Poker on the Mac

Jeff Porten (apparently) - 04:53am Jun 22, 2005 PST
via email

Ah, finally my two obsessions converge. I've been playing poker for
three years, and it's been a sideline source of income for most of
that time. Not much income, but more than I've made as a
professional writer.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08141>

I haven't tried DD Poker, but I don't recommend even the good AI
software to anyone who's thinking of playing the game for money. The
problem with poker is that it's very easy to learn bad habits, which
are then hard to unlearn. Most players will become better by playing
against software, but that's different from saying that you'll become
"good". More likely, you'll learn some very useful tricks that beat
the AI players, which in turn will open you up for being ruthlessly
exploited by people like me when you land in a real game.

Here are my standing suggestions to anyone who's interesting in
getting into this game for real -- or for anyone who has done so
already and lived to regret it:

1) Decide if you want to learn to play well, or if you prefer to
gamble. Plenty of people play poker to gamble. It's fun, and like
most gambling, you can get lucky and win money. Playing poker well
is much less fun -- for example, you're going to fold over 70% of the
time and watch other people play. But it also means you don't have
to get lucky to win -- a good player wins over time with average
cards (which is all anyone gets over enough time).

2) Buy *one* book and absorb it. I recommend the Lee Jones low limit
books. You'll learn more in 2 hours of reading than you will in 20
hours of play.

3) Buy into a real online game against real online players. On the
Mac-friendly site I play, games start at 0.25-0.50, and a "normal"
buy-in is $10-20. Having completed step 2), you should be able to
make that last for a good long time, and be well on your way to
learning how to be a winning player.

Finally, please note: limit hold 'em, no-limit, and the tournament
versions of both are FOUR DIFFERENT GAMES, and the skills for each
one are different. Pick one and learn it cold -- I recommend limit
cash games (i.e., not tournaments) as the lowest risk option.

The site I play at is pokerroom.com, which is also the only major
site that is Mac-compatible. It's all Java, and a surprisingly good
interface. If anyone is interested, drop me an email and let me
refer you; we both get a bonus from the site for doing so. And so I
don't make this sound like a self-serving advertisement, I'll offer
30 minutes of "shadowing" to anyone I refer -- i.e., I'll watch you
play and give you a critique afterwards. I can't *help* you play --
that's cheating -- but I think I'll be able to identify your best and
worst moves and let you know where to improve.

And a PS to Jeff Carlson -- iPoker is a great game for goofing around
playing the kinds of games that make up home games. I.e., what I
refer to as "beer with cards" games. It's *horrible* for learning
real poker.

Best,
Jeff