|
. |
|
he Guardian Poker Column |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Victoria
Coren |
Friday October 14,
2005 |
|
|
|
Email :
TheEditor on any
subject. |
|
|
How to play poker (How to play has been running from issue 16) |
How much money should you play for? This is a vital
question in the early stages of poker. If you play for too little, you won't
care enough and you won't think properly. But if you play for too much ...
Well, that's obviously stupid. If your aim is to go skint, my best advice is:
don't bother reading this column, just be at my house at 7.45 on Tuesday night.
The game starts at eight, but I'd hate you to miss out on a seat.
For
those still reading: you can't play properly when the stakes are too high,
either. It makes you nervous and you throw too many hands away. The profitable
poker player is the one who makes the right calls and the right folds according
to situation. Learning to do this is hard when "the right call" involves
putting your annual rent money on the line, or "the right fold" was only
costing you 5p anyway. That's why you have to find a
balance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you're going out for an evening of live
poker, you should take about the same amount of money as you would normally
spend on a night out doing something else. That's enough to make it interesting
but not crazy. If you win, you won't have such a windfall that you get false
confidence in your game. If you lose, you won't be crippled but you'll think
about the meal or theatre ticket you could have bought instead, and you'll try
harder next time. It has to hurt a little, without killing you. So let's say
you would normally spend £40 on a night out. Go to a game where the
buy-in is £20, and give yourself room for a rebuy. Then go home. If it's
still early, you might catch Coronation Street.
Internet poker is
different. It's there all the time, right on your desktop, so you have to be
careful. Forty quid from your credit card is easily followed by another
£40 and another. So buy in for a fifth of your "night out" money, and
learn cheaply. If you have 10 losing sessions in a row, sell the computer.
|
|
|
|
. |
|
The Editor's WSOP
Reports |
Latest |
|
|