The Official Poker Thread

i just start getting into it and was wondwering if anyone have any tips for a noob

I play online at www.pokerstars.net
Also go to the local casino now and then.
As for tips? Get some experience first I guess, figure out what cards you play, figure out the odds when the flop hits, etc. Honestly though, experience really helps. :tup:

poker rules on t.v., sucks that I don’t have the free time to get good at it :<

Yeah nothing really beats experience.

Get rid of any habits that could give you away while playing. I friend of mine had a very small grin that you could barely see when he played so you always new when he had a good hand.

Learn your strategies such as playing weak, bluffing well, how to intimidate, etc

Watch poker on tv to learn how pros play.

Know your lingo so you know what other players are talking about.

-DJ-

Learning how to bluff is the hardest, at least for me. I am such a jew when it comes to betting.

Jumping right in for experience is a good way to lose money. Just pick up a book or two, there are some really good ones out there. Then start playing and get the experience.

haha anyone of u guys like dress up, cover ur face or carry a lucky charm?

Don’t listen to SRK’s advice unless its coming from Viscant or rsigley.

just play online poker with fake money till u get good then home games with friends cause online poker is a lot different then the real thing when u start takin thier money u can go to poker rooms and try out there… if you fail well go prac some more if you win then good for you some extra change…

http://viscant.blogspot.com/2005/03/getting-started-at-poker.html

Something I wrote a couple months ago on getting started at playing poker. If you learn nothing else from the post, make sure you buy Internet Texas Holdem by Matthew Hilger. That book is basically responsible for everything I’ve earned this year at poker and in whoring out affiliate stuff, which is between $12,000 and $20,000 for the year depending on how you work the numbers. That book works wonders.

–Jay Snyder
Viscant@aol.com


Hey Viscant, how much does the government take out as tax for your winnings?

Technically they should be getting somewhere between 25% and 33%. However that’s only if I’m going to report all of it. It’s ridiculously easy to conceal your winnings especially if you pay most of your major bills in cash like I do. I’ll probably under-report this year by about 50%, so yeah.

–Jay Snyder
Viscant@aol.com

I like how Snyder’s got his full name and location on a post talking about avoiding taxes LOLS

Someone can mail the IRS a detailed listing of all my earnings and it won’t mean a thing. Most people don’t report any of their poker winnings at all. Since I haven’t had a real job in months I have to report some of it just to justify how I’m paying for life.

Until the US decides to legalize online poker they will see only a fraction of the tax earnings they could make. It’s just too easy to hide money right now.

–Jay Snyder
Viscant@aol.com

Viscant, which site do you play on?

I’m thinking of jumping in on internet poker (I’ve been playing live games for awhile now), but my friend has told me some pretty horrific stories of bad beats on partypoker.com

What do you suggest is a good site to start out on?

hey viscant, jsut wondering seeing as the cheques I would be sent are from voerseas. would they be telling the government how much it’d be/how would i conceal it

because i’m only up like 3000 now…so id like toa ctually get most of it

Truepoker sends their cheques from Cali, unless its over $1000 I believe, then it comes from the Cayman Islands

For the month I’ve played at:

Party Network
Party Poker (www.partypoker.com)
Empire Poker (www.empirepoker.com)

Cryptologic/Wagerlogic Network
Poker Plex (www.pokerplex.com)
Will Hill (www.williamhillpoker.com)
Caribbean Sun (www.caribbeansunpoker.com)
Littlewoods (www.littlewoodspoker.com)
Interpoker (www.intercasinopoker.com)

Poker Room network
Poker Room (www.pokerroom.com)
Power Player (www.powerplayer.com)
Lucky River (www.luckyriverpoker.com)

Independent rooms

Absolute (www.absolutepoker.com)
Poker Stars (www.pokerstars.com)
Ultimate Bet (www.ultimatebet.com)
Pacific Poker (www.pacificpoker.com // www.888.com)
Paradise (www.paradisepoker.com)

As for which is best, that’s a difficult question, since a lot of it depends on what you’re looking for in a room. I can tell you that my personal favorite room to play at is Absolute, although that’s a very unpopular opinion. Most people (in fact all SRKers I can think of) hate Absolute with a passion, but the room has always been good to me.
If you just want to start out and see if the online poker thing is for you, like I mentioned on my blog, I think you should go to Poker Stars or Ultimate Bet and start very small. Start with like $25-$50 and play the micro limits and just see what you think of playing online. Everyone loses at first. Everyone. Even if you’re a good player and you own up home games and games in casinos. It’s just not the same game online. So generally you want to start out at the lowest levels, confirm you’re a winner at the lowest level, then move one level up. And just keep doing this, making sure to move down if you take a big hit somewhere along the way. A more detailed explanation of this is in the bankroll chapter of Internet Texas Hold’em by Matthew Hilger. Absolute must read.
If you don’t want to risk any of your own money, do what I did to start out with. Go to Pacific Poker and open up a real money account and leave it alone. Don’t log into it or anything. After a few days, they’ll deposit $10 into your account and you can just try it out that way. That’s how I got started playing online poker; I never deposited a cent of my own money.
Once you’re up to a decent sum (about $500) you can start chasing bonuses. A good guide on where to go step by step can be found here:
http://www.bonuswhores.com/bonus-whoring-101.php

opticallyinviz:
I see that you’re from Canada so I can’t be too much help on this since I know less about Canadian law than I do about American law. I’ll just tell you what I do personally. In America, banks don’t report checks you cash under the sum of $10,000. Over that sum is considered suspicious behavior (thanks Patriot Act!) and they’ll report you in which case the government will start to want it’s cut.
What I do is, at the end of the month, I send a share of my money to Absolute Poker and have them mail me a check. I then cash the check and pay my bills with the cash. The remainder of the money I send through Neteller to my bank and this is the portion of income that I will be reporting to the government.

–Jay Snyder
Viscant@aol.com

Nam under jesse’s handle…

I only play poker now to whore bonuses… Hell, thats what everybody should be doing…

But yea… just remember that there are HELLA stupid people that play online…

I lost a pot in a 2-4 table coz some guy called my AK preflop to the river (he had 4 7 off suit, wasnt big blind)… Flop was A 4 9, river came up a 4.

Jay, you going to evo? We need to play poker. Fuck the games.

wow thanks VIscant for sharing. i got a question…are you playing online poker for a living? if so, don’t u think it’s VERY hard to make a living on cards? anyways, KEEP DOING WHAT U DO BEST. PEACE