How to play poker?

[Nick__C]

[Alpha-9]

[Nick__C]

So I wouldn't have the 5 community cards as my flush and pocket Ace as the kicker?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

Best hand out of 5 cards. Ace doesn't matter in this case. 5 diamonds = flush. The other 2 cards are nothing.

You had a flush A,K,9,8,4 and the 2 spare cards left over were you ace of clubs and the 2 of diamonds.

He had flush A,K,Q,9,7 and the 2 spare cards left for him were 2 and 4 of diamonds.

His is better.

[Nick__C]

Forgive my ignorance but I still don't understand why
So on what hands does a kicker determine the winner?

&how is it determined which straight was better? Because of their Diamond Queen vs my Diamond Seven?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

You can only use 5 cards to make your hand.

Any others are not important.

e.g. hand.

you have A 5
opponent Q5

board 2 5 J K 3

You both have a pair of 5's but you have ace kicker. Your best 5 cards are

5 5 A K J

His are

5 5 K Q J

A flush uses all 5 cards up.

[Nick__C]

Okay I think I get it haha, so in Flush, straight, full house hands the kicker is not of any importance?

Did the other flush win because the cards had greater overall value/ simplywere higher rank?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

He had a higher flush.

Yours A,K,9,8,4
His A,K,Q,9,7

Fairly obvious which is bigger.

Straights are a run of 5. e.g. 3,4,5,6,7
Flush is suits.

The whole game is about making the best 5 card hand.

If you set up an account on stars I can send you a couple of dollars.

[Nick__C]

Yeah that seems pretty obvious when you put like that lmao, stupid question.

I know the basic premise have been playing a couple of sit and go tournament things.

I've got an account, just haven't put any money because the passport details puts me off lol, is there no other way to deposit? Like paypal?

Would the kicker matter if two players both had a full house though?

Like K 7
J 7
community cards 7 4 4 4 A

both have the same 5 card hand but would the player holding the King win? Or is that a hand where the pot would be split?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

That would be a split pot.

But bare in mind this example.

Q 7

J 7

Board comes

K 4 4 4 A

That would also be a split pot. You know why? 5 cards ONLY.

[Nick__C]

Why split pot? Because both would use the Ace as the kicker?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

Your best hand would be 444AK. So would your opponents.

[Nick__C]

right yeah, got that, I think

what's happening with online poker in the US?
Keep hearing in podcasts and programmes like NAPT about 'Black Friday' ? Are there limitations on it or was that a while back and I'm watching programmes that are being repeated haha?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

Full tilt poker and Pokerstars and another were shutdown by the department of justice for illegal online gambling and fraud and stuff.

Pokerstars managed to continue because it isn't based in the US.

FTP is being investigated for fraud.

Black friday was when it all went tits up.

US players cannot play online legally. Although there are places they can.

Pokerstars is too big to risk getting shut down by the "world police"

[Nick__C]

Think I'm starting the hang of it now.. ( hopefully!)

Varying my betting patterns depending which players are still in and not letting people see the blinds cheaply..

Playing $2.50 Sit n Go tournaments, I seem to lose my bottle in cash games and playing $1.20 sit n go's the second prizes are too low to justify the time spent.. since only 1st place pays an amount you'd be happy to take..
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

You can't think like that really. It is bad to have that mindset.

Professionals who play sng's have an ROI of 4-8% which isn't much. That means for every $1 they spend on buying in, they end up with $1.04-$1.08

It is a game of edges. Lower stakes you can increase your ROI to much higher levels but the whole "moving up stakes to win more" attitude is not a way to win overall. I know, I did it.

I used to take shots as it were, cash tables with $20, double up and move up to the next stake, the highest I could sit with. I have gotten up to just under $1k multiple times before before one sick hand can ruin it all.

As professional poker player Bob Marley once said, You can win some pots some of the time but you can't win all the pots all the time.

[Nick__C]

I know what you mean, but if I'm playing a 1.20 game that takes half an hour say.. 1st place is about $4.50 and second is $1.80 I have to come 2nd for 60 cents.. or 1st for $3.30.. or play the $2.50 game for $4.90, so $2.40 odd in second or $10.50 so $8.50 dollars in first..

roughly those ammounts, just seems a better deal for coming 2nd or first?

Maybe it's better on Poker stars but I'm going to play a bit more on 888 till I'm happy to put a bigger deposit in PS and get a bigger welcome bonus, if that makes sense.
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

I only play 6max sng's on stars and they go like this.

1.50 buy in

1st 5.60 ish
2nd 2.80 ish

1st is just under 4 buyins, 2nd is just under 2 buy ins.

Obviously it is better to win, which is why you need to be good at playing heads up to win overall.

You will learn about variance soon when you play sng's especially. The rule of thumb for sng's is to have at least 200 buyins for the level you are playing at. Purely because you can lose many many times in a row, even if you play perfect poker. Google some articles on variance in sng's.

[Nick__C]

[The Artist]

[5v3d3b0]

Chris Ferguson has a good bankroll management strategy:

As a challenge he made 10 grand from NOTHING (iirc) playing freerolls and very slowly working his way up the limits while using some simple but strict rules.

https://www.cardschat.com/f13/chris-fergusons-bankroll-management-84344/

I'm sure there is more information out there but it's a good reference point to what limits you should be playing if you're not only playing for fun

[The Artist]

General rules

Cash games 15-25 buyins minimum.
SNG's 200+
MTT's the variance is so sick. I was speaking to a pro the other day who plays big MTT's with buyins from $30-$1500 and he is on a downswing of over $30,000. He probably has 200k in his bankroll.

[Nick__C]

That Chris Ferguson was a good read, cheers

Would you bother with a 40 man 96cent SnG? or stick to the smaller 6 man SnG's for now?

1st $10.59
2nd $7.39
3rd $5.63
4th $4,22
5th $2,81
6th £2.11
7th $1.40
8th $1.05
Worth trying?
____________________
'02 GS 500.

[The Artist]

When I say I play 6max, I mean 6 on a table as opposed to full ring 9/10.

Either 6 players total, or 12, 18, 27.

If I am playing larger MTT's I will play full ring so I can play a bit tighter. Less players means you need to play a bit looser.

[Nick__C]

Do you have any advice for ring games?

I get on reasonably well with 6 man SnG/40 man SnG's but I seem to bottle it when playing cash games, even at 1/2c level.. Not sure whether it's because I'm in the mindset of not wanting to lose x ammount of money or what

Also do you have tips for learning pot odds? Especially for pre flop?

Had a situation which I threw away last night, Queen Ten in the small blind, so limped in, but someone re-raised and I threw them away.

Flop came up 7 Queen Queen which got me thinking that although the chances of 2 Queens coming up were slim, the pot odds might have made playing the right move, if that makes sense?
There was probably about 20 c in the pot at that time, and 4c to call.. with 6 outs, Q Q Q Ten Ten Ten, as well as running Jacks, Kings, Aces or nines, eights, sevens for a straight (do you count these?), should I have played the hands with those outs?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, not sure if I've explained the question properly..


*edit*
for example, if using this calculator https://www.preflopper.com/calc/calculator.php
Assuming there were between 4-6 players left in the hand after the player's re-raise was met would you need roughly between 3.1 and 5.1 odds to call? I.e 12, 16, or 20 for a 4 cent call?
____________________
'02 GS 500.