My roommate has seen me do pretty well at my local card room's 1/2 game, and he's decided he wants to learn and go with me on the weekends. He's brand new (as in, I had to teach him the order of hands, brand new.) He's really dead-set on going with me this weekend and playing.

I expressed my reservations, given that's only 3 days away, but he's a grown man and can do what he wants. Still, I don't want to see him get raped. We played a little last night and he's predictably awful. He called me down with a pair of 4s when I had top pair because he "thought it was a good hand." He shoved all-in on a JT379 board with JT after I led for 3/4th pot on the river with A8. Both times I explained why these were bad moves, but I'm not too sure if it helped. In both cases he rationalized with, "won't people be betting to make you think that's what they have?"

Should we just play as much as possible? Should I instead of playing random hands, setup actual tricky spots meant to point out flaws? Should I just convince him not to play?

What are your thoughts?

Well, he's gonna get raped. Best to avert your eyes...

In reality, the best way for him to start would be to study some basic strat, learn how to play a basic ABC style and put in huge amts of volume online at the micro's. (However: nobody is willing to do this, so we can rule that option out)

The short time span is going to be a problem since obv there is no way to become competent in a short amount of time. If he wants to get his practice in at live 1/2 so be it but that will be a much more expensive poker education than the micros online. (and he might not survive long enough to graduate)

The thing that helps most is explaining to him that people bluff a lot less than he thinks.

On TV it looks different because a bluff is always interesting - whether it gets through or is exposed. So a bluff hand will always be shown. The vast majority of humdrum "raise-and-take-it" hands are rarely shown. They don't make good TV.

Other hard and fast rule for a total beginner to help them not get immediately destroyed (no, these are in no way pro tips and will only prolong the inevitable - not avert it):
- only get your stack in on a set or better. if your opponent puts you all in with less you will lose more often than not
- don't call preflop with many hands (teach him some starting ranges/positions)
- respect position
- the turn is the "street of truth". If someone bets the turn into you (or even check-raises you) and you have TPTK or less - fold.
- don't try to hero catch a bluff

That said: Tell him he will lose his stack on your trip. 100% sure. With these rules it will just last him a bit longer.

He's going to get broken in prison style.

Assuming your friend doesn't have unlimited funds, try and get him to take a specific amount, in cash, that he is willing to lose and get him to promise to get up at that point. Tell him lessons are over if he doesn't have the discipline to do that i.e. set a daily budget and stick to it. Hopefully the fact that you fully expect him to torch whatever amount that is will settle him down a bit.

Also get him to promise to get up if he wins a specific amount. It's unlikely but could happen that he wins a couple of buyins, if he locks it up immediately he can go home a winner.

There's no way to turn a beginner into a winning player in the current poker environment overnight, even at live low stakes. If he plays every weekend, he can expect to lose thousands before becoming a winner, assuming he studies hard.

Maybe point him to this thread as well.

Werebeer done some time in d pen? Imagine if dis foo was your celly ud b breaking him in ERRY nite ain't u. DAS HOW WE DO
I would say the single most important concept you can do, is teach him that every decision should be based upon cards "I have x on a y board", never upon hunches or emotions. There should always be a tangible reason for what he does .

Play money to learn the basics - hand rankings, reading your own hand, reading board texture, reasons to bet, etc. Do that for a week or two.

Then load a few buyins on Bovada and play NL5. Discuss hands as they come up.

Once he at least breaks even at NL5 over a decent sample... he can play 1/2 live without you having to worry.

You get him ready by giving him an idiot-proof strategy: short-stacking.

His problem - every beginner's problem - is post-flop, so tell him to play a ss strat that only 3! AI pre or opens large and jams flop. Tell him to wait for AA, KK, AK, QQ, jam flop (except the worst flops for QQ), and literally play nothing else. That's easy enough for even a clueless beginner. The time he spends folding will build discipline and he can watch you play post-flop when he's not in a hand. Try to sit next to each other so he can sweat hands with you.

He can move on to post-flop after he gets this basic pre strat down pat. Give him a poker book to study while he plays short in the meantime. Tell him to read the sticky on short-stacking in the strat forum.

I brought my totally clueless noob friend to a 1/3 game one night and he used this strat (except he forgot to 3! AA AI pre once and lost - his fault), and he lost only $50. I consider that a win. Gl!

have him practice playing online poker

He's only bringing $100 with him and not buying in for any more. We played some more last night and he was a little more disciplined than I expected, so that's a good start.

