hands, that's when it's time to teach the rules of hold 'em. Rules first, THEN strategy. I don't think you should teach both at the same time. And by the way, I agree that starting with limit is a mistake. No limit actually has simpler rules than limit (because limit has more betting rules, even though it has fewer betting options) and is easier to learn, though obviously not easier to learn to play well.

Listen to this man. Anytime I go to play either my wife wants to join and I have to go along with it or be the A hole who says no.

That's not the Lee Jones book. That book was written by Ed Miller with Sklansky and Malmuth also being involved.

Lots of threads on this subject, mostly detailing why it was a mistake. The best idea is to tell her to get an intro book (almost any one of them will do), then tell her to go on 2+2 with any specific questions she has, starting with the beginner's forum. You'll be happy to explain anything she wants, but actually teaching her is a good way to start the process of breaking up.

I learned from scratch about 2.5 years ago had no clue about the game at all. I actually remember reading an article titled the math of poker explaining pot odds and being amazed. I think the best way is to play small tournaments, you can see a lot more hands without risk and micro cash is a good option too. While doing this supplementing with reading is a good idea, I searched on google best poker books and downloaded pretty much all of them to my kindle then read them like a textbook. I think professional No limit hold em where they talk about spr was great and Harrington's book on cash are well done too. It really helped to think about hands with a plan. I don't think they are perfect boks but good fundamental builders. Then have her discuss hands as much as she wants and show her two plus two. Also be very supportive she is going to lose for a while when she starts.

The archives on here have some great threads, the best of threads are awesome learning tools.

I think sshe is probably the best beginners book out there. Good for learning basic odds, how to read boards, etc. Even though it's limit, it's still better than other beginners books. I suppose HOH might also be a good choice. Stars play money would be really good practice too to get a sense of bet sizing.

Get her started with Rush or zoom play money poker NLHE.

Biggest leak with letting her start with LIMIT play, is it can lead to "I have top pair, I am calling down to the river" syndrome that does NOT go well with NL

You're right - Lee Jones' book is "Low Limit Hold 'Em". Thanks for the heads up.

I'll get her on PS shortly to get some repetition. Last night we played some open-faced hands so she could get a better sense of how the mechanics of a hand go (what the button is, how the cards are dealt, etc.). I gave her some idea of what hands to open but she still wants to do it her own way. Live and learn. Told her if she couldn't beat top pair she should check/fold. By the end I could tell she gets the mechanics of the game, and I'll then bring out the chips to show her how betting works.

Well that's a sobering thought. I'll search out some other threads on the topic.

Explain RIO and if she grasps the concepts, she'll be able to learn everything necessary to beat 1/3 for 10BB/hour.

Anyone else wanna guess the over and under of when she starts telling you how to play poker.

I'd say about 30 minutes .

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RIO?!