Poker school, free
by PokerAnon ~ September 4th, 2008. Filed under: Basics of poker, Instructional posts.
* Modified November 28th, 2008 *
When I look at the stats for this blog I see that there are a lot of poker beginners reading. That, combined with my teaching background and 
my own need to make notes for myself has led me to write a lot of instructional type posts.
I want to go one step further in helping beginners who read my blog. I’m offering my own free online holdem poker school or training, or at least a coach or mentor for you if you’re just learning online holdem poker.
(Photo by mil8)
Here’s the deal:
1) Sign up with Full Tilt through this link: Full Tilt
Full Tilt is currently the second biggest online poker site on the internet so you are as safe here as any where else. If you want more info/opinions or info on online poker sites in general, see my review of poker sites. (I’m still working on finding a way for this to work with PokerStars as well. If and when this does happen I will add them to this page.)
2) Send me an email to let me know that you have signed up. Use the gmail address found at the top left corner of this page.
Once you’ve signed up, I’ll help you with any start up issues that I’m able to help with. Once you’re on the tables and playing, we’ll talk about some poker hand history analysis. In online poker “hand history” means a text file that is stored on your computer and records the actions for each hand that takes place at the poker table. We’ll arrange for you to email some of these hand histories to me. I’ll review them, make comments and suggestions, and send them back to you.
You don’t have to make a deposit. Just sign up and give the play money tables a try; that’s how I started out myself. And if you’ve signed up already using my link you’re eligible as well. Just send me an email to indicate that you’re interested in some help or review.
My Qualifications:
At this point (September 2008) I have played poker online for just over two years. When I started out, I:
- Played play money poker tables to learn the game
- Started a bankroll from freerolls at a small site that has since gone under
- Also deposited $ 50 from a birthday gift to start at PokerStars
Since then, I’ve
- Cashed out the freeroll bankroll for a total of $ 200
- Taken that money and deposited $ 100 on Full Tilt, so the net of my deposits verses withdrawals is $ 200 – 100 – 50 = $ 50.
- Increased both my PokerStars and Full Tilt account balances so that my total bankroll currently is just under $ 1,000.
Kinda like a resume. 
The point is, I started out not knowing whether a flush beat a straight or vice versa, have now withdrawn more than I’ve deposited, and still have a bankroll to play with. I’m a winning player at the levels that I play, but I am also just a hobby player with a full time job so the number of hours that I play in a week is limited. There are much better players out there, but a lot of them are playing the big stakes and no longer remember how the beginner level tables play.
If you scan through my blog you’ll note that I don’t generally track bankroll. I also don’t spend time praising myself, but do spend time critiquing my play and my thinking. All the negative posts might give the impression that I haven’t got it all figured out yet, and I don’t, not entirely, but enough that poker is entirely a self-funding hobby, plus a bit more.
I’m also a teacher kinda person (I have taught high school in a previous career), and I think that I write and communicate fairly well. If you’re new to this blog and are considering taking me up on this offer, I suggest that you read through some other posts, particularly the collected instructional posts to get a sense of how I write and think.
On the other hand, it’s a pretty riskless opportunity, if I do say so myself.
~
Addendum: Most poker sites do not allow you to have more than one account, so if you’ve already signed up with Full Tilt, you may be ineligible unless you previously signed up using a link from this blog. As mentioned, I’m trying to get this to work with PokerStars as well, and may look for another option also.