I printed him up a starting hand chart and color coded it. He used to work in restaurants, so I divided the starting hands into "McDonald's hands", "Chili's hands", "Macaroni Grill hands", and "Ruth's Chris hands"... lol

He's not ready. Not even close. He's not even ready to play in the typical loose-passive style that 80% of 1/2 players typically lose with. I don't know if you've tried explaining to him the nuances that make Hold'em unique to other poker variants, but if not then at a minimum I would cover things like the following:

1. On an AK772 board, AQ chops with all worse Aces (except A7), while pointing out that this includes A2.
2. On a TT665 board, his pocket 3's are napkins.
3. Flopped top and bottom pair on a KT7 board? Great, see how he likes his hand when a Ten hits the turn.
4. Pocket deuces, and the flop is 772 giving you a full house. What turn card do you absolutely not want to see, and why is it a 7?

These are things that most of us worked out for ourselves by playing very insignificant stakes, if not play money. From the sound of things, he might not even have the hand-rankings completely straight, which is definitely something that a majority of players get straight before they learn Hold'em.

Are there low-stakes Limit games available where you play? If he's open to that, it is probably a better option for getting his feet wet. He will almost certainly lose, but his money will last longer at the very least, and allow him to get more experience seeing how hands play out, and the quality of hand that typically wins at showdown. Good luck.

Edit to add: didn't see your latest post before I typed this up. Glad you talked a bit of sense into him, and that he seems to be taking the lessons well. Definitely cover those items I highlighted with him if you haven't already, though.

I think you shouldn't worry about this at all. You've told him you don't think he is ready, but he wants to go. He's willing to lose $100 to have the experience. He'll have more questions after he plays, and he'll have a better understanding of how it all works. The only reason to try to convince him not to play is if you are aware of his finances and know he can't afford to lose $100.

not sure if doug polk would be too pleased with u giving out 1000$ advanced strats like that for free

No but I've seen some prison content on You Tube so I'm pretty much an expert.

He can afford to lose $100. I mean he's not rich, but he's certainly not poor either.

Freewill, thanks for the suggestion hands. We had some of those come up through playing. I explained the concept of getting counterfeited with two pair. I explained about chopping hands (once we both had a straight on a 579K6 board and he couldn't believe his A kicker didn't win him the hand. I also had to explain to him that three-pair is not a hand. "Why not? That's dumb. Look, it's right there!")... LOL

Most importantly, explain that whenever he sits down with you and you take his money, you are not obligated to give it back afterwards. This may seem trivial but doesn't always seem to be standard for people.

That could backfire if op's "friend" is pro and just leveling OP into telling him his ranges/frequencies so he can sit him live and crush him.

"A poker hand has 5 cards, that's why." Actually I can understand his confusion here, if he's learning the rules of poker and Hold'em specifically at the same time. Make sure he understands that point; even though you get a total of 7 cards, a poker hand only contains 5 cards.

^^

This "best 5 card hand wins" is one of the first things to explain.

Man, that would be one of the greatest troll jobs in history. I've known the guy for 12 years. I give it about a 0.05% chance of being reality.

This is by far the best advice I’ve seen itt. I feel bad players / beginners should be looking to short stack as the decision tree is much simpler. The strat you listed is super boring thought in all honesty. I would throw in AK/AQ as hands we wanna throw in the mix and maybe 77+ pps if you somehow 3bet rip a late position open etc on a really shallow stack. I will be honest though that this brand of poker would be super tedious as you only play specific hands and are folding a ton.

I would tell your friend to read many books. Start with some beginner books and books focusing on cash games. I think books are very helpful to someone that wants to learn game. I will be honest, what you said about your friend and his hand trading skills is a little worrisome. If he ripping 2pair on a 4 card to straight board..... he still needs time to learn.

I would say try to get a small low stakes home game for him going to help
Him learn or somehow get him playing online cash at micro stakes. I think 1/2 live is a bad starting point for beginners bc an initial downturn could really
Kill their motivation for the game. Losing say 10 buyins at 1-2 vs 10
Buyins at 5nl are not even comparable. I would prolly have player play 5nlhe online and him to have you look at hhs .

Also you could ghost him online (kidding this is against tos) at 5nlhe or atleast have him look at some of your old hands in a replayer to go over spots and maybe ask him what he would do in a spot and why. If you bring up tough hands..... should help guy learn.

$100 in the Days of Limit would get a good chunk of a night’s entertainment.

Now, it gets him a pot. Singular. I took $265 one pot alone off of one utter rookie a couple nights ago. The short stacked, premium hand post is the best approach and hopefully he wins that pot.

OP, I've been your roommate. I had a buddy who'd been playing poker for a long time and won a lot of money finally talk me into going to the casino with him. He won $600 that night and I swear I had drool dripping out of my mouth as I watched him but the c-notes in his wallet.

If your friend is anything like me, he won't listen to reason. He's hooked and he sees poker as easy supplemental income no matter much he says or is told otherwise. It took me years (and a total loss of about $3000 between online and live combined) to get rid of it. I hope your friend is smarter than me.

Have your friend read this post, and the linked post to the 4-year-anniversary post. I still stubbornly believe the linked 4-year post should be required reading for all beginners.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...05/?highlight=

So...how did it turn out?