Where to start ...

[MortimerJazz]

I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask this question, but a search of the forum hasn't really thrown up a load of helpful answers, so I figured I'd post this.

I'm a long a time member of FTR without ever getting serious about my poker. I play low odds and try to play sensibly although I don't really know whether I'm playing "correctly".

I basically want to sure up my game all round, but having a look through this forum and a couple of other poker forums, I feel a little bit overawed.

Where's the best place to start? What's the first thing I should concentrate on? Or should I just start playing regularly and pick up my own learnings from there.

Cheers in advance ...

[GatorJH]

What games are you playing? Full ring, 6-max, sng's?

In generall you may want to focus on starting hands and how to play them in various positions. This alone will help you avoid getting into bad situations by playing suspect hands. This will also help you gain a good understanding of how important position is.

Outside of those two things just hit the tables and post some hands for review while reading other posts.

Good luck.

[asdpikas]

1st step in NL is to learn to play tight. Starting hand values in different positions. Position is important.

2nd step in NL is to learn pot-odds and implied odds in combination with how to count outs. Position is also important.

3rd step in NL is to learn how speculative hands are played (scs, low pps, one gappers...). Position is also important.

4th step in NL is to find the sweet spot between TIGHT and speculative (loose) play. This may depend on your personality, as well as other ppl's styles, table aggressiveness/passiveness... You'll learn to mix it up a little, adapt to different opponents...
But for all styles, guess what? Position is very important.

After that, it gets complicated, but if you master those concepts, you'll do fairly well.
So, hand values, odds/outs, speculative hands, mixing up and adapting your style, and POSITION.

Thats ABC poker for you.

[MortimerJazz]

Thanks guys - appreciate the responses

What games are you playing? Full ring, 6-max, sng's?

I guess I mainly play SnGs (6 or 8 players) or low level tournaments (up to about $5). I've won a couple of them, but I can't quite shake the feeling that that was more down to luck than anything else, as I still can't quite calculate pot odds quickly enough, and I tend to be pretty tight.

[bode]

just read everything in the beginners digest as a start. after that you should be able to ask some more specific questions.

[GatorJH]

Thanks guys - appreciate the responses

What games are you playing? Full ring, 6-max, sng's?

I guess I mainly play SnGs (6 or 8 players) or low level tournaments (up to about $5). I've won a couple of them, but I can't quite shake the feeling that that was more down to luck than anything else, as I still can't quite calculate pot odds quickly enough, and I tend to be pretty tight.

One of the nice things about playing SNG's is that you can post an entire tournament for review.

[dimantslv]

thanx, asdpikas! your post helps me too!

[Robb]

What games are you playing? Full ring, 6-max, sng's?

I guess I mainly play SnGs (6 or 8 players) or low level tournaments (up to about $5).

Post HH's in the SnG forum or MTT forum. Make sure to include blind levels, villain's recent image, and how you're probably perceived at the table. Which HH's to post? The hands where you got lost on the flop or turn, and aren't sure if shoving or folding would be correct. The hands that gave you trouble but seemed crucial at the time.

I've won a couple of them, but I can't quite shake the feeling that that was more down to luck than anything else, as I still can't quite calculate pot odds quickly enough, and I tend to be pretty tight.

Try playing with PokerStove open while you play. Even if you aren't fast enough to use it in game, if you use it religiously after every hand where you needed pot odds, you'll soon get a feel for all the relevant percentages. BTW, if you work at it, you can tap the holdings and estimated ranges into the stove pretty quickly. The stove defaults the first letter you type to be capitalized, and the second lower case, so typing "kh" comes up as Kh, or King of hearts.