New to poker, is pub poker a good way of learning?

[Longy]

God nothing worse than pub poker imo

ur in a pub, how culd that ever be bad?

Why ruin it by playing poker for pennies with ppl who annoy the fk out of you?

[cambridgealex]

i think you need to separate 2 things here:

social
learning

you will def have a MUCH better social time with the pub stuff - but you will not learn how to play well. You will learn hand rankings etc and that 2 overs vs a pair is a flip, but you will hear so much BS at the tables it will be difficult to pick the good from the bad

so if its social - play  the pub leagues, if you are really wanting to learn - swerve the pub leagues. TBF it sounds like you want the social side and to that end I cant knock it.

Ja. Exactly what he said. Although disagree with the comment about hearing so much BS at the table it's hard to pick the bad from the good. It's all bad. Don't listen to any strategy talk from pub players. Although if you want to learn the game I can hardly see that £10 freezeouts in casinos will teach you MUCH more than pub poker comps. You learn from playing loads of hands online, talking to good players and learning from your mistakes. You will have fun in the casino comps though - full of absolute characters, and more fun than characters in pub leagues or redtooth comps imo.

I have posted on another forum too, and they suggested the Redtooth leagues or Poker in the Pub. Do any of you have experience of these leagues? If so, which one do you feel is the best to join people-wise, prize-wise and standard-wise?

I suggest Blonde is the best forum for you.

[the_little_fish]

It can't be that bad surely? You guys aren't exactly painting the romantic picture that I wanted you to paint! But I guess I'd prefer to hear the truth. I will go along and find out first hand but I really appreciate your help guys.

Just one last question based on what everyone on here has said, do you feel there's no place for pub poker then? Is it dying out? I don't want to join something that's not sustainable as there's no point in that.

[cambridgealex]

I don't think it's dying out, no. In terms of breeding new poker talent is basically is though. I think people used to start off playing £5 games in the pub, and get the buzz and want to learn more and moved up and up and then played all round the world. Nowadays every new pro has the same story "Deposited 10/20/50/100 bucks online, gave it a punt, loved it, ran good and hey presto".

As said before, it's great for a laugh, learning the basics and I guess you'll know from that whether or not to take it more seriously / whether or not you wanna improve. It's a massive learning curve. Don't be surprised if you think you have it figured out, then you move to playing casino comps and get given completely different advice. Both'll be wrong more than likely!

I started with pub poker though (well, rileys) then played online after that to learn. Now I don't play online at all, just live.

[Bongo]

I'd go along and see if you enjoy it, if you don't no harm done, if you do you can carry on playing there or maybe venture to a casino.

If you want to improve your play at that point there are plenty of options available to you, posting on here, books, playing online, online training sites etc.

[the_little_fish]

I think I'll do just that Bongo, best way to see is to go along. And it's good to hear it's not dying out Cambridgealex, be a shame to lose something else from pubs!

Just out of interest would any of you more serious players ever play in a pub league again?

[RED-DOG]

Precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation.

[cambridgealex]

No I'd never play there again.

[mouth]

I think I'll do just that Bongo, best way to see is to go along. And it's good to hear it's not dying out Cambridgealex, be a shame to lose something else from pubs!

Just out of interest would any of you more serious players ever play in a pub league again?

Just tell us where your pub league is based and we'll all come down to heckle and point support it.

[smashedagain]

Give the pub a try. You will meet up with like minded people who are looking for the social side as opposed to turning themselves into the next big thing. One or two on here are being poker snobs. You have to appreciate that the poker you are playing will more like bingo than poker. Believe me there are plenty of people who don't know what they are doing buying into £300 and £500 events. At the pub you will find people who want to take a shot at small casino comps and you could turn up together and learn from each other. Casinos can be a bit Intimidating for the first couple of times but going with mates makes this a lot easier. We all started somewhere and only 5% of poker players are long term winners so IMO we should be encouraging more people to take up the game. Good luck but mosf of all i hope you enjoy it.
Jason herbert

[BUTTERBEAN]

God nothing worse than pub poker imo

[mondatoo]

If you don't take the pokers that serious then it's definitely not as bad as some are making out. As Alexis Martines said, your in a put so alcohol is fully available so how could it ever be that bad, go there and have some fun, if you enjoy it and get the poker bug then take it further, if not then keep playing the pub games and make sure you have fun doing so, simples.

[mouth]

Precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation.

They just don't seem to get it do they?

[gatso]

I like pubs

[the_little_fish]

Thanks guys, really interesting feedback. I will go along and give it a go. I can't remember if I said this but I doubt I'll ever be any good at Poker and I don't want to frustrate better players with my stupidity so I thought the pub was the best place to start. So if the pub isn't good enough or the right place for some of you, what size tournaments are you playing in?