Give a helping hand

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2010 (5474 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

11

Whenever we are out together and someone asks Nelson if he plays poker he always has the same response; “What’s poker?” So I was surprised when Nelson asked me if there was any handicapping system for poker, where it would level the playing field for someone like himself, who has never played before. Seeing as how there really isn’t one, we started to debate the topic.

Nelson told me that some of his friends get together every so often and play poker, and that he ends up making excuses not to go. He isn’t comfortable sitting in with them, as he feels he is at a huge disadvantage. From a social aspect however, he would love to get a grasp on the game so he could hang out with his buddies on poker night.

Like in anything in life, you have to work at something to get good at it and poker is no different. Nelson’s biggest concern is that his friends have a big head start, seeing as how they have been playing for years, while he has never played and knows nothing about the game.

So how can Nelson pick up the game to a point where he is comfortable sitting in with his friends — maybe even win once in awhile? Study! The first time I played poker was with friends while living in Vancouver. Because I had watched it on TV I thought I knew what I was doing. Well, I was obviously mistaken — I had no clue what I was doing. When they said that they were going to play the following week I was determined to do better so I went out and bought a poker book. Well, that week I read three books from cover to cover (probably more books than I read during my school years) but the following week we played three mini-tournaments and I won two of them.

Did I know what I was doing? Compared to the week before, yes, but overall I still had no clue. The thing is, I didn’t stop reading and trying to learn, just like Nelson hasn’t stopped with his schooling even after he graduated.

For now I have given him a few tips and a book that I think is the most informative for a true novice. I also told him that he is going to feel uncomfortable the first time he plays, but that feeling will pass in time.

As far as a handicapping system for poker goes, the only such thing that I know of involves cash games. Basically, someone could play another player heads-up and the better player would give the other player a percentage of his money back. If the better player lost, then he would lose it all.

Let me know if you have any ideas in terms of a handicapping system that could be implemented at the table. Off the top of my head I came up with this one: What would the outcome be if I played Nelson and allowed him to play with three cards?