Get a poker book that is easy to read, like Negreanu's Poker Wisdom. Not the best poker book out there but good for beginners and entertaining. Tell them NOT to watch any poker shows on TV.

two words : bankroll management

 

Originally Posted by Slingtownorbust

two words : bankroll management

Sfthis.

Alot of my friends play live poker and always moan that they cant win online and are always asking me why they win live and not online.

Mainly bcos they deposit $100 and play 50nl lol.

- Tight is right, people flat way too much when effective stacks aren't deep enough to do so.

- Learn how to play different stacks.

- Learn to think about opponents hand ranges, as opposed to specific hands.

- Stop betting/raising for information. Every bet is to make better hands fold, or get worse hands to call. There is no inbetween.

- With ~20 bbs, don't play hands that you're not willing to stack off with. That said, be willing to stack off lighter and gamble. It is usually ok to just open shove any hand in this range. (this is just a starting point)

- Stop bluffing call stations, but value town them a lot thinner

- Know that even the best tourney players go on 100-200 buyin downswings

- You don't have to cont. bet every hand, infact its spewy to do so.

- Don't fold KK preflop...ever. Just don't do it.

Show him this article will probably give him a general understanding of what not to do...

Jennifear's Article on Mistakes Low-Limit Players Make the Most

 

Originally Posted by rivverkiller

- Tight is right, people flat way too much when effective stacks aren't deep enough to do so.

- Learn how to play different stacks.

- Learn to think about opponents hand ranges, as opposed to specific hands.

- Stop betting/raising for information. Every bet is to make better hands fold, or get worse hands to call. There is no inbetween.

- With ~20 bbs, don't play hands that you're not willing to stack off with. That said, be willing to stack off lighter and gamble. It is usually ok to just open shove any hand in this range. (this is just a starting point)

- Stop bluffing call stations, but value town them a lot thinner

- Know that even the best tourney players go on 100-200 buyin downswings

- You don't have to cont. bet every hand, infact its spewy to do so.

- Don't fold KK preflop...ever. Just don't do it.

silly advice. i busted in a 1k because i didnt fold to a 4 bet vs. AA with KK when i knew i had to be behind. though very tough, sometimes you gotta lay it down.

 

Originally Posted by bohemian119

silly advice. i busted in a 1k because i didnt fold to a 4 bet vs. AA with KK when i knew i had to be behind. though very tough, sometimes you gotta lay it down.

ya this is true. the other day in a $100 live tourney it folded to me on the button position and i had the KK. I made the standard 4x raise and the SB thought hard then raised another 4bb. i made the re-raise of course! i bumped it up to 20bb total. he then shoved for a total of 50 BB! Whoops, typical rookie mistake! Now I knew he had AA, and quickly folded, saving myself 50% tourney life, or 20bb. Chalk that up as another top-tier high level laydown on my list!

Another one I've noticed on more than one occasion.....a good way to explain it is an example.

Past sunday $100 live MTT, first hand after first break, I have ~6500, BB has ~7100, and blinds are 100/200 w/ 25 ante. I have JJ UTG, I make it 450, folds to the BB, she makes it 900 (what she thinks is a min-raise), I call, now HU. Flop is 789r. She checks, I bet 1K, she mins it to 2K. I tank and push. She snaps it off, and shows AA. Turn and river brick. If there is a weak to semi-weak plyer that min-raises, you know they have a hand.

First of all, they will have to PAY DEARLY for their poker education, no matter what.
For the following advice however, I'll assume they all start out playing Hold'em...

I'm a die-hard Harrington fan, but would like to propose another book first, and that is Ed Millers "Getting started in Hold'em". Read and read it, and read it and read it... That's the only book they'll need the first year! I kid you not.

Depending on the tournament structures they usually play, Harrington on Hold'em is the prime choice for deep stack, slow structured tournaments, while Arnold Snyder and Neil Myers have the books for the faster tournaments. For Sit and Go's, try Collin Moshman...

For cash-games (especially No Limit), forget about money management!!!! Fugged' it!
Just make sure they learn to play and survive with a short stack buy-in.

Deep stack No Limit is for experts only. Seriously. You see, most poker players are not only reasonably intelligent, most of them are also dumb as threestumps!
They'll usually dump off their money to better players azap, or get crap lucky to survive 2 more weeks and then piss it all off as a 2-1 favourite against the flush-draw of some other dumb-ass. Been there, done that, and couldn't even afford the T-shirt! The gap between their actual playing ability and reality is simply staggering. Beer and testosterone is all they need to sit down anyway, for Heavens sake!!
For No Limit Hold'em you will usually need at least a 1000 BBs in your bankroll to weather the fluctuations to begin with, and that is only if you are REALLY GOOD at this. 95% of all new players (and 90% of all intermediates) are better off with no bankroll at all. Don't believe me? Crash and burn, and press the "repeat-button".