Beginner advice

Hi all, 

I recently started playing Torn, which has had the side effect of me falling in love with poker. So much so that I want to get into low stake online poker for real. I figure I need a lot of practice though, and I have been playing a lot of tables here, winning more than losing so far, but I am not sure if there are some basic etiquettes, tricks, bluffs or advice that all poker players should know. 

Do any of you experienced poker players have any advice to share? 

Thanks a bunch! 

Be careful online. Even the micro stakes are tough nowadays. Not even joking when I say start at .01-.02 if you’re going to play. 

bankroll management.  Watch some videos on this. Playing with all of your money you will eventually lose. I have went on several 50-100b downswings.  If it was all of my money I would have been broke. 
study at least 30-40% as much as you play.  There’s some decent free content on YouTube. I try to put in 10 hours a week. Been doing this since 2018. Don’t always make it but sometimes do more. 

ettiquite:

if you win a big hand it’s frowned upon to leave right away.  But whatever it’s a game

sometimes checking makes you more money than betting

if you beat blaze laugh at him he’s nice and will joke with you

if you lose rage in chat at how lucky they are

if you lose come here and complain about the rng simulator

make a thread on how we need poker while flying 

Thanks Akenomics! 

Great advice! While learning, I am aiming for 3$ a month and low stakes around .01-.02, just as you suggest. 

There are a lot of multiplayer poker apps with "pixel" money, are they any good to learn, or should I spend more time watching YouTube videos? 

Look forward to facing you at the table! 

If you can afford to skip 2nl, it's a rake pit and you'll be stuck there for years, it's almost unbeatable these days. 

Get a rakeback deal and a sign up bonus to double your bankroll. Grind out sign up bonuses while you learn. 

If you're serious about making it, you'll need coaching at some point and you're going to need to invest in poker software to study. Get on forums and find study groups. 

Avoid sites like GG poker that have built in preflop hand range guides.

Bankroll management is your friend as a newer player be more conservative with this than the guides say.

Game select, don't get into reg battles, avoid high rake low win rate games like zoom/rush.

Thanks a bunch Mistressel, 

I appreciate all the tips! I'll be sure to look up guides on bankroll management etc. I don't plan on making a career out of playing, so I probably won't hire a coach, but I'll look into the poker software you mention. 

What, if I may ask, is "2nl"? Is it no limit? 

Thanks again! 

when u encounter a nl, divide the number by 100 and thats the amount of the big blind

so, 2nl would be 0.02$ per big blind (or 0.01/0.02)

Ah, I see! Thank you Komi! 

I find its hard to learn from apps that are pure play money.

Money actaully means something in torn, but until you get to RW/Cats....sometimes much higher, people dont respect the money either.  At least in torn the money is useful so people value it some.  Play money sites are garbage imo.

Mistress is correct, 2NL rake is so high you probably cant beat the rake.  Its a nit fest due to player type and rake structure.  That said, its only $2 and even if you lose a few hundred over the coruse of 6 months its a better learning experience than free apps, and less risky than say  25NL.

25NL doesnt sound like a lot but its pretty easy to get stuck deep if you dont know what youre doing.

Jonathan little gets a lot of hate from high stakes players, but he has some good free stuff and presents it in a way that is easy to consume for low stakes folks. 

Great advice, thank you Akenomics!

I guess I'll get the basics down in Torn and then move on to 2NL. 

Thank you again! :) 

There are a lot of charts online with strategies for the pre-flop on which cards to fold/raise and check. Is it really necessary to memorize them or is it enough to grasp the broad idea and then play a little looser? 

Yeah only skip 2nl if you have disposable income.

Jonathan Little has tonnes of good free content on YouTube. Upswing poker has a podcast that's perfect for new players and once you have a good understanding of the foundamentals GTO wizard has some of the highest quality free content on YouTube. 

You really wan to memorize as much as you can, but as long as youre within one "pip" of the charts i think its fine.

You dont play looser at the beginning, you play tighter.

You can play looser on torn because there is no rake, and every chart you find is going to likely have some version of rake baked in it.

At the start just move down one position on the charts. So use the cut off chart for the button, the hijack chart for the cut off etc. Spend most of your time learning the later positions and blinds positions, as these are the hands that'll you'll be playing the most. 

Alright! Time to study then. Thank you again for all the advice. :)